Contributing¶

We could use your help. If you are interesting in contributing then please check out our issue tracker or discussions.

Here are some idea of how you can contribute

Test – help us test new candidate releases before they are released
Debug – check bug reports, create tests to highlight problems
Develop – add your Python developer skills to the mix
Document – help make our docs readable, useful and complete

Below we give you more detail on these:

Testing¶

Before we release new versions of the Toolkit we need people to check that they still work correctly. If you are a frequent user you might want to start using the release candidate on your current work and report any errors before we release them.

Run unit tests to see if there are any issues. Please report any failures.

Finally, simply work with the software. Checking all your current usage patterns and report problems.

Debugging¶

Make sure your familiar with the bug reporting guidelines.
Create a login for yourself at https://github.com
Then choose an issue

Now you need to try and validate the bug. Your aim is to confirm that the bug is either fixed, is invalid or still exists.

If its fixed please close the bug and give details of how when it was fixed or what version you used to validate it as corrected.

If you find that the bug reporter has made the incorrect assumptions or their suggestion cannot work. Then mark the bug as invalid and give reasons why.

The last case, an existing bug is the most interesting. Check through the bug and do the following:

Fix up the summary to make it clear what the bug is
Create new bugs for separate issues
Set severity level and classifications correctly
Add examples to reproduce the bug, or make the supplied files simpler
If you can identify the bug but not fix it then explain what needs fixing
Move on to the next bug

Developing¶

Don’t ignore this area if you feel like you are not a hotshot coder!

You will need some Python skills, this is a great way to learn.

Quick Start:

Install dependencies:
- Git
- Python 3.10 or newer
- uv (recommended package manager)
Clone and setup:
```
git clone https://github.com/translate/translate.git
cd translate
uv sync --all-extras --dev
```
This will create a virtual environment in .venv and install all dependencies including development tools.
Run the tests:
```
make test
```

What you can contribute:

Write a test to expose some bug
Try to fix the actual code to fix your bug
Add a small piece of functionality that helps you
Document the methods in especially the base class and derived classes
Add a format type and converters
Add more features to help our formats conform to the standards

Now is the time to familiarise yourself with the developers guide.

Documenting¶

This is the easy one. Login to the wiki and start!

The key areas that need to be looked at are:

Do the guides to each tool cover all command line options
Are the examples clear for the general cases
Is the tools use clear
In the Use cases, can we add more, do they need updating. Has upstream changed its approach

After that and always:

Grammar
Spelling
Layout