.. todo:: THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE AN EXAMPLE. MODIFY IT ACCORDING TO YOUR NEEDS!
The document assumes you are using a source repository service that promotes a
contribution model similar to GitHub's fork and pull request workflow_.
While this is true for the majority of services (like GitHub, GitLab,
BitBucket), it might not be the case for private repositories (e.g., when
using Gerrit).
Also notice that the code examples might refer to GitHub URLs or the text might use GitHub specific terminology (e.g., Pull Request instead of Merge Request).
Please make sure to check the document having these assumptions in mind and update things accordingly.
.. todo:: Provide the correct links/replacements at the bottom of the document.
.. todo:: You might want to have a look on PyScaffold's contributor's guide_,
especially if your project is open source. The text should be very similar to this template, but there are a few extra contents that you might decide to also include, like mentioning labels of your issue tracker or automated releases.
Welcome to hdf5array contributor's guide.
This document focuses on getting any potential contributor familiarized
with the development processes, but other kinds of contributions_ are also
appreciated.
If you are new to using git_ or have never collaborated in a project previously,
please have a look at contribution-guide.org. Other resources are also
listed in the excellent guide created by FreeCodeCamp [#contrib1]_.
Please notice, all users and contributors are expected to be open,
considerate, reasonable, and respectful. When in doubt, Python Software Foundation's Code of Conduct_ is a good reference in terms of behavior
guidelines.
If you experience bugs or general issues with hdf5array, please have a look
on the issue tracker_. If you don't see anything useful there, please feel
free to fire an issue report.
.. tip:: Please don't forget to include the closed issues in your search. Sometimes a solution was already reported, and the problem is considered solved.
New issue reports should include information about your programming environment (e.g., operating system, Python version) and steps to reproduce the problem. Please try also to simplify the reproduction steps to a very minimal example that still illustrates the problem you are facing. By removing other factors, you help us to identify the root cause of the issue.
You can help improve hdf5array docs by making them more readable and coherent, or
by adding missing information and correcting mistakes.
hdf5array documentation uses Sphinx_ as its main documentation compiler.
This means that the docs are kept in the same repository as the project code, and
that any documentation update is done in the same way was a code contribution.
.. todo:: Don't forget to mention which markup language you are using.
e.g., reStructuredText_ or CommonMark_ with MyST_ extensions.
.. todo:: If your project is hosted on GitHub, you can also mention the following tip:
.. tip::
Please notice that the GitHub web interface_ provides a quick way of
propose changes in hdf5array's files. While this mechanism can
be tricky for normal code contributions, it works perfectly fine for
contributing to the docs, and can be quite handy.
If you are interested in trying this method out, please navigate to
the ``docs`` folder in the source repository_, find which file you
would like to propose changes and click in the little pencil icon at the
top, to open `GitHub's code editor`_. Once you finish editing the file,
please write a message in the form at the bottom of the page describing
which changes have you made and what are the motivations behind them and
submit your proposal.
When working on documentation changes in your local machine, you can compile them using |tox|_::
tox -e docs
and use Python's built-in web server for a preview in your web browser
(http://localhost:8000)::
python3 -m http.server --directory 'docs/_build/html'
.. todo:: Please include a reference or explanation about the internals of the project.
An architecture description, design principles or at least a summary of the main concepts will make it easy for potential contributors to get started quickly.
Before you work on any non-trivial code contribution it's best to first create
a report in the issue tracker_ to start a discussion on the subject.
This often provides additional considerations and avoids unnecessary work.
Before you start coding, we recommend creating an isolated virtual environment_ to avoid any problems with your installed Python packages.
This can easily be done via either |virtualenv|_::
virtualenv <PATH TO VENV>
source <PATH TO VENV>/bin/activate
or Miniconda_::
conda create -n hdf5array python=3 six virtualenv pytest pytest-cov
conda activate hdf5array
#. Create an user account on |the repository service| if you do not already have one. #. Fork the project repository_: click on the Fork button near the top of the page. This creates a copy of the code under your account on |the repository service|. #. Clone this copy to your local disk::
git clone git@github.com:YourLogin/hdf5array.git
cd hdf5array
#. You should run::
pip install -U pip setuptools -e .
to be able to import the package under development in the Python REPL.
.. todo:: if you are not using pre-commit, please remove the following item:
#. Install |pre-commit|_::
pip install pre-commit
pre-commit install
hdf5array comes with a lot of hooks configured to automatically help the
developer to check the code being written.
#. Create a branch to hold your changes::
git checkout -b my-feature
and start making changes. Never work on the main branch!
#. Start your work on this branch. Don't forget to add docstrings_ to new functions, modules and classes, especially if they are part of public APIs.
#. Add yourself to the list of contributors in AUTHORS.rst.
#. When you’re done editing, do::
git add <MODIFIED FILES>
git commit
to record your changes in git_.
.. todo:: if you are not using pre-commit, please remove the following item:
Please make sure to see the validation messages from |pre-commit|_ and fix any eventual issues. This should automatically use flake8_/black_ to check/fix the code style in a way that is compatible with the project.
.. important:: Don't forget to add unit tests and documentation in case your contribution adds an additional feature and is not just a bugfix.
Moreover, writing a `descriptive commit message`_ is highly recommended.
