How to contribute a patch

Where are the notes telling me the steps/requirements for contributing a bug-fix patch?

I have tracked down a bug to the API C lib that impacts (perl, python, …) API users relying on the secure_auth param.
I have a one-line patch which I’ve successfully tested. I’ve downloaded the 5.6 source via bzr.

The easiest thing would be for me to upload the patch to github and then reference that in my bug report. But I’m sure there are more comprehensive steps I could follow.

thanks,
Nic