Contributing

Thank you for your interest in contributing to Datui!

After cloning the repo, follow the Setup instructions below to get started.

Setup

The entire setup process can be automated with the Setup Script. The sections below describe the manual steps.

Python Virtual Environment

There are Python scripts in the /scripts directory that are used to do things like build test data, documentation, and demo gifs.

Setting up a virtual environment with dependencies for these scripts will ensure you can run them all.

A common convention is to create a virtual environment in the .venv/ directory of the repository. The .gitignore is set up to ignore this location so that files there aren’t added by mistake.

python -m venv .venv

Then activate the virtual environment.

source .venv/bin/activate

Once activated, install dependencies used to run the availble Python scripts.

pip install -r scripts/requirements.txt

You’re now ready to run the tests.

Pre-commit Hooks

To encourage consistency and quality, the CI build checks the source code of the application for formatting and linter warnings.

This project uses pre-commit to manage git pre-commit hooks which automatically run the same code quality checks in your repository before commits are made.

Installing Pre-commit and Hooks

If you used the Setup Script, the pre-commit hooks are already installed.

1. Install pre-commit:

   If you set up a Python virtual environment using the instructions above then you already have everything you need. Activate it and skip this step.

   Otherwise, install pre-commit using your desired method.

   # Using pip
   pip install pre-commit
   
   # Or using homebrew (macOS)
   brew install pre-commit
   
   # Or using conda
   conda install -c conda-forge pre-commit
   

2. Install the git hooks:

   pre-commit install
   

   This installs the hooks into .git/hooks/ so they run automatically on commit.

   Note: You only need the pre-commit command accessible when you need to use it to manually run or update the hooks. Once installed into your repo, the hooks themselves do not require pre-commit.

   See the pre-commit documentation for more information about its features.

The following hooks are configured:

• cargo-fmt: Automatically formats Rust code with cargo fmt

  • If code needs formatting, it will be formatted and the commit will fail
  • Stage the formatted changes and commit again

• cargo-clippy: Runs cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings

  • Fails if clippy finds any warnings
  • Fix them and commit again

Hooks run automatically when you git commit. If any hook fails, the commit is aborted.

Running Hooks

Run all hooks manually:

pre-commit run --all-files

Run a specific hook:

pre-commit run cargo-fmt --all-files
pre-commit run cargo-clippy --all-files

Skipping Hooks

If you need to skip hooks for a specific commit (not recommended):

git commit --no-verify -m "Emergency fix"

Updating hooks

Update hook versions and configurations:

pre-commit autoupdate

Troubleshooting

Hook not running?

• Make sure you ran pre-commit install
• Check .git/hooks/pre-commit exists

Hooks too slow?

• Only changed files are checked by default
• Use SKIP=hook-name git commit to skip specific hooks

Adding Configuration Options

For detailed instructions on adding new configuration options to datui, see the dedicated Guide to Adding Configuration Options.

Quick summary:

1. Add field to appropriate config struct (src/config.rs)
2. Update Default implementation
3. Add merge logic in merge() method
4. Add comments to comment constant (next to struct)
5. Use the value in application code
6. Add tests
7. Update user documentation

The guide includes step-by-step instructions, code examples, merge rules, best practices, and special instructions for adding theme colors.