Policy on hacking another people's code.

If you're going to do a little fixes, go and do it. But if you plan to do changes to some API or rewriting some code please tell it to the author. Modules on CVS have different levels of maturity: some of the are being developed actively, other are very stable and changes to it should usually go first trough the module maintainer. To help clarify this situation, usually, there is a file called README.CVS included on every module on CVS where the policy is detailed for the hacking you can do to a module.

If in doubt, ask the gnome-hackers@nuclecu.unam.mx for assistance.