[lxc-devel] [lxd/master] Include getting started section in contributing.md

[Grayson112233 on Github]

A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/x-mailbox
Size: 600 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.linuxcontainers.org/pipermail/lxc-devel/attachments/20191212/8d8b84ab/attachment.bin>
-------------- next part --------------
From 6426fb91355d81d3018a15d17aa184f7e2ff1ea7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Grayson Pike <graysonpike at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2019 12:22:44 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Include getting started section in contributing.md

I assumed it would be helpful for new contributors to have some getting-started information on setting up their development environments and using the Makefile, among other tips for new developers.
---
 doc/contributing.md | 106 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 106 insertions(+)

diff --git a/doc/contributing.md b/doc/contributing.md
index 7a8b8ea550..aa79ef7fa3 100644
--- a/doc/contributing.md
+++ b/doc/contributing.md
@@ -90,3 +90,109 @@ Sorry, no pseudonyms or anonymous contributions are allowed.
 
 We also require each commit be individually signed-off by their author,
 even when part of a larger set. You may find `git commit -s` useful.
+
+## Getting Started Developing
+
+Follow the steps below to set up your development environment to get started working on new features for LXD.
+
+### Dependencies
+
+You will need the following packages to develop on Ubuntu:
+We recommend having the latest versions of liblxc (>= 2.0.0 required)
+available for LXD development. Additionally, LXD requires Golang 1.10 or
+later to work. On ubuntu, you can get those with:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt update
+sudo apt install acl autoconf dnsmasq-base git golang libacl1-dev libcap-dev liblxc1 liblxc-dev libtool libuv1-dev make pkg-config rsync squashfs-tools tar tcl xz-utils ebtables
+```
+
+Note that when building LXC yourself, ensure to build it with the appropriate
+security related libraries installed which our testsuite tests. Again, on
+ubuntu, you can get those with:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt install libapparmor-dev libseccomp-dev libcap-dev
+```
+
+There are a few storage backends for LXD besides the default "directory" backend.
+Installing these tools adds a bit to initramfs and may slow down your
+host boot, but are needed if you'd like to use a particular backend:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt install lvm2 thin-provisioning-tools
+sudo apt install btrfs-tools
+```
+
+To run the testsuite, you'll also need:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt install curl gettext jq sqlite3 uuid-runtime bzr socat
+```
+
+### Go Environment
+
+You will need to develop on LXD inside of the `~/go` directory. You can make it with
+
+```bash
+mkdir -p ~/go
+```
+
+You’ll also need to add the following line to your `~/.bashrc`:
+```bash
+export GOPATH=~/go
+```
+
+And `source` your `~/.bashrc` to use your new changes.
+
+### Cloning the Repository
+
+To clone the repository, you should use `go get`:
+
+```bash
+go get -v -x -d github.com/lxc/lxd/lxc
+go get -v -x -d github.com/lxc/lxd/lxd
+```
+
+### Building Dependencies
+
+Next, cd into the lxd repository and make the dependencies. To build these dependencies, the Makefile currently requires that you must be on the `origin/master` branch where the remote `origin` is the main project repository, not your fork. You may switch remotes to your fork after building dependencies.
+
+```bash
+cd ~/go/src/github.com/lxc/lxd
+make deps
+```
+
+This will compile LXD’s custom dependencies into your `~/go/deps`. After the script has run you will need to copy the three `export` statements provided by the make script into your `~/.bashrc`, and, of course, `source` your `~/.bashrc` again.
+
+
+### Adding Your Fork Remote
+
+After building your dependencies, you can now add your GitHub fork as a remote and switch to it:
+```bash
+git remote add myfork git at github.com:<your_username>/lxd.git
+git remote update
+git checkout myfork/master
+```
+
+### Building LXD
+
+Finally, you should be able to `make` inside the repository and build your fork of the project.
+
+At this point, you would most likely want to create a new branch for your changes on your fork:
+
+```bash
+git checkout -b [name_of_your_new_branch]
+git push myfork [name_of_your_new_branch]
+```
+
+### Important Notes for New LXD Contributors
+
+Persistent data is stored by default in the `/var/lib/lxd` directory, which is generated by `lxd init`.
+As you develop, you may want to delete and regenerate this directory with `lxd/init` if you are making changes to persistent features of LXD.
+Binaries compiled from your source will be generated in the `~/go/bin` directory by default. You will need to explicitly invoke these binaries (not the global `lxd` you may have installed) )when testing your changes.
+You may choose to create an alias in your `~/.bashrc` to call these binaries with the appropriate flags more conveniently.
+If you have a `/var/lib/lxd` directory present on your system from a previous installation of LXD, you may want to delete it to avoid version conflicts with your new builds of LXD.
+If you have a systemd service configured to run the LXD daemon from a previous installation of LXD, you may want to disable or delete it to avoid version conflicts.
+
+