Work on a bug

How to claim and work on bugs

So you'd like to start contributing, but you don't know where to start? This is a fairly large project, which means it's useful to begin with a small fix so you can get used to the codebase. We have an issue tracker at bugs.joindiaspora.com. Note that here and elsewhere we often use the terms "issue" and "bug" interchangably.

This page covers how to be assigned a bug, and what to do as you work on it.

1. Make an account on the Diaspora bug tracker.

• Make sure you've been added to list of people who can modify bugs on the tracker. This is called the 'Assignee' list.
  • Someone on IRC should be able to help you out. See how we use IRC for access information.
• Claim an issue
  1. If you created a bug that you want to work on, assign it to yourself. * You can see a list of your activity by following My Page when you're logged in to the bug tracker. * Click on an issue * Scroll to the bottom of the page and click 'Update' * In the list of 'Assignee' people, select your username.
  • Finding a bug to work on
    • You can peruse the list of all issues
    • On the right hand side of the Issues page, there are some handy queries that might help narrow down the list.
      • Quickfixes for new developers
      • Confirmed bugs
• Before you start working on the bug, read about how we use git.
• Updating the bug's progress
  1. To change any fields mentioned: Scroll to the bottom of the issue page and click 'Update'. From there you can edit the issue.
  • If someone has duplicated the issue, mark the issue status 'Confirmed'
  • Ideally, there should be a spec written for this bug. If you've done this, mark the issue 'Isolated'
  • If a pull request has been made for the issue, senior members will set the status 'Awaiting Acceptance'
  • As you make progress, particularly if the fix is more than a day, please set the '% Done' to something meaningful