CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing

This page documents at a very high level how to contribute to VTK. Please check our developer instructions for a more detailed guide to developing and contributing to the project, and our VTK Git README for additional information.

1. The canonical VTK source is maintained on a GitLab instance at https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk.
   Create an account there if you don't have one yet.
   Note: If you're reading this document on GitHub, bear in mind that it is just a mirror, so pull requests here aren't merged. But don't worry, the workflow in GitLab is pretty similar and you can even sign up using your GitHub account.

2. Fork VTK into your user's namespace on GitLab.

3. Follow the download instructions to create a local clone of the main VTK repository:

   $ git clone https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk.git VTK
   $ cd VTK

   The main repository will be configured as your origin remote.

   For more information see: Setup

4. Run the developer setup script to prepare your VTK work tree and create Git command aliases used below:

   $ ./Utilities/SetupForDevelopment.sh

   This will prompt for your GitLab user name and configure a remote called gitlab to refer to it.

   For more information see: Setup

5. Edit files and create commits (repeat as needed):

   $ edit file1 file2 file3
   $ git add file1 file2 file3
   $ git commit

   For more information see: Create a Topic

6. Push commits in your topic branch to your fork in GitLab:

   $ git gitlab-push

   For more information see: Share a Topic

7. Visit your fork in GitLab, browse to the "Merge Requests" link on the left, and use the "New Merge Request" button in the upper right to create a Merge Request.

   For more information see: Create a Merge Request

VTK uses GitLab for code review and Buildbot to test proposed patches before they are merged.

Our Wiki is used to document features, flesh out designs and host other documentation. Our API is documented using Doxygen with updated documentation generated nightly. We have a VTK Discourse forum to coordinate development and to provide support.