MineClone2/CONTRIBUTING.md

# Contributing to MineClone2
So you want to contribute to MineClone2?
Wow, thank you! :-)

But first, some things to note:

MineClone2's development target is to...

- Crucially, create a stable, moddable, free/libre clone of Minecraft
based on the Minetest engine with polished features, usable in both
singleplayer and multiplayer. Currently, most of **Minecraft Java
Edition 1.12.2** features are already implemented and polishing existing
features are prioritised over new feature requests.
- With lessened priority yet strictly, implement features targetting
**Minecraft version 1.17 + Optifine** (Optifine only as far as supported
by the Minetest Engine). This means features in parity with the listed
Minecraft experiences are prioritised over those that don't fulfill this
scope.
- Optionally, create a performant experience that will run relatively
well on really low spec computers. Unfortunately, due to Minecraft's
mechanisms and Minetest engine's limitations along with a very small
playerbase on low spec computers, optimizations are hard to investigate.

MineClone2 is maintained by Nicu and Fleckenstein. If you have any
problems or questions, contact us (See Links section below).

You can help with MineClone2's development in many different ways,
whether you're a programmer or not.

## Links
* [Mesehub](https://git.minetest.land/MineClone2/MineClone2)
* [Discord](https://discord.gg/xE4z8EEpDC)
* [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClI_YcsXMF3KNeJtoBfnk9A)
* [IRC](https://web.libera.chat/#mineclone2)
* [Matrix](https://app.element.io/#/room/#mc2:matrix.org)
* [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/MineClone2/)
* [Minetest forums](https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=16407)

## Using git
MineClone2 is developed using the version control system
[git](https://git-scm.com/). If you want to contribute code to the
project, it is **highly recommended** that you learn the git basics.
For non-programmers and people who do not plan to contribute code to
Mineclone2, git is not required. However, git is a tool that will be
referenced frequently because of its usefulness. As such, it is valuable
in learning how git works and its terminology. It can also help you in
keeping your game updated, and easily testing pull requests.

## How you can help as a non-programmer

As someone who does not know how to write programs in Lua or does not
know how to use the Minetest API, you can still help us out a lot. For
example, by opening an issue in the
[Issue tracker](https://git.minetest.land/MineClone2/MineClone2/issues),
you can report a bug or request a feature.

### Rules about both bugs and feature requests
* Stay polite towards the developers and anyone else involved in the
discussion.
* Choose a descriptive title.
* Please write in plain, understandable English. It will be easier to
communicate.
* Please start the issue title with a capital letter.
* Always check the currently opened issues before creating a new one.
Don't report bugs that have already been reported or request features
that already have been requested.
* If you know about Minetest's inner workings, please think about
whether the bug / the feature that you are reporting / requesting is
actually an issue with Minetest itself, and if it is, head to the
[Minetest issue tracker](https://github.com/minetest/minetest/issues)
instead.
* If you need any help regarding creating a Mesehub account or opening
an issue, feel free to ask on the Discord / Matrix server or the IRC
channel.

### Reporting bugs
* A bug is an unintended behavior or, in the worst case, a crash.
However, it is not a bug if you believe something is missing in the
game. In this case, please read "Requesting features"
* If you report a crash, always include the error message. If you play
in singleplayer, post a screenshot of the message that minetest showed
when the crash happened (or copy the message into your issue). If you
are a server admin, you can find error messages in the log file of the
server.
* Tell us which MineClone2 and minetest versions you are using.
* Tell us how to reproduce the problem: What you were doing to trigger
the bug, e.g. before the crash happened or what causes the faulty
behavior.

### Requesting features
* Make sure the feature you request is Minecraft 1.17 Java Edition or
Optifine behavior.
* Begging or excessive attention seeking does not help us in the
slightest, and may very well disrupt Mineclone2 development. It's better
to put that energy into helping or researching the feature in question.
After all, we're just volunteers working on our spare time.
* Check whether the feature has been implemented in a newer version of
MineClone2, in case you are not using the latest one.

### Testing code
If you want to help us with speeding up MineClone2 development and
making the game more stable, a great way to do that is by testing out
new features from contributors. For most new things that get into the
game, a pull request is created. A pull request is essentially a
programmer saying "Look, I modified the game, please apply my changes
to the upstream version of the game". However, every programmer makes
mistakes sometimes, some of which are hard to spot. You can help by
downloading this modified version of the game and trying it out - then
you tell us whether the code works and does what it claims to do or
whether you have encountered any issues. You can find currently open
pull requests here:
<https://git.minetest.land/MineClone2/MineClone2/pulls>. Note that pull
requests that start with a `WIP:` are not done yet, and therefore might
not work, so it's not very useful to try them out yet.

### Profiling
If you own a server, a great way to help us improve MineClone2's code
is by giving us profiler results. Profiler results give us detailed
information about the game's performance and let us know where the real
troublespots are. This way we can make the game faster. Minetest has a
built in profiler. Simply set `profiler.load = true` in your
configuration file and restart the server. After running the server for
some time, just run `/profiler save` in chat - then you will find a file
in the world directory containing the results. Open a new issue and
upload the file. You can name the issue "<Server name> profiler
results".

### Let us know your opinion
It is always encouraged to actively contribute to issue discussions on
MeseHub, let us know what you think about a topic and help us make
decisions. Also, note that a lot of discussion takes place on the
Discord server, so it's definitely worth checking it out.

### Crediting
If you opened or have contributed to an issue, you receive the
`Community` role on our Discord (after asking for it).

