DistributedDevelopment

This page outlines how newly contributed code is merged into the main repository.

Note: Please also check the repository structure and the development workflow for background information.

git allows us to use a distributed development model.

1. Anyone can simply clone the repository and work on the clone. (If you have an account on GitHub then just fork the MDAnalysis/mdanalysis repository.)
2. Once the code in the clone is ready to be integrated in the main development line, send a "pull" request. On GitHub, this means to create a pull request. If you have a publicly accessible git repository elsewhere, send a pull request to the mdnalysis-devel list so that one of the core developers can review the changes and integrate them.

Procedure

Repository on GitHub

The most convenient approach is to use pull requests on GitHub:

1. Submit the pull request.
2. Any pull request is automatically run through the unit tests (via travis-ci). If it does not pass, fix and amend you pull request.
3. Developers will ask questions and comment in the pull request. Participate in the discussion.
4. When everything looks good, a developer will merge your pull request into the development version.

Repository elsewhere

If your repository is not on GitHub, the a workflow like the one below will be used:

fullofgrace88 wants to tackle Issue 2 so they created the clone fullofgrace88-mdanalysis-tpr-reader. They will work on the clone. They provide the following information:

Please merge my fix for Issue #2 and pull from 

   https://code.google.com/r/fullofgrace88-mdanalysis-tpr-reader/

A core developer can create a separate topic branch (here named "Issue/2") in their own local repository for testing anything that comes from the clone:

git remote add fullofgrace88 https://code.google.com/r/fullofgrace88-mdanalysis-tpr-reader 
git fetch --all
git checkout -b Issue/2 fullofgrace88/master

Once this is done, the developer can switch to the topic branch with

git checkout Issue/2

(Switching back to the main development line is git checkout develop.)

Once a pull request comes in, the developer does

git checkout Issue/2
git pull

and reviews/test the changes. If all goes well, the changes are merged into the development branch with

git checkout develop
git merge Issue/2

and eventually pushed to the main repository with git push.