Difference between revisions of "Development"
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The GUI is built with [http://www.gtk.org GTK+] version 2.24. | The GUI is built with [http://www.gtk.org GTK+] version 2.24. | ||
| − | + | We're supporting two build systems [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_build_system GNU autotools] and [https://cmake.org CMake]. Understanding this complex system isn't generally necessary for fixing simple bugs, but more complex work will. Here's an [http://www.sourceware.org/autobook/autobook/autobook_toc.html excellent autotools tutorial] and a [https://cmake.org/cmake-tutorial/ short CMake one]. | |
| − | We use [http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen Doxygen] to document the sources, including the C API. Details about our use are on the [[Doxygen]] wiki page. The ''Help Manual'' and ''Concepts Guide'' are formatted using [http://www.docbook.org/ DocBook], an SGML markup language which enables us to | + | We use [http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen Doxygen] to document the sources, including the C API. Details about our use are on the [[Doxygen]] wiki page. The ''Help Manual'' and ''Concepts Guide'' are formatted using [http://www.docbook.org/ DocBook], an SGML markup language which enables us to publish them in several formats. Note that these documents have a separate [https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash-docs repository]. |
The development team's plans for future work are outlined in the [[Roadmap]], and some other suggested enhancements may be found in the [[WishList]] as well as the many enhancements requested in [[Bugzilla]]. | The development team's plans for future work are outlined in the [[Roadmap]], and some other suggested enhancements may be found in the [[WishList]] as well as the many enhancements requested in [[Bugzilla]]. | ||
Revision as of 22:19, 5 July 2016
Contents
Overview
GnuCash is written principally in C. A Guile interpreter is built in and parts of Gnucash--principally reports, but also parts of the user configuration, file import, and other small parts--are in Scheme. The C API is wrapped for Guile access with SWIG; Python wrappers can be created with a configure option.
The GUI is built with GTK+ version 2.24.
We're supporting two build systems GNU autotools and CMake. Understanding this complex system isn't generally necessary for fixing simple bugs, but more complex work will. Here's an excellent autotools tutorial and a short CMake one.
We use Doxygen to document the sources, including the C API. Details about our use are on the Doxygen wiki page. The Help Manual and Concepts Guide are formatted using DocBook, an SGML markup language which enables us to publish them in several formats. Note that these documents have a separate repository.
The development team's plans for future work are outlined in the Roadmap, and some other suggested enhancements may be found in the WishList as well as the many enhancements requested in Bugzilla.
Object Orientation
Most of the code is written in an object-oriented style. Some of it uses GObject, some uses a home-grown GObject-like system called QofObject, and some just does what GObject does in straight C. Understanding how to use that is an important skill to developing for GnuCash. The next development cycle will include migrating those parts of Gnucash other than the GUI to C++; see our C++ page for details and resources. We are deferring updating the GUI either to Gtk+-3 or some other framework for at least another development cycle.
Preliminaries
Please subscribe to the Mailing Lists and introduce yourself to the development team. Some of the team also hang out on IRC so you can interact more directly.
Read the two files HACKING and README.svn
Look through the API documentation.
Getting Sources and Building
You can follow the git instructions for cloning the repository and preparing patches.
Build instructions for various platforms are described or linked at Building.
Coding Guidelines
- Please try to develop according to Test Driven Development principles, following our Testing guidelines.
- Please follow our coding style.
- If your code will contain textual output for the user, have a look at Translation: Tips for Developers.
- Be sure that make check passes before preparing your patch or pushing your commit.
Documentation
If your code adds or changes some functionality, do not forget the documentation.
- Make sure that global (i.e. not static) functions are documented with Doxygen-formatted comments.
- Try to keep the README files and that in src/doc up to date.
- Update the relevant sections in Help Manual and the Concept Guide.
Submitting Patches
Once you have your changes written and well tested—make check will run a bunch of tests—you'll want to submit it so that someone with commit privilege can add it to the official sources. There are two ways we accept code:
- Github pull requests: This is the preferred method if the change is non-trivial and there isn't already a bug report on the matter.
- Attach a patch to a bug report:
- Make a patch.
- If there's already a bug about it in Bugzilla, just attach the patch to the bug. Be sure to check the "patch" checkbox on the attachment form.
- If there isn't a bug already (be sure to search!), you'll need to create a new one to attach your patch to:
- Describe the problem or improvement that your patch addresses in the initial comment.
- Open the bug before you commit your changes so that you can include the bug number in the commit message.
Tools
Text editors / IDE:
- Most developers seem to have used Emacs as IDE.
- Additionally there are some experiences with Eclipse.
- Some are using QtCreator.
For the GTK GUI:
Some may be interested in our experiments with CMake and Qt: Cutecash.
See also
An informative mail from the archives.
