Contribute to NorESM2

General guidelines for contributing code to NorESM are outlined in the CONTRIBUTING.md file in the github repository. This documentation is intended to supplement the general guidelines with more specific information and step-by-step procedures.

The basic steps for downloading the code has already been described in the download code section of this document. For code contribution it is generally recommended to use a fork-based workflow, but some non-critical changes (e.g. editing documentation) can be made with a simplified procedure through GitHub (see doc/README.md). It is also recommended to create a discussion item or an issue ticket before undertaking any major code changes. This will alert the NorESM community to what you want to contribute, provide a forum for feedback from other developers, and reduce the risk of work duplication and/or conflicts if multiple developers are working on the same part of the code.

• 1. Version Control and GitHub
  • 1.1. Create a GitHub user account
  • 1.2. Clone a repository
  • 1.3. Learn more about git version control
• 2. Workflow with GitHub forks
  • 2.1. Keep local clone in sync with main repository
  • 2.2. Make code changes
  • 2.3. Make changes directly in GitHub
  • 2.4. Pull requests and code merging
  • 2.5. Synchronize local repositories through a GitHub fork repository
  • 2.6. Removing feature branches after merging
• 3. Git recipes and best practices
  • 3.1. Obtain a copy of the model (using git)
  • 3.2. Verify that you have the correct checkout
  • 3.3. Modify files
  • 3.4. Get modifications from github
  • 3.5. Send modifications to github
  • 3.6. Merge a single file
  • 3.7. Why use feature branches?
  • 3.8. Development branch vs. continuous integration tool (CI)
  • 3.9. Hotfix branches
  • 3.10. Tips and Gotcha’s when working with Git