Gocongress

A maintainable web app for the US Go Congress. Copyright (c) 2013 American Go Association

Contribute

1. Prerequisites
   1. Linux (eg. Ubuntu 12.04+) or Mac OS 10.8+
   2. Proficiency with git and sql
   3. Read Getting Started with Rails 3.2
   4. Fork and clone this github repo
2. Install the Ruby version specified in .ruby-version.
   • Use rbenv or compile from source
3. Install postgres 9.2
   1. Practice connecting using the command-line client, psql
      • "permission denied"
      • Client Connection Problems
   2. Make sure you have a role that can create tables
4. App dependencies
   1. Install a js runtime
      • macs come with JavaScriptCore (part of webkit)
      • linux or mac: node (apt-get nodejs)
   2. Install ruby gems using bundler
      1. gem install bundler
      2. bundle install
      3. If a gem fails to install, it may be missing native libraries
         1. nokogiri needs libxml2 and libxslt
         2. pg needs libpq-dev
5. App configuration
   1. Configure rails to talk to your database
      1. cp config/database.example.yml config/database.yml
   2. cp .env.example .env (see Configuration below)
   3. If all is well, bundle exec rake -T should list rake tasks
6. Run the tests
   1. bundle exec rake db:setup
   2. bundle exec rake test:prepare
   3. bundle exec rake will run all specs and tests. if they all pass, you're good to go
7. Submit your contribution
   1. Write a spec that describes your contribution
   2. Push your changes to your fork on github
   3. Submit a pull request

Configuration

ENV variables are stored in a .env file, which is git-ignored. Most of these variables don't belong in source control because they are secret. Others vary by deployment level. This file will be loaded by the dotenv gem.

For local development, cp .env.example .env to get started. I wish we could use foreman to load .env, but it doesn't work with pry or guard and it's overkill for one process. For stage and production use heroku config.

Email for gocongress.org

Email for accounts in the gocongress.org domain is managed through google apps. jared.beck@usgo.org has access to manage these accounts.

Thanks

Special thanks to Lisa Scott, who helped invent, and tirelessly tested, the first year's site in 2011.

• 2013: Chris Kirschner, Judy Debel
• 2012: Arlene Bridges, Bob Bacon, Steve Colburn
• 2011: Lisa Scott, Alf Mikula, Brian David, Andrew Jackson, Steve Colburn