How to get started
Since you clicked the link to get here, you most likely are a developer with C/C++ knowledge and wonder how to start contributing to the Geany project? You will find a short introduction here on how to start.
Introduce yourself
The first step is to introduce yourself so that we know you are there. Begin with subscribing to the mailing lists if you haven't done yet. Then write us a short mail to the Geany-devel mailing list and introduce yourself. We do not require any specific information about you. You decide what you will tell us.
Prepare for developing
Read the HACKING file
Before you begin hacking on Geany, you should have a look on the HACKING file. Important things about coding style and many more are written down there. If you would like to contribute to current SVN revisions of Geany, you should choose the current development version of the HACKING file available here.
Surf through bugs and feature requests
There is a bug tracker at [1] and a feature tracker at [2] which may contain bug reports or even feature requests which may already have a patch attached. To avoid redundant efforts, it's always a good idea to have a look first to see if there is already anything concerning the topic you want to work on.
- http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=153444&atid=787791
- http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=153444&atid=787794
Surf through the mailing lists
There are also mailing lists archives where you can find out if topics have already been discussed. It's a good idea, to have at least a quick look there too. You can find them here:
Step in and dive into the Geany project
There are a few different points where you can step in and begin developing and improving Geany.
Fix bugs
You can fix any bug you found in the bug tracker and either send a patch to the Geany-devel mailing list or attach the patch directly to the concerning bug.
Add new features
Take a feature you found on the feature tracker and decide if it is a feature which should be implemented in the Geany core or if it is better that it is implemented as a plugin. If you're not sure, you can discuss this on the Geany-devel mailing list. When you have decided to implement the feature in the Geany core, go ahead and check out or update the current SVN trunk of Geany, implement your feature and send us a patch to the Geany-devel mailing list or attach a patch to the concerned request on the feature tracker.
Write a plugin
You can find a wishlist of plugin features wished for by users at [1] or even implement your own plugin wish. Note that the wishlist just contains wishes for plugins and shouldn't contain a wish for a core feature. Those should go to the feature tracker of Geany. If you find any wish of which you think may be better realized in the Geany core, feel free to add it to the feature tracker, but don't forget to add a hint that this wish is also listed in the plugins wishlist.
If you're going to write a plugin it would be cool if you write your README file in restructuredText. It can automagically be used for the plugins.geany.org website then.
- http://www.geany.org/Support/PluginWishlist
Dive deeper
When you like contributing to the Geany project and have fun with implementing things for Geany, you can even dive deeper.
Request SVN access for Geany-Plugins
There's a Subversion repository available for anyone developing plugins. Please see the announcement. If you like to have SVN access for Geany or Geany Plugins, register on Sourceforge.net and contact on of the authors, he will set up access for you then.
Geany
