Contributing to Zellij

Thanks for considering to contribute to Zellij!

First: if you're unsure or afraid of anything, just ask on our Discord server or submit the issue or pull request anyway. You won't be yelled at for giving it your best effort. The worst that can happen is that you'll be politely asked to change something. We appreciate any sort of contributions, and don't want a wall of rules to get in the way of that.

Code of Conduct

Before contributing please read our Code of Conduct which all contributors are expected to adhere to.

Building

To build Zellij, we're using cargo-make – you can install it by running cargo install --force cargo-make. To edit a manpage mandown crate (cargo install mandown) is used and the work is done on a markdown file in docs/MANPAGE.md.

Here are some of the commands currently supported by the build system:

# Format code, build, then run tests and clippy
cargo make
# You can also perform these actions individually
cargo make format
cargo make build
cargo make test
# Run Zellij (optionally with additional arguments)
cargo make run
cargo make run -- -l strider
# Run Clippy (potentially with additional options)
cargo make clippy
cargo make clippy -W clippy::pedantic
# Install Zellij to some directory
cargo make install /path/of/zellij/binary
# Publish the zellij and zellij-tile crates
cargo make publish
# Update manpage
cargo make manpage

To run install or publish, you'll need the package binaryen in the version wasm-opt --version > 97, for it's command wasm-opt.

To run test, you will need the package pkg-config and a version of openssl.

Running the end-to-end tests

Zellij includes some end to end tests which test the whole application as a black-box from the outside. These tests work by running a docker container which contains the Zellij binary, connecting to it via ssh, sending some commands and comparing the output received against predefined snapshots.

To run these tests locally, you'll need to have both docker and docker-compose installed. Once you do, in the repository root:

docker-compose up -d will start up the docker container
cargo make build-e2e will build the generic linux executable of Zellij in the target folder, which is shared with the container
cargo make e2e-test will run the tests

To re-run the tests after you've changed something in the code base, be sure to repeat steps 2 and 3.

Looking for something to work on?

If you are new contributor to Zellij going through [beginners][good-first-issue] should be a good start or you can join our public [Discord server][discord-invite-link], we would be happy to help finding something interesting to work on and guide through.

[discord-invite-link]: https://discord.gg/feHDHahHCz [good-first-issue]: https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/labels/good%20first%20issue

Filing Issues

Bugs and enhancement suggestions are tracked as GitHub issues.

Lacking API for plugin in Zellij?

If you have a plugin idea, but Zellij still doesn't have API required to make the plugin consider opening an issue and describing your requirements.

How Do I Submit A (Good) Bug Report?

After you've determined which repository your bug is related to and that the issue is still present in the latest version of the master branch, create an issue on that repository and provide the following information:

Use a clear and descriptive title for the issue to identify the problem.
Explain which behavior you expected to see instead and why.
Describe the exact steps to reproduce the problem in as many details as necessary.
When providing code samples, please use code blocks.

How Do I Submit A (Good) Enhancement Suggestion?

Instructions are similar to those for bug reports. Please provide the following information:

Use a clear and descriptive title for the issue to identify the suggestion.
Provide a description of the suggested enhancement in as many details as necessary.
When providing code samples, please use code blocks.

Submitting Pull Requests