Documentation Contribute

Table of Contents How to Check Out and Contribute Check out the Code Linux / Mac / Windows with cygwin Windows How to Contribute

How to Check Out and Contribute

Check out the Code

To just look at the code, you can make a read-only checkout by doing the following. You will be able to make local changes and "commit" them locally, but you won't be able to push them anywhere to share them.

Linux / Mac / Windows with cygwin

1. Install git. For most Debian-based Linux distros,

   apt-get install git-core

   .
2. Clone the repository. This fetches the entire history to your local computer so you can review history, see differences, and build the source.

   git clone git://github.com/openitg/openitg.git

Windows

1. Download msysGit and install it. It's needed even if you use other tools.
2. Download TortoiseGit and install it.
3. Clone the repository, URL is

   git://github.com/openitg/openitg.git

How to Contribute

To contribute, instead of just checking out the code read-only, you should create your own "fork" in github so you can ask other people to review your changes and merge them into the project.

1. Create an account on Github, it's free!
2. Go to the OpenITG Repository and click "Fork"
3. Now you will be in your own copy of the repository. You can clone it by following the directions above with the URL #

   [email protected]:<YOURNAME>/openitg.git

   or you can add it to an existing clone of the other repository by running

   git remote add personal [email protected]:openitg/openitg.git

4. Make your changers
5. Commit your changes locally:
   1. Show modified or added files with

      git status

   2. For each added or modified file, run

      git add file...

   3. View the diff you are about to commit with

      git diff --cached

   4. Commit the change with

      git commit

      - be sure to enter a suitable commit message to help us understand your change!
6. Once you have committed your changes locally, push them to your personal repo by running

   git push <remote> <branch>:master

   where remote is "origin" or "personal" depending on which you did for step 3 above, and branch is the branch you are working on (master by default).
7. Finally, Submit a "Pull Request"
   1. On your personal repository page, click "Pull Request"
   2. Write a short description of your change. Be sure to include the goal, any bugs fixed, features added, etc, and any credit you wish to have.
   3. "Base Branch" is the branch you want to put your changes on (usually master) and "Head Branch" is the branch in your repository you made your changes to (often master).
   4. Click "send pull request" to ask us to review your change and pull it into OpenITG!

See? Easy! Also, you didn't have to ask us for any special permissions, or wait for us to respond, you could go and make your changes yourself, build and test your own copy, and have us merge your changes whenever someone has time. You never have to wait for us!

For more details on how to develop OpenITG see Documentation/DeveloperGuide.