Changing Amino

Contents

*   Editing Code

*   Editing Documentation

*   Editing the Web site

*   Creating a new Demo

 

(WRT = with respect to)

Editing Code

Anyone can edit the Amino code – it’s free, open-source, and you can do anything you want with it except sell it.

Editing Code because you’re playing around

Let’s say you’re playing around – you’re curious about how things work, you want to compare this to something else, you’re investigating a bug, any reason you may want to change something in the code.

 

Remember the following tips:

*   If you’re using a slow internet connection, I suggest you copy all software required for Amino onto some disk (or other directory with a different name, and make it read-only) somewhere, so you don’t have to download it again. That way if you “break” something, all you have to do is copy it back, make it writable, and rebuild Amino;

*   Make small changes – build and run them as you go. If you’re changing something “a lot” I suggest making uniquely-named file copies of the files your copying so you can go back and use a previous edition;

*   Add System.out.println()’s so you can see where things happen, and when things are called;

*   If you don’t know how to do something like open a GUI window, or compare strings, or open a file, search the existing code for examples. You can search for text in files (ending with “.java”) for strings like “open”, “equals”, “close” respectively;

*   Look at the Java API and tutorial for how to do things in Java.

 

You can edit any file, and most likely you’ll be editing files under <amino>/Amino/src directory.

Editing code to change Amino as a system

Here’s where you need to pay attention J

If you do these things, you’ll be affecting the Amino code from now on. Your changes need to be in line with the Amino use-cases, design, philosophy, and needs of the community. Presumably you’re comfortable with the development process.

Contributors

Contributors submit two kinds of files for changed code:

 

Patches – these are special coded text files that describe how one file differes from another. It is the smallest human-readable method of recording what’s been changed in a text file. Note: please do not diff binary files. Examples include Word documents, jar files, PDF files, executables (.exe), etc. Files that can be diffed are XML files, html files, java/code files, property files, etc. Anything that PFE opens and shows “nice” characters (no characters like ╓,L,∞,α, and the like);

 

New File attachments – These are files that did not exist before (and are not in the CVS repository). In the submittal email, indicate the directory(s) where they go. Say if the directories are new or not.

 

After creating these two files, you’d send an email to the Amino Mailing List. In the subject line, put something like “patch for bug so-and-so” or “patch for new documentation files”, something letting people know what your email’s about. In the body of the email , describe your changes. It’s a good idea to include reference to conversations you’ve had with the liost before so people can put your changes into context as they read you email. Attach new files and the diff patch file, and send it off! People will get back to you…

 

NOTE: if you followed the process, the person submitting your changes will be quite happy, and will likely have no problem voting you in to be a developer in the future. If you left something out of the process, they’ll kindly let you know. You can fix the issues, and resubmit.

 

You have the right to do the following with things you change:

*   Include your self as a new ‘@author’ tag in the java files;

*   Add yourself to the copyright list;

*   Add links to resources related to your changes;

Developers

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Editing Documentation

Contributors

Developers

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Editing the Web Site

Contributors

Developers

References:

 

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Creating a new Demo

Contributors

Developers

 

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Last revised: March 11, 2003