HACKING.txt

Hacking on Pyramid
==================

Here are some guidelines about hacking on Pyramid.

Using a Development Checkout
----------------------------

Below is a quick start on creating a development environment using a Pyramid
checkout.

- Create a new directory somewhere and ``cd`` to it::

  $ mkdir ~/hack-on-pyramid
  $ cd ~/hack-on-pyramid

- Check out a read-only copy of the Pyramid source::

  $ git clone git://github.com/Pylons/pyramid.git

  (alternately, create a writeable fork on GitHub and check that out).

- Create a virtualenv in which to install Pyramid::

  $ virtualenv2.6 --no-site-packages env

- Install ``setuptools-git`` into the virtualenv (for good measure, as we're
  using git to do version control)::

  $ env/bin/easy_install setuptools-git

- Install Pyramid from the checkout into the virtualenv using ``setup.py
  develop`` (running ``setup.py develop`` *must* be done while the current
  working directory is the ``pyramid`` checkout directory)::

  $ cd pyramid
  $ ../env/bin/python setup.py develop

- At that point, you should be able to create new Pyramid projects by using
  ``pcreate``::

  $ cd ../env
  $ bin/pcreate -s starter starter

- And install those projects (also using ``setup.py develop``) into the
  virtualenv::

  $ cd starter
  $ ../bin/python setup.py develop

Adding Features
---------------

In order to add a feature to Pyramid:

- The feature must be documented in both the API and narrative
  documentation (in ``docs/``).

- The feature must work fully on the following CPython versions: 2.6,
  2.7, and 3.2 on both UNIX and Windows.

- The feature must work on the latest version of PyPy.

- The feature must not cause installation or runtime failure on App Engine.
  If it doesn't cause installation or runtime failure, but doesn't actually
  *work* on these platforms, that caveat should be spelled out in the
  documentation.

- The feature must not depend on any particular persistence layer
  (filesystem, SQL, etc).

- The feature must not add unnecessary dependencies (where
  "unnecessary" is of course subjective, but new dependencies should
  be discussed).

The above requirements are relaxed for scaffolding dependencies.  If a
scaffold has an install-time dependency on something that doesn't work on a
particular platform, that caveat should be spelled out clearly in *its*
documentation (within its ``docs/`` directory).

Coding Style
------------

- PEP8 compliance.  Whitespace rules are relaxed: not necessary to put
  2 newlines between classes.  But 80-column lines, in particular, are
  mandatory.

Running Tests
--------------

- To run tests for Pyramid on a single Python version, run ``python setup.py
  test`` against the using the Python interpreter from virtualenv into which
  you've ``setup.py develop``-ed Pyramid.

- To run the full set of Pyramid tests on all platforms, install ``tox``
  (http://codespeak.net/~hpk/tox/) into a system Python.  The ``tox`` console
  script will be installed into the scripts location for that Python.  While
  ``cd``'ed to the Pyramid checkout root directory (it contains ``tox.ini``),
  invoke the ``tox`` console script.  This will read the ``tox.ini`` file and
  execute the tests on multiple Python versions and platforms; while it runs,
  it creates a virtualenv for each version/platform combination.  For
  example::

   $ /usr/bin/easy_install tox
   $ cd ~/hack-on-pyramid/pyramid
   $ /usr/bin/tox

Test Coverage
-------------

- The codebase *must* have 100% test statement coverage after each commit.
  You can test coverage via ``tox -e coverage``, or alternately by installing
  ``nose`` and ``coverage`` into your virtualenv, and running ``setup.py
  nosetests --with-coverage``.

Documentation Coverage
----------------------

- If you fix a bug, and the bug requires an API or behavior
  modification, all documentation in this package which references
  that API or behavior must change to reflect the bug fix, ideally in
  the same commit that fixes the bug or adds the feature.

- To build and review docs:

  1. Install ``tests_require`` dependencies from Pyramid's setup.py into your
     virtualenv.

  2. From the ``docs`` directory of the Pyramid checkout run ``make html
     SPHINXBUILD=/path/to/your/virtualenv/bin/sphinx-build``.

  3.  Open the _build/html/index.html file to see the resulting rendering.

Change Log
----------

- Feature additions and bugfixes must be added to the ``CHANGES.txt``
  file in the prevailing style.  Changelog entries should be long and
  descriptive, not cryptic.  Other developers should be able to know
  what your changelog entry means.