Contributing to the IDE

[Mark Waddingham]

On 2018-04-17 03:44, Geoff Canyon via use-livecode wrote:
> Are there instructions available somewhere on how to set up the IDE in
> GitHub so I can make changes and submit pull requests?

Not in the way you are trying to - no.

Pretty much all our documentation is centered around the initial step 
which is getting the entire LiveCode system (engine and IDE) to build 
from source first. The main docs for that start in the LiveCode repo 
README -https://github.com/livecode/livecode/blob/develop/README.md.

What you are asking for is slightly different: "How do I make it so that 
I can modify the IDE in a pre-built distribution and submit patches/PR 
from that".

The main issue here (and perhaps the only issue) is that the HEAD 
versions of the version branches (release-* branches for specific 
releases, develop-* for the frontier of maintenance releases and develop 
for the next release) in the three main community repositories are all 
mutually dependent to a greater or lesser degree. Whilst you can try and 
use the develop HEAD version of the IDE with an engine built from 
develop-9.0 or earlier, the reality is that it might not work.

Whilst it would be really really nice to have the IDE completely 
independent of a given engine version, that is still a dream we are 
quite a way from realizing.

In order to submit a PR which has any chance of being accepted, you have 
to make sure it is submitted against the HEAD of the appropriate branch. 
Whilst you can certainly checkout just the IDE repository, and then 
redirect the Toolset folder from within a LiveCode distribution to use 
it - you might find it does not work as the engine version required to 
run that version of the Toolset (from the HEAD of the branch) might be 
'newer' (and as-yet unavailable as a built distribution to download) 
than that which you have.

To cut a long story short: right now I'd strongly advise against 
thinking of the engine and IDE as separate things if you want to 
contribute to the LiveCode project because for the most part they are 
too mutually dependent. As it stands, you really need to build the 
LiveCode repo from source on your chosen development platform - as 
that's the only way you can guarantee that you can submit patches 
against the current HEAD of any of the branches.

Warmest Regards,

Mark.

-- 
Mark Waddingham ~ mark at livecode.com ~ http://www.livecode.com/
LiveCode: Everyone can create apps