Adding upstream version 44.2.upstream/44.2upstream

Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>

1 files changed, 95 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/docs/gedit-development-getting-started.md b/docs/gedit-development-getting-started.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8cc4c56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/gedit-development-getting-started.md
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+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
+[Meson](https://mesonbuild.com/) build system is used.
+
+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 be frightened 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://informatique-libre.be/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://gitlab.gnome.org/swilmet/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://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/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. And as can be expected, the plugins are in …*drum roll*: `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).
+
+More information
+----------------
+
+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
+[CONTRIBUTING.md](../CONTRIBUTING.md) file.
+
+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 and would benefit from some refactoring. That's why writing plugins
+is normally easier.
+
+    Happy hacking,
+
+    the gedit developers.