Testing Pull Requests

One way to help RST get developed faster and smoother is by testing Pull Requests. This can take fifteen minutes or less to do, helps the developer merge their code, and allows you to be on the author list!

Every contribution helps!

Setting up the testing environment

1. Clone the RST repository by typing git clone https://github.com/SuperDARN/rst.git into the terminal or command line.

2. Then "checkout" the branch you need to test. The author of the Pull Request should give you some information on how to test the code, and if you need to checkout other branches to compare results. To checkout the branch you want to test:

   git fetch 
   git checkout <branch name>
   git pull origin <branch name>
   

   These lines fetch metadata on any new branches made, checkout the branch you want to test, and then pull changes to that branch to make sure you have the latest version.

   Note

   If you cannot determine the name of the branch you should be testing, look at the top of the page below the Pull Request title. Here you will see the branch name and also the "base branch" that the changes will be merged to.

3. Build and compile the code using the normal RST installation procedure.

   make.build && make.code
   

4. Follow any testing instructions provided by the Pull Request author, and any examples in the documentation. Where relevant, make up your own examples to check that the code works in other common situations (e.g. both new- and old-format files) Report anything in the Pull Request comments about how you tested the code, what your output is, and any feedback or other information. Note: To suggest changes to and/or comment on certain sections of code, navigate to the Files Changed tab where it is possible to select multiple lines of code by clicking and dragging the '+' symbol next to line of code.

5. Once you are satisfied with the Pull Request, approve it by clicking on the top Files changed then clicking Review changes and select Approve. Make sure to comment what you did in testing for your approval.