Submitting patches and features

Where Contributions to Our Code Base Go To

The openPETRA source code is managed with the Git source code versioning system. The official repository of openPETRA can be browsed here: http://code.openpetra.org. This redirects to the OpenPetra Repository at Github.

How We Handle Contributions to Our Code Base

• Write permissions to git origin master are given only to the core members of the development team, just to keep the project on one track.
  • We very much need your contributions though, and we will aim to quickly deal with requests from developers who want to submit patches and code!
• We accept contributions from non-core members of the development team only in a Github Pull Request.
  • You can create your own fork on Github for each feature and for each bug you are working on.

See Submitting patches and features#Workflow for Contributions below for the actual workflow involved.

Initial Setup for Contributing

The contributor (=you) needs to have an account at Github, as we host the openPETRA Git repository on that website.

Please follow the instructions at How to work with git on the command line or How to work with git through the GUI on Windows to get an account at Github.

Workflow for Contributions

1. An Issue needs to be created for every single contribution if there isn't already a bug for it (the bug can also be marked as 'Feature' if it is a feature and not a bug!). The issues are managed in the Github project.
2. You create your own fork of OpenPetra at Github.
   1. Only You will have write access to this fork
   2. Everybody else can see that this fork exists and has read-only access to it
3. You can work on the fork until the the bug is fixed or a new feature is implemented.
   1. Be sure to do frequent 'rebases'/'merges' from the openPETRA trunk to ensure that you have changes that are done in trunk and that your code still compiles against it.
   2. You can commit changes to your branch at any time.
      1. We encourage you to commit your changes to your branch frequently.
      2. Commit your own changes to your branch before doing a rebase/merge. In that way your changes are kept in separate commits from the changes that others did.
      3. Commit the changes that came in through a rebase/merge to your branch immediately after doing a rebase/merge. In that way changes that others did (in trunk) are kept in separate commits from your changes.
4. Once you are done with your bug fix or implementation of a feature:
   1. Do a last 'rebase'/'merge' from the openPETRA trunk to ensure that you have changes that are done in trunk and that your code still compiles against it.
   2. Run Unit tests which you might have created in the process (or which already exist and cover your code change) after the last 'rebase'/'merge'.
   3. Make a request to the core development team members to review your changes and to merge your changes to the openPETRA master.
      1. Create a Github pull request. See https://help.github.com/articles/using-pull-requests/ for details.
5. Once your contribution has been reviewed and it got approved, the changes from your developer branch will be merged into the offical openPETRA trunk by a core developer. You will be informed once this has happened.
6. You are ready for another contribution ;-)