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diff --git a/docs/gedit-development-getting-started.md b/docs/gedit-development-getting-started.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f930af --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/gedit-development-getting-started.md @@ -0,0 +1,100 @@ +gedit development - getting started +=================================== + +The following explanations can be improved over time, if you see something +missing, a feedback is welcome. + +Programming languages and paradigms +----------------------------------- + +gedit is mostly written in C, with some plugins in Python or +[Vala](https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Vala/). The build system is in +[Meson](https://mesonbuild.com/). + +The code is object-oriented and event-driven. In C, it's thanks to the use of +the GObject library (see next section). If you open some `*.c` or `*.h` files, +you may think “what is this horror?!” but – don't panic – it's just some +C/GObject boilerplate code, and that boilerplate can be generated by a tool. So +once you've learned GObject, you will no longer be afraid ;-) + +Libraries used +-------------- + +As every GNOME application, gedit uses the GLib, GObject and GTK libraries. To +modify the gedit source code, you should be familiar with those libraries. See +the [GTK website](https://www.gtk.org/) and the document +[The GLib/GTK Development Platform – A Getting Started Guide](https://people.gnome.org/~swilmet/glib-gtk-book/). + +The main widget used by gedit is GtkTextView, a general-purpose multiline text +editor. To learn that widget API, read the excellent +[GtkTextView tutorial](http://www.bravegnu.org/gtktext/) (a bit old but still +mostly valid). But GtkTextView is not enough for source code edition. gedit +actually uses the +[GtkSourceView](https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/GtkSourceView) library, which +contains a subclass of GtkTextView with many features useful for a text editor +or an IDE. But GtkSourceView is not enough to have a full-blown text editor, +gedit is actually in the process of using more features from the +[Tepl](https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Tepl) library, and to further develop +Tepl alongside gedit. + +For its plugin system, gedit uses the +[libpeas](https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Libpeas) library. + +Plugins may have other dependencies, for example the spell-checking plugin uses +[gspell](https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/gspell). + +gedit architecture +------------------ + +The [gedit Git repository](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gedit) contains the +_gedit core_ plus the default plugins. There is also the +[gedit-plugins Git repository](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gedit-plugins) +for additional official plugins. The gedit core source code is in the `gedit/` +directory. The plugins are in … `plugins/`! + +gedit core provides: +- A basic text editor. +- The integration of libpeas, with an API for plugins. + +There is a class diagram of gedit core in the file +[class-diagram.dia](class-diagram.dia) (but it may be outdated, see the Git log +for that file). + +Build/Installation +------------------ + +See the file [build.md](build.md). + +First contribution +------------------ + +See the [Newcomers](https://wiki.gnome.org/Newcomers/) page to start +contributing to GNOME in general. But perhaps some things explained there are +not relevant for gedit, in case of doubt the gedit documentation takes +precedence. + +To know how to contribute to gedit specifically, read the +[README.md](../README.md) and [CONTRIBUTING.md](../CONTRIBUTING.md) files +present in the Git repository (and then you'll see that the `CONTRIBUTING.md` +file refers to this file, but please don't end up in an infinite reading loop). + +A good way to learn a lot of things is to write a new plugin (as a third-party +plugin first). + +A potentially easy task (but not always) is to fix compilation warnings, for +example when a deprecated function is used. If you encounter a runtime warning +or critical message, it is also a good idea to fix it. + +Improvements to the documentation (for users or developers) is also useful, +especially to improve the API reference for developing gedit plugins. + +Note that gedit, although simple to use, is old. Some parts of the code is +legacy code. The remaining tasks to do are often not simple, the codebase needs +a lot of refactoring, and to do it properly an experienced developer is advised. +That's why writing plugins is normally easier. + +Interesting article to read, written by a GNOME developer: +[Working on Free Software](http://ometer.com/hacking.html) + +Happy hacking!\ +the gedit developers. |