Contributing to Matrixgl

Summary

You don't need to know how to code to help the project. Although if you do want to code, check out Developing for matrixgl.

There are many ways to help, and it isn't difficult. Browse the sections below for something that might interest you.

Thanks very much for your interest. We pay our thanks to all our contributers by adding their names (and possibly email/website) to the AUTHORS file in the source package, and to our Contributors page.

Testing

Testing is the best way to help our project, if you can't code. Windows testing generally isn't required, because we've already tested on XP, Vista and Windows 7, but if you find any bugs, please do send them in.

UNIX testing however, is extremely helpful to us, as there is so much diversity. If you run any version of Linux, BSD, Solaris, or any UNIX based Operating System, you can help. To help us best, follow these simple steps:

1. Grab the latest code from our repository. Go to our Git Page and click the Snapshot link of the top item in the Shortlog. Don't worry if you don't understand what this is, you'll be downloading a tar.gz of the latest code.
2. Look in the Supported Operating Systems section of the README file. If you're distro or OS is already listed there, than you can stop here, because someone has already done testing for that particular OS.
3. Follow these instructions to configure, compile and install matrixgl, just as you would for the regular release. Note that unlike release tarballs, you will need GNU autotools (autoconf, automake and libtool) to be able to build the code.

  $tar xzf [File Name].tar.gz
  $cd matrixgl
  $autoreconf -i
  View the files README and INSTALL for more detailed information
  $./configure
  $make
  Then, as root
  $make install

4. If any of the above steps fails, or if there is an error of bug when the program is run or installed, then you have just found a bug. Visit this page on Reporting Bugs to help us fix the problem.
5. If everything is good, then send an email to vincent@doublecreations.com anyway, telling us which distro you are using. This helps us know how well we support the community, and makes sure that other people don't repeat your work.

Documentation

Documentation is an important part of free software. If you see anything that could be clearer, or you wish to add anything, then type it up and email it to vincent@doublecreations.com. The following is a list of documentation for the project.

Note that by contributing documentation to the project, you agree to release it under the GNU Free Documentation License, unless for this website, in which you agree to release it under the terms shown in the footer of this page.

Current Documentation

• This website itself. If you think theres something missing, make it and submit it
• The README file in the windows binary package.
• The README and INSTALL files in the source package.
• The UNIX man page, the file src/matrixgl.1 in the source package. This describes the options you can pass to matrixgl on the command line, as well as a summary of the authors, and information about reporting bugs.