Development:Getting Started

From OpenLP

So you want to help out with the development, and your next question is, "How do I get started?"

Contents 1 Hang out in the IRC channel with us 2 Sign up to the developer mailing list 3 Get your development environment up and running 4 Sign up to Launchpad 5 Check out the latest code 6 Read the Coding Standards 7 Notes:

Hang out in the IRC channel with us

A number of the developers and testers chat in the #openlp.org IRC channel (live chat). We don't have a specific topic of conversation, and we don't restrict the topics to OpenLP-related ones. So please feel free to join us and chat about OpenLP, development, testing, life in general, and almost anything else.

Sign up to the developer mailing list

A lot of development-specific information is discussed in the development mailing list. This mailing list is our official development conversation area. Sign up to this list to join in, and don't forget to read the mailing list archive to catchup on everythign we've discussed.

Get your development environment up and running

OpenLP 2.x is being written in Python and Qt4, so you'll need to install Python 2.5 or 2.6, Qt4, and the PyQt4 Python bindings for Qt4. Most of us use Eric4, a PyQt4 IDE, so download and install that as well. You'll also need the Subversion client in order to check out the latest code. You get read more detailed instructions on the following pages:

• Linux Development Environment
• Mac OS X Development Environment
• Windows Development Environment

Sign up to Launchpad

If you don't yet have a Launchpad username, you'll need to sign up for one. In order to commit code back into the main branch, you'll need to have a Launchpad username, and will need to apply to be added to the OpenLP Development team on Launchpad. Once you're on Launchpad, you can propose a merge.

Don't forget to upload your public SSH key, as shown on the pages for Windows and Linux/Mac OS X.

Check out the latest code

OpenLP uses the Bazaar DVCS (read more about Bazaar) and the main branch is hosted at Launchpad.net. Do the following to set up your local branch:

1. Identify yourself to Bazaar:

   $ bzr whoami "Raoul Snyman <raoulsnyman@example.com>"

2. Log in to Launchpad:

   $ bzr launchpad-login raoul-snyman

3. Create a shared repository:

   $ bzr init-repo --1.6.1-rich-root ~/openlp

4. Checkout the latest code:

   $ bzr checkout lp:openlp ~/openlp/trunk

Read the Coding Standards

Go and read the coding standards before writing a single line of code!

Notes:

1. The recommended version of Eric4 to use is 4.2.0 and higher. Ubuntu Intrepid comes with version 4.1.2 which is rather broken, so you'll need to download and install the latest Eric4 from the Eric4 site.