CKAN is open source and contributions are welcome. However, we have some guidelines for check-ins to ensure that all developers can work well together.

Check-ins

1. Work on the right branch - see BranchingPolicy.
2. Write tests for all changes. Unit tests go into ckan/tests/{area}/ and functional tests go into ckan/tests/functional/ . Tests describe intent and stop the code regressing in the future.
3. Run all the tests before you commit your code. It only takes 5 minutes! nosetests --ckan ckan/tests

Starting out

• Before you can commit changes to the OKF repo, you'll need access rights - ask for these on ckan-dev?.

Life-cycle of a change

Unless it is a terribly minor change:

• Create a ticket with your suggestion and design detail as necessary.
• Send a link to the ticket to ckan-discuss and ask for suggestions.
• Do it, whilst leaving the repo in a good state at all times (i.e. builds and works). Use another branch or bitbucket if necessary.
• When done, close the ticket and announce it on ckan-discuss.

Don't break the build

• Keep an eye on ​buildbot to make sure you don't break the build. If you're a regular developer, ask to be added to the buildbot emails. Don't wait to be nagged by other frustrated developers ;-)
• If you break the build, please fix it quickly. If it may take time then email ckan-dev? to let others know what the plan is.