angular.js/docs/contribute.ngdoc

@ngdoc overview
@name Contributing
@description

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# Open Source

`Angular` is an open source project licensed under the {@link
http://github.com/angular/angular.js/blob/master/LICENSE MIT license}. Your contributions are
always welcome. When working with `angular` source base, please follow the guidelines provided on
this page.

* <a href="#H1_2">Contributing to Source Code</a>
* <a href="#H1_3">Applying Code Standards</a>
* <a href="#H1_4">Checking Out and Building `Angular`</a>
* <a href="#H1_5">Submitting Your Changes</a>



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# Contributing to Source Code

We'd love for you to contribute to our source code and to make `angular` even better than it is
today! Here are the guidelines we'd like you to use:

* Major changes that you intend to contribute to the project must be discussed first on our {@link
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/angular mailing list} so that we can better
coordinate our efforts, prevent  duplication of work, and help you to craft the change so that it
is successfully accepted upstream.
* Small changes and bug fixes can be crafted and submitted to Github as a <a href="#H1_5">pull
request</a>.



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# Applying Code Standards

To ensure consistency throughout the source code, keep these rules in mind as you are working:

* All features or bug fixes must be tested by one or more <a href="#unit-tests">specs</a>.
* All public API methods must be documented with ngdoc, an extended version of jsdoc (we added
support for markdown and templating via `@ngdoc` tag). To see how we document our APIs, please
check out the existing ngdocs.
* With the exceptions listed below, we follow the rules contained in {@link
http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/javascriptguide.xml Google's JavaScript Style
Guide}:

  * Do not use namespaces: Instead, we wrap the entire `angular` code base in an anonymous closure
and export our API explicitly rather than implicitly.
  * Wrap all code at 100 characters.
  * Instead of complex inheritance hierarchies, we prefer simple objects. We use prototypical
inheritance only when absolutely necessary.
  * We love functions and closures and, whenever possible, prefer them over objects.
  * To write concise code that can be better minified, internally we use aliases that map to the
external API. See our existing code to see what we mean.
  * We don't go crazy with type annotations for private internal APIs unless it's an internal API
that is used throughout `angular`. The best guidance is to do what makes the most sense.


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# Checking Out and Building Angular

The `angular` source code is hosted at {@link http://github.com Github}, which we also use to
accept code contributions. Several steps are needed to check out and build `angular`:


## Installation Dependencies

Before you can build `angular`, you must install or configure the following dependencies on your
machine:

* {@link http://rake.rubyforge.org Rake}: We use Rake as our build system, which is pre-installed
on most Macintosh and Linux machines. If that is not true in your case, you can grab it from the
Rake website.

* {@link http://nodejs.org Node.js}: We use Node to generate the documentation and to run a
development web server. Depending on your system, you can install Node either from source or as a
pre-packaged bundle.

* Java: The Java runtime is used to run {@link http://code.google.com/p/js-test-driver
JsTestDriver} (JSTD), which we use to run our unit test suite. JSTD binaries are part of the
`angular` source base, which means there is no need to install or configure it separately.
* Git: The {@link http://help.github.com/mac-git-installation Github Guide to Installing Git} is
quite a good source for information on Git.


## Creating a Github Account and Forking Angular

To create a Github account, follow the instructions {@link https://github.com/signup/free here}.
Afterwards, go ahead and {@link http://help.github.com/forking fork} the {@link
https://github.com/angular/angular.js main angular repository}.


## Building `Angular`

To build `angular`, you check out the source code and use Rake to generate the non-minified and
minified `angular` files:

1. To clone your Github repository, run:

        git clone git@github.com:<github username>/angular.js.git

2. To go to the `angular` directory, run:

        cd angular.js

3. To add the main `angular` repository as an upstream remote to your repository, run:

        git remote add upstream https://github.com/angular/angular.js.git

4. To build `angular`, run:

        rake package

The build output can be located under the `build` directory. It consists of the following files and
directories:

* `angular-x.y.z-<git sha>.tgz` — This is the complete tarball, which  contains all of the release
build artifacts.
* `angular.js` — The non-minified `angular` script.
* `angular.min.js` —  The minified `angular` script.
* `angular-scenario.js` — The `angular` End2End test runner.
* `angular-ie-compat.js` —  The Internet Explorer compatibility patch file.
* `docs/` — A directory that contains all of the files needed to run `docs.angularjs.org`.
* `docs/index.html` — The main page for the documentation.
* `docs/docs-scenario.html` — The End2End test runner for the documentation application.


## Running a Local Development Web Server

To debug or test code, it is often useful to have a local HTTP server. For this purpose, we have
made available a local web server based on Node.js.

1. To start the web server, run:

        ./nodeserver.sh

2. To access the local server, go to this website:

        http://localhost:8000/

   By default, it serves the contents of the `angular` project directory.


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## Running the Unit Test Suite

Our unit and integration tests are written with Jasmine and executed with JsTestDriver.  To run the
tests:

1. To start the JSTD server, run:

        ./server.sh

2. To capture one or more browsers, go to this website:

        http://localhost:9876/

3. To trigger a test execution, run:

         ./test.sh

4. To automatically run the test suite each time one or more of the files in the project directory
is changed, you can install `watchr` and then run:

        watchr watchr.rb

5. To view the output of each test run, you can tail this log file:

        ./logs/jstd.log


## Running the End2End Test Suite

To run the End2End test suite:

1. Start the local web server.
2. In a browser, go to:

        http://localhost:8000/build/docs/docs-scenario.html

   The tests are executed automatically.



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# Submitting Your Changes

To create and submit a change:

1. Create a new branch off the master for your changes:

        git branch my-fix-branch

2. Check out the branch:

        git checkout my-fix-branch

3. Create your patch, make sure to have plenty of tests (that pass).

4. Commit your changes:

        git commit -a

5. Run JavaScript Lint and be sure to address all new warnings and errors:

        rake lint

6. Push your branch to Github:

        git push origin my-fix-branch

7. In Github, send a pull request to `angular:master`.

8. When the patch is reviewed and merged, delete your branch and pull yours — and other — changes
from the main (upstream) repository:
  * To delete the branch in Github, run:

            git push origin :my-fix-branch

  * To check out the master branch, run:

            git checkout master

  * To delete a local branch, run:

            git branch -D my-fix-branch

  * To update your master with the latest upstream version, run:

            git pull --ff upstream master

That's it! Thank you for your contribution!