If you're looking to contribute to the project please keep reading, but if you want to help translate the app, jump to Contribute to translations.
Here's a quick guide to create a pull request for your WordPress-Android patch:
Fork the github project by visiting this URL: https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-Android/fork
Clone the git repository
$ git clone git@github.com:YOUR-GITHUB-USERNAME/WordPress-Android.git
Create a new branch in your git repository (branched from develop - see Notes about branching below).
$ cd WordPress-Android/ $ git checkout develop $ git checkout -b issue/123-fix-for-123 # use a better title
Setup your build environment (see build instructions in our README) and start hacking the project. You must follow our code style guidelines, write good commit messages, comment your code and write automated tests.
When your patch is ready, submit a pull request. Add some comments or screen shots to help us.
Wait for us to review your pull request. If something is wrong or if we want you to make some changes before the merge, we'll let you know through commit comments or pull request comments.
Version x.y (2.8 or 4.0 for instance) are major releases. There is no distinction between a 2.9 version or a 3.0 version, we want to avoid naming like 2.142 so the version after x.9 (2.9) is simply x+1.0 (3.0). A new major version is released every ~4 weeks.
Version x.y.z (2.8.1 or 4.0.2 for instance) are hotfix releases. We release them only when a blocking or major bug is found in the currently released version.
We use the git flow branching model.
master branch represents latest version released in the Google Play Store. HEAD of this branch should be equal to last tagged release.
develop branch represents the cutting edge version. This is probably the one you want to fork from and base your patch on. This is the default github branch.
Version tags. All released versions are tagged and pushed in the repository. For instance if you want to checkout the 2.5.1 version:
$ git checkout 2.5.1
Release branches. When a new version is going to be released, we'll branch from develop to release/x.y. This marks version x.y code freeze. Only blocking or major bug fixes will be merged to these branches. They represent beta and release candidates.
Hotfix branches. When one or several critical issues are found on current released version, we'll branch from tags/x.y to hotfix/x.y.1 (or from tags/x.y.z to hotfix/x.y.z+1 if a hotfix release has already been published)
Fix or feature branches. Proposed new features and bug fixes should live in their own branch. Use the following naming convention: if a github issue exists for this feature/bugfix, the branch will be named issue/ISSUEID-comment where ISSUEID is the corresponding github issue id. If a github issue doesn't exist, branch will be named feature/comment. These branches will be merged in:
hotfix/x.y.z if the change is a fix for a released version,release/x.y if the change is a fix for a beta or release candidate,develop for all other cases.Note: release/x.y or hotfix/x.y.z will be merged back in master after a new version is released. A new tag will be created and pushed at the same time.
A number of library dependencies are managed as separate open source projects and are git-subtree'd into the WordPress Android app source tree. Use the following command to updated (pull latest) from their respective repos:
$ git subtree pull --squash --prefix libs/library_name https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-Library_Name-Android.git develop
and substitute the library_name and Library_Name to match the library project. As an example, for the Analytics library use ‘analytics’ and ‘Analytics’ respectively.
Similarly, issue a subtree push to push changes committed to the main app repo, upstream to the library repo:
$ git subtree push --prefix libs/library_name https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-Library_Name-Android.git develop
Here are the libraries currently maintained and subtree'd:
We use values/strings.xml file for ALL translatable strings including string arrays. Each element in a string array should be defined as separate string resource first and then the string array should be defined with translatable="false" flag. This is due to a GlotPress limitation where translating arrays directly could generate smaller arrays if some elements are not translated. Here is a basic example:
<string name="element1">Element 1</string>
<string name="element2">Element 2</string>
<string-array name="elements_array" translatable="false">
<item>@string/element1</item>
<item>@string/element2</item>
</string-array>
We also have string resources outside of strings.xml such as key_strings. These strings are not user-facing and should be used as static strings such as preference keys.
To help ease the translation process we ask that you mark alias string resources - as well as other strings where appropriate - as not translatable. For example `@string/bar'
The Android support library v23.2.1 added support for drawable resources to be provided exclusively in vector format. Adding a vector drawable (to WordPress/src/main/res/drawable/) should be the first option when adding assets. Only if a vector drawable is not available should pngs be added to the project. Also make sure to use app:srcCompat in place of android:src in XML files.
Since Vector Drawable are not the easiest file type to edit, they‘re chances the Vector Drawable you’ll add comes from a SVG file. If the SVG file is specific to the WPAndroid project (like a banner image or unlike a gridicon), then add the SVG source in WordPress/src/future/svg/. The argument behind this: make sure we can find and edit the SVG file and then export it in Vector Drawable format.
The WordPress-HealthCheck-Common project is used in the tests and loaded from assets on tests run. Use the following command to pull in newer commits from the external project:
$ git subtree pull --prefix=WordPress/src/androidTest/assets/health-check/ https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-HealthCheck-Common.git develop
We use a tool called GlotPress to manage translations. The WordPress-Android GlotPress instance lives here: http://translate.wordpress.org/projects/apps/android/dev. To add new translations or fix existing ones, create an account over at GlotPress and submit your changes over at the GlotPress site.