launchpad developmentThis page tells you how to fix a bug in Launchpad, or how to find a bug to work on. Ask us right away if you have questions. |
So you want to fix a bug?
If you want to fix a bug in Launchpad, many people are here to help you!
Assuming you already know the bug you want to fix, then proceed to the Discuss It section below.
If you don't know which bug you you want to fix, please take a look at the list of open bugs marked as 'trivial'. (You can also try a non-trivial bug, of course, but the trivial ones are probably the best place to start.)
Discuss It
Don't just start hacking away -- first discuss the bug and your proposed fix in one of our forums (ideally, find today's on-call reviewer). Once you have a plan of attack, please mention in the bug that you've started on it (mark it as "In Progress") and describe your plan there. It's often a good idea to get others' comments too, so don't hesitate to post on the launchpad-dev@ mailing list describing what you're doing.
In general, err on the side of overcommunication rather than undercommunication. If you have a question, ask it -- it's much better to ask than to spend hours going down the wrong route, only to find out later.
Making a Patch
Once you're ready to develop a patch, please see Patches for how to maintain the patch branch in Launchpad, and how to get it reviewed and merged. For historical reasons, Launchpad uses a "sponsored contributions" system: an existing developer will shepherd your patch into Launchpad. Thanks to Bazaar's distributed version control, this doesn't affect your ability to maintain the patch against the evolving Launchpad tree, nor your ability to share the patch with others prior to its being merged into Launchpad. We may change the details of the sponsorship system someday, but an existing developer will always have to vet changes before they can be merged into Launchpad, since changes go live almost instantly via the continuous "edge" beta testing system.
