Contribution getting started

Contributions are highly welcomed and appreciated. Every little help counts, so do not hesitate!

Feature requests and feedback

Do you like pytest? Share some love on Twitter or in your blog posts!

We'd also like to hear about your propositions and suggestions. Feel free to submit them as issues and:

Report bugs

Report bugs for pytest in the issue tracker.

If you are reporting a bug, please include:

If you can write a demonstration test that currently fails but should pass (xfail), that is a very useful commit to make as well, even if you can't find how to fix the bug yet.

Fix bugs

Look through the GitHub issues for bugs. Here is a filter you can use: https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/labels/bug

:ref:`Talk <contact>` to developers to find out how you can fix specific bugs.

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Don't forget to check the issue trackers of your favourite plugins, too!

Implement features

Look through the GitHub issues for enhancements. Here is a filter you can use: https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/labels/enhancement

:ref:`Talk <contact>` to developers to find out how you can implement specific features.

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Write documentation

Pytest could always use more documentation. What exactly is needed?

You can also edit documentation files directly in the GitHub web interface, without using a local copy. This can be convenient for small fixes.

Note

Build the documentation locally with the following command:

$ tox -e docs

The built documentation should be available in the doc/en/_build/.

Where 'en' refers to the documentation language.

Submitting Plugins to pytest-dev

Pytest development of the core, some plugins and support code happens in repositories living under the pytest-dev organisations:

All pytest-dev Contributors team members have write access to all contained repositories. Pytest core and plugins are generally developed using pull requests to respective repositories.

The objectives of the pytest-dev organisation are:

You can submit your plugin by subscribing to the pytest-dev mail list and writing a mail pointing to your existing pytest plugin repository which must have the following:

If no contributor strongly objects and two agree, the repository can then be transferred to the pytest-dev organisation.

Here's a rundown of how a repository transfer usually proceeds (using a repository named joedoe/pytest-xyz as example):

The pytest-dev/Contributors team has write access to all projects, and every project administrator is in it. We recommend that each plugin has at least three people who have the right to release to PyPI.

Repository owners can rest assured that no pytest-dev administrator will ever make releases of your repository or take ownership in any way, except in rare cases where someone becomes unresponsive after months of contact attempts. As stated, the objective is to share maintenance and avoid "plugin-abandon".

Preparing Pull Requests on GitHub

Note

What is a "pull request"? It informs project's core developers about the changes you want to review and merge. Pull requests are stored on GitHub servers. Once you send a pull request, we can discuss its potential modifications and even add more commits to it later on.

There's an excellent tutorial on how Pull Requests work in the GitHub Help Center, but here is a simple overview:

  1. Fork the pytest GitHub repository. It's fine to use pytest as your fork repository name because it will live under your user.

  2. Clone your fork locally using git and create a branch:

    $ git clone git@github.com:YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/pytest.git
    $ cd pytest
    # now, to fix a bug create your own branch off "master":
    
        $ git checkout -b your-bugfix-branch-name master
    
    # or to instead add a feature create your own branch off "features":
    
        $ git checkout -b your-feature-branch-name features
    

    Given we have "major.minor.micro" version numbers, bugfixes will usually be released in micro releases whereas features will be released in minor releases and incompatible changes in major releases.

    If you need some help with Git, follow this quick start guide: https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/QuickStart

  3. Install tox

    Tox is used to run all the tests and will automatically setup virtualenvs to run the tests in. (will implicitly use http://www.virtualenv.org/en/latest/):

    $ pip install tox
    
  4. Run all the tests

    You need to have Python 2.7 and 3.5 available in your system. Now running tests is as simple as issuing this command:

    $ tox -e linting,py27,py35
    

    This command will run tests via the "tox" tool against Python 2.7 and 3.5 and also perform "lint" coding-style checks.

  5. You can now edit your local working copy.

    You can now make the changes you want and run the tests again as necessary.

    To run tests on Python 2.7 and pass options to pytest (e.g. enter pdb on failure) to pytest you can do:

    $ tox -e py27 -- --pdb
    

    Or to only run tests in a particular test module on Python 3.5:

    $ tox -e py35 -- testing/test_config.py
    
  6. Commit and push once your tests pass and you are happy with your change(s):

    $ git commit -a -m "<commit message>"
    $ git push -u
    

    Make sure you add a message to CHANGELOG.rst and add yourself to AUTHORS. If you are unsure about either of these steps, submit your pull request and we'll help you fix it up.

  7. Finally, submit a pull request through the GitHub website using this data:

    head-fork: YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/pytest
    compare: your-branch-name
    
    base-fork: pytest-dev/pytest
    base: master          # if it's a bugfix
    base: features        # if it's a feature