github.com/ttysteale/packer@v0.8.2-0.20150708160520-e5f8ea386ed8/CONTRIBUTING.md (about) 1 # Contributing to Packer 2 3 **First:** if you're unsure or afraid of _anything_, just ask 4 or submit the issue or pull request anyways. You won't be yelled at for 5 giving your best effort. The worst that can happen is that you'll be 6 politely asked to change something. We appreciate any sort of contributions, 7 and don't want a wall of rules to get in the way of that. 8 9 However, for those individuals who want a bit more guidance on the 10 best way to contribute to the project, read on. This document will cover 11 what we're looking for. By addressing all the points we're looking for, 12 it raises the chances we can quickly merge or address your contributions. 13 14 ## Issues 15 16 ### Reporting an Issue 17 18 * Make sure you test against the latest released version. It is possible 19 we already fixed the bug you're experiencing. 20 21 * Run the command with debug ouput with the environment variable 22 `PACKER_LOG`. For example: `PACKER_LOG=1 packer build template.json`. Take 23 the *entire* output and create a [gist](https://gist.github.com) for linking 24 to in your issue. Packer should strip sensitive keys from the output, 25 but take a look through just in case. 26 27 * Provide a reproducible test case. If a contributor can't reproduce an 28 issue, then it dramatically lowers the chances it'll get fixed. And in 29 some cases, the issue will eventually be closed. 30 31 * Respond promptly to any questions made by the Packer team to your issue. 32 Stale issues will be closed. 33 34 ### Issue Lifecycle 35 36 1. The issue is reported. 37 38 2. The issue is verified and categorized by a Packer collaborator. 39 Categorization is done via tags. For example, bugs are marked as "bugs" 40 and easy fixes are marked as "easy". 41 42 3. Unless it is critical, the issue is left for a period of time (sometimes 43 many weeks), giving outside contributors a chance to address the issue. 44 45 4. The issue is addressed in a pull request or commit. The issue will be 46 referenced in the commit message so that the code that fixes it is clearly 47 linked. 48 49 5. The issue is closed. 50 51 ## Setting up Go to work on Packer 52 53 If you have never worked with Go before, you will have to complete the 54 following steps in order to be able to compile and test Packer. 55 56 1. Install Go. Make sure the Go version is at least Go 1.2. Packer will not work with anything less than 57 Go 1.2. On a Mac, you can `brew install go` to install Go 1.2. 58 59 2. Set and export the `GOPATH` environment variable and update your `PATH`. 60 For example, you can add to your `.bash_profile`. 61 62 ``` 63 export GOPATH=$HOME/Documents/golang 64 export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin 65 ``` 66 67 3. Install and build `gox` with 68 69 ``` 70 go get github.com/mitchellh/gox 71 cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/mitchellh/gox 72 go build 73 ``` 74 75 4. Download the Packer source (and its dependencies) by running 76 `go get github.com/mitchellh/packer`. This will download the Packer 77 source to `$GOPATH/src/github.com/mitchellh/packer`. 78 79 5. Make your changes to the Packer source. You can run `make` from the main 80 source directory to recompile all the binaries. Any compilation errors 81 will be shown when the binaries are rebuilding. 82 83 6. Test your changes by running `make test` and then running 84 `$GOPATH/src/github.com/mitchellh/packer/bin/packer` to build a machine. 85 86 7. If everything works well and the tests pass, run `go fmt` on your code 87 before submitting a pull request.