CONTRIBUTING.md

   1 # Contributing
   2
   3 **Just upgraded to version 0.6.0?** Be sure to checkout the
   4 [changelog](CHANGELOG.md) to see what’s new, and what has changed.
   5
   6 ## Reporting issues
   7
   8 _Please_ read the following four lines!
   9
  10 - Use **English.**
  11 - Search for **duplicates**—also closed issues.
  12 - Bugs: Include **VimFx version**, Firefox version, OS and keyboard layout.
  13   Also, **did it use to work before?**
  14 - Feature requests: Include a specific detailed **use case** example.
  15
  16
  17 ---
  18
  19
  20 ## Localizing
  21
  22 Contribute your localization! Copy the extension/locale/en-US directory and go
  23 wild!
  24
  25
  26 ## Developing
  27
  28 ### Versioning and branches
  29
  30 VimFx uses three numbers to describe its version: x.y.z, or major.minor.patch.
  31 However, in reality it is more like 0.y.z. The first number (major) won’t
  32 change until we feel that we don’t have any major changes coming. So until then
  33 it is only worth describing the two other numbers.
  34
  35 The middle number (minor) is incremented when a release contains new features,
  36 major refactors or changes to defaults. The idea is that when a user installs a
  37 new minor release, they should expect changes that they need to get familiar
  38 with.
  39
  40 The last number (patch) is incremented when a release contains only (simple)
  41 bugfixes, new localizations and updates to localizations. If a user installs a
  42 new patch release they shouldn’t have to get familiar with anything. Things
  43 should be like they were before, just a little better.
  44
  45 VimFx uses two branches: **master** and **develop**. master is the latest
  46 stable version plus trivial bugfixes. develop is the next minor version. master
  47 is merged into develop when needed, and develop is merged into master before it
  48 is going to be released.
  49
  50 In short, “backwards-incomptaible” changes and new features go into the develop
  51 branch, while most other things go into the master branch.
  52
  53 ### Pull requests
  54
  55 Create a new topic branch, based on either master or develop. See above.
  56
  57     git checkout -b myTopicBranch master
  58     # or
  59     git checkout -b myTopicBranch develop
  60
  61 Code! Try to follow the following simple rules:
  62
  63 - Always use parenthesis when calling functions.
  64 - Always use explicit `return`s, unless the function is a one-liner.
  65 - Always use single quotes, unless you use interpolation.
  66 - Prefer interpolation over concatenation, both in strings and in regexes.
  67 - Always use the following forms (not any aliases):
  68   - `true` and `false`
  69   - `==` and `!=`
  70   - `and` and `or`
  71   - `not`
  72 - Put spaces inside `[]` and `{}` when destructuring and interpolating, but not
  73   in array and object literals.
  74 - Comment when necessary. Comments should be full sentences.
  75 - Try to keep lines at most 80 characters long.
  76 - Indent using two spaces.
  77
  78 Please lint your code. See below.
  79
  80 Run the tests and make sure that all pass. See below. Add tests if possible.
  81
  82 Break up your pull request in several commits if necessary. The first line of
  83 commit messages should be a short summary. Add a blank line and then a nicely
  84 formatted markdown description after it if needed.
  85
  86 Finally send a pull request to same branch as you based your topic branch on
  87 (master or develop).
  88
  89 ### Building VimFx
  90
  91 1. Install [Node.js].
  92 2. Run `npm install` to download dependencies and development dependencies.
  93 3. Run `npm install -g gulp` to be able to run [`gulp`][gulp] commands.
  94    (Alternatively, you may use `./node_modules/.bin/gulp`.)
  95 4. Create a new Firefox profile for development.
  96 5. Install the [Extension Auto-Installer] add-on in your development profile.
  97
  98 - `gulp build` creates the `build/` directory. It is basically a copy of the
  99   `extension/` directory, with the .coffee files compiled to .js.
 100 - `gulp xpi` zips up the `build/` directory into `build/VimFx.xpi`.
