docs/projects.md

   1 Projects For LibGit2
   2 ====================
   3
   4 So, you want to start helping out with `libgit2`? That's fantastic! We
   5 welcome contributions and we promise we'll try to be nice.
   6
   7 This is a list of libgit2 related projects that new contributors can take
   8 on.  It includes a number of good starter projects as well as some larger
   9 ideas that no one is actively working on.
  10
  11 ## Before You Start
  12
  13 Please start by reading the [README.md](../README.md),
  14 [contributing.md](contributing.md), and [conventions.md](conventions.md)
  15 files before diving into one of these projects.  Those explain our work
  16 flow and coding conventions to help ensure that your work will be easily
  17 integrated into libgit2.
  18
  19 Next, work through the build instructions and make sure you can clone the
  20 repository, compile it, and run the tests successfully.  That will make
  21 sure that your development environment is set up correctly and you are
  22 ready to start on libgit2 development.
  23
  24 ## Starter Projects
  25
  26 These are good small projects to get started with libgit2.
  27
  28 * Look at the `examples/` programs, find an existing one that mirrors a
  29   core Git command and add a missing command-line option.  There are many
  30   gaps right now and this helps demonstrate how to use the library.  Here
  31   are some specific ideas (though there are many more):
  32     * Fix the `examples/diff.c` implementation of the `-B`
  33       (a.k.a. `--break-rewrites`) command line option to actually look for
  34       the optional `[<n>][/<m>]` configuration values. There is an
  35       existing comment that reads `/* TODO: parse thresholds */`. The
  36       trick to this one will be doing it in a manner that is clean and
  37       simple, but still handles the various cases correctly (e.g. `-B/70%`
  38       is apparently a legal setting).
  39     * As an extension to the matching idea for `examples/log.c`, add the
  40       `-i` option to use `strcasestr()` for matches.
  41     * For `examples/log.c`, implement the `--first-parent` option now that
  42       libgit2 supports it in the revwalk API.
  43 * Pick a Git command that is not already emulated in `examples/` and write
  44   a new example that mirrors the behavior.  Examples don't have to be
  45   perfect emulations, but should demonstrate how to use the libgit2 APIs
  46   to get results that are similar to Git commands.  This lets you (and us)
  47   easily exercise a particular facet of the API and measure compatibility
  48   and feature parity with core git.
  49 * Submit a PR to clarify documentation! While we do try to document all of
  50   the APIs, your fresh eyes on the documentation will find areas that are
  51   confusing much more easily.
  52
  53 If none of these appeal to you, take a look at our issues list to see if
  54 there are any unresolved issues you'd like to jump in on.
  55
  56 ## Larger Projects
  57
  58 These are ideas for larger projects mostly taken from our backlog of
  59 [Issues](https://github.com/libgit2/libgit2/issues).  Please don't dive
  60 into one of these as a first project for libgit2 - we'd rather get to
  61 know you first by successfully shipping your work on one of the smaller
  62 projects above.
  63
  64 Some of these projects are broken down into subprojects and/or have
  65 some incremental steps listed towards the larger goal.  Those steps
  66 might make good smaller projects by themselves.
  67
  68 * Port part of the Git test suite to run against the command line emulation
  69   in `examples/`
  70     * Pick a Git command that is emulated in our `examples/` area
  71     * Extract the Git tests that exercise that command
  72     * Convert the tests to call our emulation
  73     * These tests could go in `examples/tests/`...
  74 * Add hooks API to enumerate and manage hooks (not run them at this point)
  75     * Enumeration of available hooks
  76     * Lookup API to see which hooks have a script and get the script
  77     * Read/write API to load a hook script and write a hook script
  78     * Eventually, callback API to invoke a hook callback when libgit2
  79       executes the action in question
  80 * Isolate logic of ignore evaluation into a standalone API
  81 * Upgrade internal libxdiff code to latest from core Git
  82 * Tree builder improvements:
  83     * Extend to allow building a tree hierarchy
  84 * Apply-patch API
  85 * Add a patch editing API to enable "git add -p" type operations
  86 * Textconv API to filter binary data before generating diffs (something
  87   like the current Filter API, probably).
  88 * Performance profiling and improvement
  89 * Support "git replace" ref replacements
  90 * Include conflicts in diff results and in status
  91     * GIT_DELTA_CONFLICT for items in conflict (with multiple files)
  92     * Appropriate flags for status
  93 * Support sparse checkout (i.e. "core.sparsecheckout" and ".git/info/sparse-checkout")