gnucash/README.svn

This file contains guidelines for using Gnucash from Subversion.
They have been adapted from the guidelines for gnome-libs by
Miguel de Icaza who adapted them from guidelines written by
Owen Taylor.

 + In order to build GnuCash from SVN, you need to run the autogen.sh
   command to generate a configure script:

	./autogen.sh

   After the ./configure script has been created, you need to run it
   with all the usual options.  See ./configure --help for a
   reminder.  For example:

	./configure --enable-ofx --enable-opt-style-install --prefix=/opt/gnucash

   If in doubt, you can run autogen.sh, run ./configure --help,
   then re-run ./configure with your options.

   (Note: Previously, autogen.sh automatically called configure as
   well. This behaviour was dropped in favor of two separate calls
   because: Autogen should be an additional step taken by only by
   developers using SVN sources.  Configure is a step taken by
   everyone compiling the sources, be it from svn or a tarball.)

 + Some versions of gettextize don't deal well with re-running themselves.
   You will see this as an error like:

	configure.in:1141: error: `intl/Makefile' is already registered with
	AC_CONFIG_FILES. autoconf/status.m4:844: AC_CONFIG_FILES is expanded
	from... configure.in:1141: the top level
	autom4te: /usr/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 1
	autoheader: /usr/bin/autom4te failed with exit status: 1
	**Error**: autoheader failed.

   If you see this error, you may need to run "svn revert" to pull down
   the repository versions of configure.in and/or Makefile.am in various places.
   NOTE WELL: using "revert" will over-write any local changes you may have.

When making changes to GnuCash and trying to commit to the repository:

 + Ask first. If your changes are major, or could possibly break existing
   code, you should always ask. If your change is minor and you have
   been working on gnucash for a while it is probably not necessary
   to ask. But when in doubt, ask. Even if your change is correct,
   somebody may know a better way to do things.

   Since you want other people to review your code before it goes in,
   you can submit your changes as a patch to gnucash-devel@gnucash.org.
   See README.patches for details.

   If you are making changes to gnucash SVN, you should be subscribed
   to gnucash-devel@gnucash.org and to gnucash-changes@gnucash.org.
   (Subscription address: http://www.gnucash.org/en/lists.phtml)
   gnucash-devel@gnucash.org is a good place to ask about intended
   changes.

 + There must be a ChangeLog entry for every commit. If you discover that
   you only committed half the files you meant to and need to fix that
   up you do not need a new ChangeLog entry.  But in general, ChangeLog
   entries are mandatory. Changes with out ChangeLog entries will be
   reverted.

 + When you commit, use your ChangeLog entry as the log message.

 + You must not break the build! Never check in changes that do not
   compile, install or run. Just because your local tree compiles
   doesn't mean you are done. The most common way to break the build
   is to forget to add new files or directories to SVN. But it is easy
   to fix this problem:

    +  Keep two directories, one where you make changes and another
       'pristine' tree that you keep up to date. As soon as you check
       in changes to your working tree, update the pristine tree then
       recompile, install and run the pristine version. If you forgot
       to add some new files, it will quickly show up.

 + Try not to break 'make dist' tarballs. These are generally broken
   by not updating Makefile.am files when files are added or removed
   to the repository.

 + If you are going to be changing many files in an experimental fashion,
   it is probably a good idea to create a separate branch for your
   changes. Please see the SVN info documentation to see how to create
   a branch. Also, please inform the gnucash-devel-list about what you
   are going to do.

 + The ChangeLog entries should preferably match in date format with
   the existing entries. You can set how emacs does this by using
   customize mode:

   - M-x customize

 + When code is added from new developers, add them to AUTHORS and
   to doc/sgml/C/xacc-about.sgml.

Dave Peticolas
June 21, 2002

Derek Atkins
November 21, 2002

Neil Williams
November 6th, 2005