 101 - `gulp push` (or just `gulp`) pushes `build/VimFx.xpi` to
 102   `http://localhost:8888`, which causes the Extension Auto-Installer to
 103   automatically install it. (No need to restart Firefox.)
 104 - `gulp clean` removes the `build/` directory.
 105 - `gulp lint` lints your code.
 106 - `gulp sync-locale` syncs all locales against the en-US locale. To sync against
 107   for example the sv-SE locale instead, pass `--sv-SE` as an option. See also
 108   the “Syncing locales” section below.
 109 - Use the `--test` or `-t` option to include the unit test files. The output of
 110   the tests are `console.log`ed. See the browser console, or start Firefox from
 111   the command line to see it.
 112
 113 An easy workflow is code, `gulp`, test, repeat. (Use `gulp -t` to also run the
 114 unit tests.)
 115
 116 If you’re having problems, don’t forget to try `npm update`. Your problem might
 117 be in a dependency and already have been fixed.
 118
 119 [Node.js]: http://nodejs.org/
 120 [gulp]: https://github.com/gulpjs/gulp
 121 [Extension Auto-Installer]: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/autoinstaller
 122
 123 ### Syncing locales
 124
 125 This is usually not done by translators, but by developers who change, add or
 126 remove features that involves localized text.
 127
 128 If you add, remove or reorder translations in a file, do so in _one_ of the
 129 locales (one that is easy for you to test—but always write new translations in
 130 English!). If you modified the en-US locale, run `gulp sync-locales` (or `gulp
 131 sync-locales --en-US`—substitute “en-US” with a locale of choice if needed).
 132 That rewrites all other locales so that:
 133
 134 - Old translations are removed.
 135 - New translations are added (in English).
 136 - All translations appear in the same order.
 137
 138 If you modify an existing translation in a file and want to update all other
 139 locales to use the new wording:
 140
 141 - If possible, edit all other locales by hand to save as much translated text as
 142   possible.
 143 - Otherwise:
 144   1. Before modifying existing translations, copy the file in question and add
 145      the extension “.old” to the filename. For example, copy a
 146      “vimfx.properties” file to “vimfx.properties.old”.
 147   2. Make your modifications (in for example “vimfx.properties”, leaving
 148      “vimfx.properties.old” intact).
 149   3. Run `gulp sync-locales`. It does the same thing as before, except that if a
 150      translation has changed compared to an “.old”-file, the newly changed
 151      translation is used in all locales, replacing what was there before.
 152   4. Remove the “.old”-file.
 153
 154 Note that `gulp sync-locales` requires every translation to be in a single line.
 155 In other words, do not line-wrap translations. Also don’t bother adding comments
 156 when translating locale files, since they’ll likely be removed by `gulp
 157 sync-locales`.
 158
 159
 160 ### Making a release
 161
 162 Before making a release, it might be wise to:
 163
 164 - Run `npm update` and/or `npm outdated` to see if there are any updates to
 165   dependencies. Investigate what’s new and test!
 166 - Run `gulp sync-locales` to make sure that no translation has been left behind.
 167 - Inspect the build/ directory to see that nothing strange has been included or
 168   generated by `gulp build`.
 169
 170 1. Add a list of changes since the last version at the top of CHANGELOG.md.
 171 2. Update the version in package.json (see above about versioning), and, if
 172    needed, the min and max Firefox versions.
 173 3. Run `gulp release`, which does the following for you:
 174   - Adds a heading with the new version number and today’s date at the top of
 175     CHANGELOG.md.
 176   - Commits CHANGELOG.md and package.json.
 177   - Tags the commit.
 178 4. Run `gulp xpi` to rebuild with the new version number.
 179 5. Push to github. Don’t forget to push the tag!
 180 6. Make a “release” out of the new tag on github, and attach VimFx.xpi to it.
 181 7. Publish on addons.mozilla.org. Add the release notes list as HTML.