Contributor Information

Thanks for considering contribution!  There are several ways that users can contribute to the Geoportal Server project. One is by logging bugs and feature requests. Another way is to submit code through the Patch process.

Bugs and Feature Requests

 The Geoportal team would like to work together with the community to improve the Geoportal Server. Users are encouraged to submit bugs and feature requests to the project. The Geoportal Server team will review the submitted bugs and features weekly to determine a course of action. The more information the better as this will allow the team to reproduce the bug or fully understand the feature request. As decisions are made about whether to include or exclude features, the Geoportal team will post these to the site to keep contributors informed and allow contributors to elaborate on their requests.

• Bugs can be reported at the SourceForge Bug Tracker site
• Feature requests can be submitted at the SourceForge Feature Request Tracker site

Contributing to the Trunk: How to Create a Patch

The Patch is a file that contains only differences between two sets of files (old vs. new or original vs. update) in such a way that the patch can be applied to other source code files with the same command.

To create a patch, contributors need to use the SVN diff/patch command. For Windows, SVN clients such as TortoiseSVN support this. For Linux, contributors can use console linux commands diff/patch.

To create a patch is simple:

1. A contributor first synchronizes their local copy with the Source Forge site to get the latest code, and makes proper fixes/changes in the local copy.
2. By using the diff command (for linux) or "create a patch" in the Tortoise context menu, create a patch file on the folder level. Please consult the requisite SVN or Linux documentation for further information.
3. Before submitting the created patch, the submitter should test the patch to verify the patch works and it does not break other parts of the Geoportal Server project.
4. The contributor then posts the created patch file to the Geoportal Server Patches page. The contributor should include the feature or bug ID if applicable, and explain enough for reviewers to understand the patch and how to test it.

 Once a contributor shows their consistent dedication for the Geoportal Server project and quality of their work, the Geoportal Server team can consider giving write access to that contributor.

Patch Review Process

The patch review process consists of two steps: Patch testing and Code review.

Step 1 - Patch testing:

• One of Geoportal Server team members (reviewer) will test the submitted patch by applying the patch to a local copy of the current sourceforge code. Then the reviewer will verify the bug or feature.
• For cases where a patch does not work or what the patch does is not clear, the reviewer notifies the original submitter to clarify the questions or issues, and the current review process is postponed.

Step 2 - Code review:

• If a submitted patch passes Step 1, the code and the changes will be reviewed by a group of Geoportal Server team members. During the meeting, all the patches for the week will be reviewed by the code review group.
• For cases where a patch does not meet quality standard in coding, the Geoportal Server team will notify the submitter with feedback. Then the original submitter can revise their code and resubmit for another iteration of the review process.
• For cases where a patch passes this review, the patch will be applied to the Geoportal Server sourceforge project by a project member who has privileges to commit code.

Documentation

Coming Soon