CONTRIBUTING.md
# Contributors Guide
Welcome to the Digital Twin as a Service (DTaaS) contributing guide
Thank you for investing your time in contributing to our project!
Read our [Code of Conduct](./CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) to keep our community
approachable and respectable.
In this guide you will get an overview of the contribution workflow
from opening an issue, creating a PR, reviewing, and merging the PR.
## Project Goals
It helps development team members get familiar with
the DTaaS project software design, and development processes.
Please see developer-specific
[Slides](https://odin.cps.digit.au.dk/into-cps/dtaas/assets/DTaaS-developer-overview_march2024.pdf),
[Video](https://odin.cps.digit.au.dk/into-cps/dtaas/assets/videos/DTaaS-developer-overview_march2024.mp4),
and [Research paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.07244).
## :computer: Development Environment
Please use the steps given here to have suitable development
environment.
### DevContainers
There is a [devcontainer configuration](.devcontainer/devcontainer.json)
for the project. Please use it to get a dockerized development environment.
DevContainer is the easiest way to get started.
### Ubuntu/Linux
The code base has been developed for most part on
Ubuntu/Linux Operating System.Thus certain parts of the code base might
have bugs when run on Windows. At the moment, only
[runner](./servers/execution/runner/DEVELOPER.md) has problems running
on non-Linux OS.
The development environment can be installed by using the following
scripts.
```bash
bash script/env.sh
bash script/docker.sh
```
:warning: The docker images are large and are likely to consume
about 5GB of bandwidth and 15GB of space.
You will have to download the docker images on a really good network.
### Windows
The development environment scripts for Windows are still buggy.
Any help in improving them is greatly appreciated.
Given that, caveat, please use the following installation steps
for Windows.
Two powershell installation scripts, namely `base.ps1` and `env.ps1`
are available to install the required
software packages. But errors might crop up due to missing
environment variables. The potential errors are:
1. `npm is not recognized.........` in `base.ps1`.
1. `gem is not recognized.........` in `env.ps1`
If you encounter these errors,
remember to include _node_ and _ruby_ installation locations in
**PATH** environment variable
(`Settings --> search for "system environment variables"`
`--> Advanced --> Environment Variables --> PATH`).
The `base.ps1` and `env.ps1` scripts can be run again after setting
the correct **PATH** environment variable.
#### Pre-install Nodejs and Ruby Software
Another way to solve the **PATH** environment problem is to
install Nodejs and Ruby software packages before running the powershell
scripts.
1. Install the latest stable version of NodeJS from the
[official NodeJS website](https://nodejs.org/en).
1. Install Ruby from
[official Ruby website](https://github.com/oneclick/rubyinstaller2/releases/download/RubyInstaller-3.1.2-1/rubyinstaller-devkit-3.1.2-1-x64.exe)
and follow all the defaults during the installation.
#### Run Scripts
Then, open powershell with **administrative** priviledges and run the
following commands in the given order:
```bash
powershell -F script/base.ps1
powershell -F script/env.ps1
powershell -F script/docker.ps1
```
:warning: The docker images are large and are likely to consume
about 5GB of bandwidth and 15GB of space.
You will have to download the docker images on a really good network.
## :building_construction: Development Workflow
To manage collaboration by multiple developers on the software,
a development workflow is in place. Each developer should follow these steps:
1. Fork of the main repository into your github account.
1. Setup
[Code Climate](https://docs.codeclimate.com/docs/getting-started-with-code-climate)
and
[Codecov](https://docs.codecov.com/docs/quick-start)
for your fork. The codecov does not require secret token
for public repositories.
1. Install git-hooks for the project.
1. Use
[Fork, Branch, PR](https://gun.io/news/2017/01/how-to-github-fork-branch-and-pull-request/)
workflow.
1. Work in your fork and open a PR from your working
branch to your `feature/distributed-demo` branch.
The PR will run all the github actions, code climate and codecov checks.
1. Resolve all the issues identified in the previous step.
1. Once changes are verified, a PR should be made to
the `feature/distributed-demo` branch of
the upstream
[DTaaS repository](https://github.com/into-cps-association/DTaaS).
1. The PR will be merged after checks by either the
project administrators or the maintainers.
Remember that every PR should be meaningful and satisfies
a well-defined user story or improve
the code quality.
## :eye: Code Quality
The project code qualities are measured based on:
- Linting issues identified by
[Code Climate](https://codeclimate.com/github/INTO-CPS-Association/DTaaS)
- Test coverage report collected by
[Codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/INTO-CPS-Association/DTaaS)
- Successful [github actions](https://github.com/INTO-CPS-Association/DTaaS/actions)
### Code Climate
Code Climate performs static analysis, linting and style checks.
Quality checks are performed by codeclimate are to ensure the best
possible quality of code to add to our project.
While any new issues introduced in your code would be
shown in the PR page itself, to address any specific issue,
you can visit the issues or code section of the codeclimate page.
It is highly recommended that any code you add does
not introduce new quality issues. If they are introduced,
they should be fixed immediately using the appropriate suggestions
from Code Climate, or in worst case, adding a ignore flag
(To be used with caution).
### Codecov
Codecov keeps track of the test coverage for the entire project.
For information about testing and workflow related to that,
please see the [testing page](testing/intro.md).
### Github Actions
The project has multiple
[github actions](https://github.com/INTO-CPS-Association/DTaaS/tree/feature/distributed-demo/.github/workflows)
defined. All PRs and direct code commits must have successful
status on github actions.