This document summarizes the most important points for people interested in contributing to Vitruvian, especially via bug reports or pull requests.
- Reporting bugs
- Proposing features or improvements
- Contributing pull requests
- Communicating with developers
Report bugs here. Please follow the instructions in the chosen template.
Make sure that the bug you are experiencing is reproducible in the latest Vitruvian releases.
Feel free to submit an issue with the Feature request template!
link: https://github.com/two-shots-later/vitruvian-vtt/issues/new?assignees=&labels=&projects=&template=feature_request.md&title=
If you want to add new features, please make sure that:
- This functionality is desired, which means that it solves a common use case that several users will need in their real-life projects.
- You talked to other developers on how to implement it best.
- Even if it doesn't get merged, your PR is useful for future work by another developer.
Similar rules can be applied when contributing bug fixes - it's always best to discuss the implementation in the bug report first if you are not 100% about what would be the best fix.
Try to make simple PRs that handle one specific topic. Just like for reporting issues, it's better to open 3 different PRs that each address a different issue than one big PR with three commits. This makes it easier to review, approve, and merge the changes independently.
When updating your fork with upstream changes, please use git pull --rebase
to avoid creating "merge commits". Those commits unnecessarily pollute the git
history when coming from PRs.
Also try to make commits that bring the app from one stable state to another stable state, i.e. if your first commit has a bug that you fixed in the second commit, try to merge them together before making your pull request. This includes fixing build issues or typos, adding documentation, etc.
This Git style guide also has some good practices to have in mind.
The way you format your commit messages is quite important to ensure that the commit history and changelog will be easy to read and understand. A Git commit message is formatted as a short title (first line) and an extended description (everything after the first line and an empty separation line).
The short title is the most important part, as it is what will appear in the changelog or in the GitHub interface unless you click the "expand" button. Try to keep that first line under 72 characters, but you can go slightly above if necessary to keep the sentence clear.
It should be written in English, starting with a capital letter, and usually with a verb in imperative form. A typical bugfix would start with "Fix", while the addition of a new feature would start with "Add". A prefix can be added to specify the Vitruvian area affected by the commit. Some examples:
- Add Wizard Class support
- Show doc tooltips when hovering properties in the theme editor
- Fix Character Creator box sizes and custom data defaults
If your commit fixes a reported issue, please include it in the description of the PR (not in the title, or the commit message) using one of the GitHub closing keywords such as "Fixes #1234". This will cause the issue to be closed automatically if the PR is merged. Adding it to the commit message is easier, but adds a lot of unnecessary updates in the issue distracting from the thread.
Here's an example of a well-formatted commit message (note how the extended description is also manually wrapped at 80 chars for readability):
Prevent French fries carbonization by fixing heat regulation
When using the French fries frying module, Vitruvian would not regulate the heat
and thus bring the oil bath to supercritical liquid conditions, thus causing
unwanted side effects in the character creater.
By fixing the regulation system via an added binding to the internal feature,
this commit now ensures that Vitruvian will not go past the ebullition temperature
of cooking oil under normal atmospheric conditions.
When fixing a bug or contributing a new feature, we recommend including unit tests in the same commit as the rest of the pull request. Unit tests are pieces of code that compare the output to a predetermined expected result to detect regressions.
Pull requests that include tests are more likely to be merged, since we can have greater confidence in them not being the target of regressions in the future.
For bugs, the unit tests should cover the functionality that was previously broken. If done well, this ensures regressions won't appear in the future again. For new features, the unit tests should cover the newly added functionality, testing both the "success" and "expected failure" cases if applicable.
Feel free to contribute standalone pull requests to add new tests or improve existing tests as well.
Vitruvian has a discord! All are welcome @ https://discord.gg/eq43DZ5M
Thanks for your interest in contributing!
—The Vitruvian development team