Make sure scan.curses is installed & distributed.

[nmh] / docs / README.developers

diff --git a/docs/README.developers b/docs/README.developers
index b342d1b2e2a1c41a9c93a1d399017de14ec18e5f..76f650dcbad534659bd47dce5998d3afea8b5db0 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/README.developers
+++ b/docs/README.developers
@@ -6,7 +6,20 @@ This file is intended to provide a few tips for anyone doing development on nmh.
 Developers who learn things "the hard way" about the nmh codebase (as opposed to
 local info best encoded in a comment) are encouraged to share their wisdom here.
 
-The topics are organized alphabetically.
+Following a commit checklist, the topics are organized alphabetically.
+
+----------------
+commit checklist
+----------------
+
+1. code updated?
+2. test added?
+3. make distcheck passed?
+4. man page and other documentation updated?
+5. docs/pending-release-notes updated?
+6. should commit message reference bug report?
+7. update/close bug report (with commit id)?
+8. notify nmh-users?
 
 
 -------------------------
@@ -18,7 +31,7 @@ or other related files, you'll need to first install GNU m4, available
 from <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/m4/>, then GNU autoconf
 (<ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/autoconf/>) and GNU automake
 (<ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/automake/>).  Nmh is currently using a
-minimum of autoconf 2.61 and automake 1.10.
+minimum of autoconf 2.68 and automake 1.12.
 
 Most of the configure-related files are automatically generated.
 The only files you should need to manually edit are configure.ac
@@ -107,15 +120,32 @@ git
 As of December 2010, nmh has switched to using git for revision control
 instead of CVS.  While the topic of git is beyond the scope of this FAQ,
 to get started with git & nmh, you can run the following command to checkout
-the nmh repository:
+the nmh repository (with read-only access to it):
 
     % git clone git://git.savannah.nongnu.org/nmh.git
 
-That will create a workspace call nmh.  To update that workspace
+That will create a workspace called nmh.  To update that workspace
 with changes to the master, cd to it and run:
 
     % git pull
 
+If you are a project member and want write access to the repository,
+you'll have to checkout with the following command instead of the one
+above:
+
+    % git clone <username>@git.sv.nongnu.org:/srv/git/nmh.git
+
+We suggest using git pull --rebase instead of the default merge for
+git pull.  If you don't want to add the --rebase option every time,
+you can tell git pull to always rebase in your nmh workspace by
+cd'ing to it and running the following command:
+
+    % git config --bool branch.master.rebase true
+
+And you'll probably want the following, also, so that --rebase applies
+to any new branches that you create:
+
+    % git config branch.autosetuprebase always
 
 -------------------------------------------------------
 nmh-local functions to use in preference to OS versions
@@ -132,6 +162,23 @@ OS function  nmh-local version to use instead
 getpass()    nmh_getpass()
 
 
+--------------
+nmh test suite
+--------------
+
+The nmh test suite is run through the Makefile, with "make check"
+or "make distcheck".
+
+To enable the use of valgrind, where available, set the environment
+variable NMH_VALGRIND to a non-null value.  However, a separate
+environment variable, VALGRIND_ME, triggers the use of valgrind in
+test/inc/test-eom-align because it greatly extends the duration of
+that test.
+
+In the nmh test suite, nmh programs to be tested should be invoked
+through the run_test or run_prog shell functions defined in
+test/common.sh.
+
 -------------
 releasing nmh
 -------------
@@ -185,7 +232,6 @@ here; the convention for release candidates is to use something like
      exmh-users@redhat.com
      exmh-workers@redhat.com
      mh-e-users@lists.sourceforge.net
-     mh-users@ics.uci.edu *or* comp.mail.mh (there is a bidirectional gateway)
 
     If the release fixes significant security holes, also send an announcement
     to bugtraq@securityfocus.com.  The exmh lists require you to be subscribed