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CONTRIBUTING.rst

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+Hacking on ``gcloud-python``
+============================
+
+Here are some guidelines for hacking on gcloud-python.
+
+Using a Development Checkout
+----------------------------
+
+You'll have to create a development environment to hack on gcloud-python,
+using a Git checkout:
+
+- While logged into your GitHub account, navigate to the gcloud-python repo on
+  GitHub.
+
+  https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/gcloud-python
+
+- Fork and clone the gcloud-python repository to your GitHub account by
+  clicking the "Fork" button.
+
+- Clone your fork of gcloud-python from your GitHub account to your local
+  computer, substituting your account username and specifying the destination
+  as "hack-on-gcloud".  E.g.::
+
+   $ cd ~
+   $ git clone git@github.com:USERNAME/gcloud-python.git hack-on-gcloud
+   $ cd hack-on-gcloud
+   # Configure remotes such that you can pull changes from the gcloud-python
+   # repository into your local repository.
+   $ git remote add upstream https://github.com:GoogleCloudPlatform/gcloud-python
+   # fetch and merge changes from upstream into master
+   $ git fetch upstream
+   $ git merge upstream/master
+
+Now your local repo is set up such that you will push changes to your GitHub
+repo, from which you can submit a pull request.
+
+- Create a virtualenv in which to install gcloud-python::
+
+   $ cd ~/hack-on-gcloud
+   $ virtualenv -ppython2.7 env
+
+  Note that very old versions of virtualenv (virtualenv versions below, say,
+  1.10 or thereabouts) require you to pass a ``--no-site-packages`` flag to
+  get a completely isolated environment.
+
+  You can choose which Python version you want to use by passing a ``-p``
+  flag to ``virtualenv``.  For example, ``virtualenv -ppython2.7``
+  chooses the Python 2.7 interpreter to be installed.
+
+  From here on in within these instructions, the ``~/hack-on-gcloud/env``
+  virtual environment you created above will be referred to as ``$VENV``.
+  To use the instructions in the steps that follow literally, use the
+  ``export VENV=~/hack-on-gcloud/env`` command.
+
+- Install gcloud-python from the checkout into the virtualenv using
+  ``setup.py develop``.  Running ``setup.py develop`` *must* be done while
+  the current working directory is the ``gcloud-python`` checkout directory::
+
+   $ cd ~/hack-on-gcloud
+   $ $VENV/bin/python setup.py develop
+
+Adding Features
+---------------
+
+In order to add a feature to gcloud-python:
+
+- The feature must be documented in both the API and narrative
+  documentation (in ``docs/``).
+
+- The feature must work fully on the following CPython versions: 2.6,
+  and 2.7 on both UNIX and Windows.
+
+- The feature must not add unnecessary dependencies (where
+  "unnecessary" is of course subjective, but new dependencies should
+  be discussed).
+
+Coding Style
+------------
+
+- PEP8 compliance, with exceptions defined in ``tox.ini``.
+  If you have ``tox`` installed, you can test that you have not introduced
+  any non-compliant code via::
+
+   $ tox -e lint
+
+Exceptions to PEP8:
+
+- Many unit tests use a helper method, ``_callFUT`` ("FUT" is short for
+  "Function-Under-Test"), which is PEP8-incompliant, but more readable.
+  Some also use a local variable, ``MUT`` (short for "Module-Under-Test").
+
+Running Tests
+--------------
+
+- To run all tests for gcloud-python on a single Python version, run
+  ``nosetests`` from your development virtualenv (See
+  *Using a Development Checkout* above).
+
+- To run the full set of gcloud-python tests on all platforms, install ``tox``
+  (http://codespeak.net/~hpk/tox/) into a system Python.  The ``tox`` console
+  script will be installed into the scripts location for that Python.  While
+  ``cd``'ed to the gcloud-python checkout root directory (it contains ``tox.ini``),
+  invoke the ``tox`` console script.  This will read the ``tox.ini`` file and
+  execute the tests on multiple Python versions and platforms; while it runs,
+  it creates a virtualenv for each version/platform combination.  For
+  example::
+
+   $ sudo /usr/bin/pip install tox
+   $ cd ~/hack-on-gcloud/
+   $ /usr/bin/tox
+
+
+Test Coverage
+-------------
+
+- The codebase *must* have 100% test statement coverage after each commit.
+  You can test coverage via ``tox -e coverage``, or alternately by installing
+  ``nose`` and ``coverage`` into your virtualenv, and running
+  ``setup.py nosetests --with-coverage``.  If you have ``tox`` installed::
+
+   $ tox -e cover
+
+Documentation Coverage and Building HTML Documentation
+------------------------------------------------------
+
+If you fix a bug, and the bug requires an API or behavior modification, all
+documentation in this package which references that API or behavior must be
+changed to reflect the bug fix, ideally in the same commit that fixes the bug
+or adds the feature.
+
+To build and review docs (where ``$VENV`` refers to the virtualenv you're
+using to develop gcloud-python):
+
+1. After following the steps above in "Using a Development Checkout", install
+   Sphinx and all development requirements in your virtualenv::
+
+     $ cd ~/hack-on-gcloud
+     $ $VENV/bin/pip install Sphinx
+
+2. Change into the ``docs`` directory within your gcloud-python checkout and
+   execute the ``make`` command with some flags::
+
+     $ cd ~/hack-on-gcloud/gcloud-python/docs
+     $ make clean html SPHINXBUILD=$VENV/bin/sphinx-build
+
+   The ``SPHINXBUILD=...`` argument tells Sphinx to use the virtualenv Python,
+   which will have both Sphinx and gcloud-python (for API documentation
+   generation) installed.
+
+3. Open the ``docs/_build/html/index.html`` file to see the resulting HTML
+   rendering.
+
+As an alternative to 1. and 2. above, if you have ``tox`` installed, you
+can build the docs via::
+
+   $ tox -e docs
+
+Change Log
+----------
+
+- Feature additions and bugfixes must be added to the ``CHANGES.txt``
+  file in the prevailing style.  Changelog entries should be long and
+  descriptive, not cryptic.  Other developers should be able to know
+  what your changelog entry means.