8. Contributing

Please post on the rootpy-dev@googlegroups.com list if you have ideas or contributions. Feel free to fork rootpy on GitHub and later submit a pull request.

8.1. Running the Tests

Testing requires the nose package. Once rootpy is installed, it may be tested (from outside the source directory) by running:

nosetests --exe -v -a '!slow' rootpy

rootpy can also be tested before installing by running this from inside the source directory:

make test

8.2. Writing Documentation

All classes, methods, functions and modules should be documented according to the NumPy/SciPy documentation standard.

8.2.1. Building the docs

To build the docs as html (you need Sphinx installed):

make

The html is then found in _build/html. To preview the docs locally before uploading:

make show

8.2.2. Uploading the docs

If you have not done so already, add a reference to the main rootpy repository from your fork:

git remote add upstream https://github.com/rootpy/rootpy.git

Create a local branch that tracks the main gh-pages branch:

git fetch upstream
git branch gh-pages upstream/gh-pages

To upload the docs to http://rootpy.github.com/rootpy/:

make gh-pages

You will be prompted for your username and password.

8.3. Git Usage: Merging and Rebasing

Read this article for an in-depth discussion on git best practices.

Try to keep your history as simple as possible. Avoid merges on private code unless there is a particularly good reason to. Instead of merging in rootpy/master to update your local branch, use rebase instead. Merging in rootpy/master risks creating criss-cross merges which means you can actually lose code if you’re not careful. Git’s merging algorithm is actually quite dumb, so it’s best to keep it simple.

See rootpy’s network for a graphical view of rootpy’s entire history:

https://github.com/rootpy/rootpy/network

Let’s all try our best to keep this graph as clean as possible.