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92 lines
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Contribute to dupeGuru
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======================
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dupeGuru was started as shareware (thus proprietary) so it doesn't have a legacy of
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community-building. It's `been open source`_ for a while now and, although I've ("I" being Virgil
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Dupras, author of the software) always wanted to have people other than me working on dupeGuru, I've
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failed at attracting them.
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Since the end of 2013, I've been putting a lot of efforts into dupeGuru's
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:doc:`developer documentation </developer/index>` and I'm more serious about my commitment to create
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a community around this project.
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So, whatever your skills, if you're interested in contributing to dupeGuru, please do so. Normally,
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this documentation should be enough to get you started, but if it isn't, then **please**,
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`let me know`_ because it's a problem that I'm committed to fix. If there's any situation where you'd
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wish to contribute but some doubt you're having prevent you from going forward, please contact me.
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I'd much prefer to spend the time figuring out with you whether (and how) you can contribute than
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taking the chance of missing that opportunity.
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Development process
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-------------------
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* `Source code repository`_
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* `Issue Tracker`_
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* `Issue labels meaning`_
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dupeGuru's source code is on Github and thus managed in a Git repository. At all times, you should
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be able to build from source a fresh checkout of the ``master`` branch using instructions from the
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``README.md`` file at the root of this project. If you can't, it's a bug. Please report it.
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``master`` is the main development branch, and thus represents what going to be included in the
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next feature release. When needed, we create maintenance branches for bugfixes of the current
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feature release.
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When implementing a big feature, it's possible that it gets its own branch until
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it's stable enough to merge into ``master``.
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Every release is tagged, the tag name containing the edition (for old versions) and its version.
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For example, release 6.6.0 of dupeGuru ME is tagged ``me6.6.0``. Newer releases are tagged only
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with the version number (because editions don't exist anymore), for example ``4.0.0``.
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Once you're past building the software, the :doc:`developer documentation </developer/index>` should
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be enough to get you started with actual development. Then again, proper documentation is a very
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difficult task and, in the case of dupeGuru, this documentation was practically nonexistent until
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late in the project, so it's still lacking.
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However, I'm committed to fix this situation, so if you're in a situation where you lack proper
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documentation to figure something out about this code, please contact me.
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Tasks for non-developers
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------------------------
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**Create and comment issues**. The single most useful way for a user who is not a developer to
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contribute to a software project is by thoroughly documenting a bug or a feature request. Most of
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the time, what we get as developers are emails like "the app crashes" and we spend a lot of time
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trying to figure out the cause of that bug. By properly describing the nature and context of a crash
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(we learn to do that with experience as a user who reports bugs), you help developers so immensely,
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you have no idea.
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It's the same thing with feature requests. Description of a feature request, when thoughts have
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already been given to how such a feature would fit in the current design, are precious to developers
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and help them figure out a clear roadmap for the project.
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So, even if you're not a developer, you can always open a Github account and create/comment issues.
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Your contribution will be much appreciated.
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**Documentation**. This is a bit trickier because dupeGuru's documentation is written with a rather
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complex markup language, `Sphinx`_ (based on `reST`_). To properly work within the documentation,
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you have to know that language. I don't think that learning this language is outside the realm of
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possibility for a non-developer, but it might be a daunting task.
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That being said, if it's a minor modification to the documentation, nothing stops you from opening
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an issue (there's a label for documentation issues, so this kind of issue is relevant to the
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tracker) describing the change you propose to make and I'll be happy to make the change myself (if
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relevant, of course).
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Even if it's a bigger contribution to the documentation you want to make, I probably wouldn't mind
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doing the formatting myself. But in that case, it's better to contact me first to make sure that we
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agree on what should be added to the documentation.
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**Translation**. Creating or improving an existing translation is a very good way to contribute to
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dupeGuru. For more information about how to do that, you can refer to the `translator guide`_.
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.. _been open source: https://www.hardcoded.net/articles/free-as-in-speech-fair-as-in-trade
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.. _let me know: mailto:hsoft@hardcoded.net
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.. _Source code repository: https://github.com/hsoft/dupeguru
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.. _Issue Tracker: https://github.com/hsoft/dupeguru/issues
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.. _Issue labels meaning: https://github.com/hsoft/dupeguru/wiki/issue-labels
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.. _Sphinx: http://sphinx-doc.org/
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.. _reST: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText
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.. _translator guide: https://github.com/hsoft/dupeguru/wiki/Translator-Guide
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