Contributing to MsgCenterPy

Thank you for your interest in contributing to MsgCenterPy! This document provides guidelines for contributing to the project.

Development Setup

  1. Fork the repository on GitHub

  2. Clone your fork locally:

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/MsgCenterPy.git
cd MsgCenterPy

  1. (Optional) If you need ROS2 support, set up ROS environment first:

# Create and activate conda environment with ROS2
conda create -n msgcenterpy-dev python=3.11
conda activate msgcenterpy-dev
conda install ros-humble-ros-core ros-humble-std-msgs ros-humble-geometry-msgs -c robostack-staging

  1. Run the development setup script:

Linux/macOS:

./scripts/setup-dev.sh

Windows:

.\scripts\setup-dev.ps1

The setup script will automatically:

  • Install the package in development mode with all dependencies

  • Set up pre-commit hooks

  • Run initial code quality checks

  • Display helpful commands for development

Code Style and Quality

We use automated code quality checks that run via pre-commit hooks:

  • Black: Code formatting (line length: 120)

  • isort: Import sorting

  • flake8: Code linting

  • mypy: Type checking

  • bandit: Security scanning

  • prettier: YAML/JSON formatting

These checks run automatically when you commit. You can also run them manually:

# Run all pre-commit hooks
pre-commit run --all-files

Testing

Important: Always run tests before committing to ensure your changes work correctly.

# Run all tests
pytest

# Run with verbose output
pytest -v

Note: If ROS2 is not installed, ROS-related tests will be automatically skipped. The test suite is designed to work with or without ROS2 dependencies.

Version Management

This project uses bump2version for version management. It’s automatically installed with dev dependencies.

# Bug fixes (0.0.1 → 0.0.2)
bump2version patch

# New features (0.0.2 → 0.1.0)
bump2version minor

# Breaking changes (0.1.0 → 1.0.0)
bump2version major

After bumping version, push changes and tags:

git push && git push --tags

Submitting Changes

  1. Create a new branch for your feature/fix

  2. Make your changes and add tests

  3. Run tests to ensure everything works

  4. Update documentation if needed

  5. Submit a pull request with: - Descriptive title and description - Reference to related issues - Tests for new features

Getting Help