Contributing

Thank you for your interest in contributing to pyplis! This guide will help you get started.

Git Branching Strategy

pyplis uses the following branching strategy:

• master: Contains only stable, released code. New commits only arrive here through merges from next-release when preparing a new release.

• next-release: The primary development branch where new features and fixes are integrated for the upcoming release.

• feature branches: Created from next-release for developing new features or fixes.

Workflow

1. Create a feature branch from next-release:

   git checkout next-release
   git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
   

2. Make your changes, commit them, and push to your fork

3. Create a pull request targeting the next-release branch

4. After review and approval, your changes will be merged into next-release

5. When ready for release, next-release will be merged into master and a new release tag created

This strategy ensures that: - The master branch always contains stable, released code - Issues remain open until features/fixes are properly released - Development and testing can proceed without affecting the stable release - The branch name clearly indicates where unreleased changes are staged

Making Changes

1. Fork the repository on GitHub

2. Clone your fork locally:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/pyplis.git
   cd pyplis
   git remote add upstream https://github.com/jgliss/pyplis.git
   

3. Create a feature branch as described above

4. Make your changes

5. Add tests if applicable

6. Update documentation if needed

7. Submit a pull request

For more detailed information about the codebase please refer to the API documentation.