In case of doubt, you can check the commit history with::
git log --graph --decorate --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit --all
to look for recurring communication patterns.
#. Please check that your changes don't break any unit tests with::
tox
(after having installed |tox|_ with pip install tox or pipx).
You can also use |tox|_ to run several other pre-configured tasks in the
repository. Try tox -av to see a list of the available checks.
#. If everything works fine, push your local branch to |the repository service| with::
git push -u origin my-feature
#. Go to the web page of your fork and click |contribute button| to send your changes for review.
.. todo:: if you are using GitHub, you can uncomment the following paragraph
Find more detailed information in `creating a PR`_. You might also want to open
the PR as a draft first and mark it as ready for review after the feedbacks
from the continuous integration (CI) system or any required fixes.
The following tips can be used when facing problems to build or test the package:
#. Make sure to fetch all the tags from the upstream repository_.
The command git describe --abbrev=0 --tags should return the version you
are expecting. If you are trying to run CI scripts in a fork repository,
make sure to push all the tags.
You can also try to remove all the egg files or the complete egg folder, i.e.,
.eggs, as well as the *.egg-info folders in the src folder or
potentially in the root of your project.
#. Sometimes |tox|_ misses out when new dependencies are added, especially to
setup.cfg and docs/requirements.txt. If you find any problems with
missing dependencies when running a command with |tox|_, try to recreate the
tox environment using the -r flag. For example, instead of::
tox -e docs
Try running::
tox -r -e docs
#. Make sure to have a reliable |tox|_ installation that uses the correct Python version (e.g., 3.7+). When in doubt you can run::
tox --version
# OR
which tox
If you have trouble and are seeing weird errors upon running |tox|, you can
also try to create a dedicated virtual environment with a |tox|_ binary
freshly installed. For example::
virtualenv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
.venv/bin/pip install tox
.venv/bin/tox -e all
#. Pytest can drop you_ in an interactive session in the case an error occurs.
In order to do that you need to pass a --pdb option (for example by
running tox -- -k <NAME OF THE FALLING TEST> --pdb).
You can also setup breakpoints manually instead of using the --pdb option.
.. todo:: This section assumes you are using PyPI to publicly release your package.
If instead you are using a different/private package index, please update the instructions accordingly.
If you are part of the group of maintainers and have correct user permissions
on PyPI_, the following steps can be used to release a new version for
hdf5array:
#. Make sure all unit tests are successful.
#. Tag the current commit on the main branch with a release tag, e.g., v1.2.3.
#. Push the new tag to the upstream repository_, e.g., git push upstream v1.2.3
#. Clean up the dist and build folders with tox -e clean
(or rm -rf dist build)
to avoid confusion with old builds and Sphinx docs.
#. Run tox -e build and check that the files in dist have
the correct version (no .dirty or git_ hash) according to the git_ tag.
Also check the sizes of the distributions, if they are too big (e.g., >
500KB), unwanted clutter may have been accidentally included.
#. Run tox -e publish -- --repository pypi and check that everything was
uploaded to PyPI_ correctly.
.. [#contrib1] Even though, these resources focus on open source projects and communities, the general ideas behind collaborating with other developers to collectively create software are general and can be applied to all sorts of environments, including private companies and proprietary code bases.
.. <-- start --> .. todo:: Please review and change the following definitions:
.. |the repository service| replace:: GitHub .. |contribute button| replace:: "Create pull request"
.. _repository: https://github.com//hdf5array .. _issue tracker: https://github.com//hdf5array/issues .. <-- end -->
.. |virtualenv| replace:: virtualenv
.. |pre-commit| replace:: pre-commit
.. |tox| replace:: tox
.. _black: https://pypi.org/project/black/ .. _CommonMark: https://commonmark.org/ .. _contribution-guide.org: https://www.contribution-guide.org/ .. _creating a PR: https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/creating-a-pull-request .. _descriptive commit message: https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit .. _docstrings: https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/extensions/napoleon.html .. _first-contributions tutorial: https://github.com/firstcontributions/first-contributions .. _flake8: https://flake8.pycqa.org/en/stable/ .. _git: https://git-scm.com .. _GitHub's fork and pull request workflow: https://guides.github.com/activities/forking/ .. _guide created by FreeCodeCamp: https://github.com/FreeCodeCamp/how-to-contribute-to-open-source .. _Miniconda: https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html .. _MyST: https://myst-parser.readthedocs.io/en/latest/syntax/syntax.html .. _other kinds of contributions: https://opensource.guide/how-to-contribute .. _pre-commit: https://pre-commit.com/ .. _PyPI: https://pypi.org/ .. _PyScaffold's contributor's guide: https://pyscaffold.org/en/stable/contributing.html .. _Pytest can drop you: https://docs.pytest.org/en/stable/how-to/failures.html#using-python-library-pdb-with-pytest .. _Python Software Foundation's Code of Conduct: https://www.python.org/psf/conduct/ .. _reStructuredText: https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/ .. _Sphinx: https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/ .. _tox: https://tox.wiki/en/stable/ .. _virtual environment: https://realpython.com/python-virtual-environments-a-primer/ .. _virtualenv: https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/stable/
.. _GitHub web interface: https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/working-with-files/managing-files/editing-files .. _GitHub's code editor: https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/working-with-files/managing-files/editing-files