## How you can help as a programmer
(Almost) all the MineClone2 development is done using pull requests.

### Recommended workflow
* Fork the repository (in case you have not already)
* Do your change in a new branch
* Create a pull request to get your changes merged into master
* Keep your pull request up to date by regulary merging upstream. It is
imperative that conflicts are resolved prior to merging the pull
request.
* After the pull request got merged, you can delete the branch

### Discuss first
If you feel like a problem needs to fixed or you want to make a new
feature, you could start writing the code right away and notifying us
when you're done, but it never hurts to discuss things first. If there
is no issue on the topic, open one. If there is an issue, tell us that
you'd like to take care of it, to avoid duplicate work.

### Don't hesitate to ask for help
We appreciate any contributing effort to MineClone2. If you are a
relatively new programmer, you can reach us on Discord, Matrix or IRC
for questions about git, Lua, Minetest API, MineClone2 codebase or
anything related to MineClone2. We can help you avoid writing code that
would be deemed inadequeate, or help you become familiar with MineClone2
better, or even help using development tools.

### Maintain your own code, even if alreay got merged
Sometimes, your code may cause crashes or bugs - we try to avoid such
scenarios by testing everytime before merging it, but if your merged
work causes problems, we ask you fix the issues as soon as possible.

### Changing Gameplay
Pull Requests that change gameplay have to be properly researched and
need to state their sources. These PRs also need Fleckenstein's approval
before they are merged.
You can use these sources:

* Minecraft code (Name the source file and line, however DONT post any
proprietary code). You can use
[MCP](https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Programs_and_editors/Mod_Coder_Pack)
to decompile Minecraft or look at
[Minestorm](https://github.com/Minestom/Minestom) code.
* Testing things inside of Minecraft (Attach screenshots / video footage
of the results)
* [Official Minecraft Wiki](https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Minecraft_Wiki)
(Include a link to the specific page you used)

### Keep our guidelines

#### Git Guidelines
* We use merge rather than rebase or squash merge
* We don't use git submodules.
* Your commit names should be relatively descriptive, e.g. when saying
"Fix #issueid", the commit message should also contain the title of the
issue.
* Try to keep your commits as atomic as possible (advise, but completely
optional)

#### Code Guidelines
* Each mod must provide `mod.conf`.
* Mod names are snake case, and newly added mods start with `mcl_`, e.g.
`mcl_core`, `mcl_farming`, `mcl_monster_eggs`. Keep in mind Minetest
does not support capital letters in mod names.
* To export functions, store them inside a global table named like the
mod, e.g.

```lua
mcl_example = {}

function mcl_example.do_something()
	-- ...
end

```

* Public functions should not use self references but rather just access
the table directly, e.g.

```lua
-- bad
function mcl_example:do_something()
end

-- good
function mcl_example.do_something()
end
```

* Use modern Minetest API, e.g. no usage of `minetest.env`
* Tabs should be used for indent, spaces for alignment, e.g.

```lua

-- use tabs for indent

for i = 1, 10 do
	if i % 3 == 0 then
		print(i)
	end
end

-- use tabs for indent and spaces to align things

some_table = {
	{"a string",                   5},
	{"a very much longer string", 10},
}
```

* Use double quotes for strings, e.g. `"asdf"` rather than `'asdf'`
* Use snake_case rather than CamelCase, e.g. `my_function` rather than
`MyFunction`
* Don't declare functions as an assignment, e.g.

```lua
-- bad
local some_local_func = function()
	-- ...
end

my_mod.some_func = function()
	-- ...
end

-- good
local function some_local_func()
	-- ...
end

function my_mod.some_func()
	-- ...
end
```

### Developer status
Active and trusted contributors are often granted write access to the
MineClone2 repository. However you should not push things directly to
MineClone2 master - rather, do your work on a branch on your private
repo, then create a pull request. This way other people can review your
changes and make sure they work before they get merged. You are allowed
to merge PRs if they have recieved the necessary feedback and have been
tested to not lead to any crashes and do what they claim to do by at
least two different people. You may also be assigned to issues or pull
requests as a developer. In this case it is your responsibility to fix
the issue / review and merge the pull request when it is ready. You can
also unassign yourself from the issue / PR if you have no time or don't
want to take care of it for some other reason (after all, everyone is a
volunteer and we can't expect you to do work that you are not intrested
in) - the important thing is really that you make sure to inform us if
you won't take care of something that has been assigned to you. Also,
please assign yourself to something that you want to work on to avoid
duplicate work. As a developer, it should be easy to reach you about
your code. You should be on the Discord (or, if you really don't like
Discord, Matrix or IRC).

### Maintainer status
Maintainers are responsible for making sure issues are addressed and
pull requests are reviewed and merged, by assigning either themselves or
Developers to issues / PRs. Maintainers are responsible for making
releases, making sure guidelines are kept and making project decisions
based on what the community wants. Maintainers grant/revoke developer
access. Currently there are two maintainers with different
responsibility fields:

* Fleckenstein - responsible for gameplay review, publishing releases,
technical guidelines and issue/PR delegation
* Nicu - responsible for community related issues

#### Creating releases
* Launch MineClone2 to make sure it still runs
* Update the version number in README.md
* Use `git tag <version number>` to tag the latest commit with the
version number
* Push to repo (don't forget `--tags`!)
* Update ContentDB
(https://content.minetest.net/packages/Wuzzy/mineclone2/)
* Update first post in forum thread
(https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=16407)
* Post release announcement and changelog in forums

### Licensing
By asking us to include your changes in
this game, you agree that they fall under the terms of the GPLv3, which
basically means they will become part of a free software.

### Crediting
Contributors, Developers and Maintainers will be credited in
`CREDITS.md`. If you make your first time contribution, please add
yourself to this file. There are also Discord roles for Contributors,
Developers and Maintainers.