Hey WordPress contributors! I want to know what you consider the optimal workflow for contributing to WordPress. Things like trac, diffs, vagrants, grunting, milestones, config, etc. all sound weird and hard. So I have some questions for you answer. I know your answers will help me contribute ten bazillion times more efficiently. The more detailed your answer, the better. (You can even write up a sweet blog post as an answer!)
* What are all the things you use for your local workflow (apps, Vagrant, whatever)?
* What do you use to keep your local install up to date?
* What do you use to create or apply patches?
* Got any tips to make me ultra-efficient?
Thanks!
I use Windows for day to day stuff, not Mac or Linux, so my setup is old school. 🙂
* What are all the things you use for your local workflow (apps, Vagrant, whatever)?
I like TextPad for editing and fast search. Been using it for at least 10 years. XAMPP for a whole bunch of local test copies.
* What do you use to keep your local install up to date?
TortoiseSVN.
* What do you use to create or apply patches?
TortoiseSVN.
* Got any tips to make me ultra-efficient?
Sure. Know what you’re doing and don’t let the tools dictate your workflow. Look, I’ve been a professional coder for 16 years. You use the tools you have in front of you. Tools don’t matter. And the truth is that things like language shouldn’t matter either. You are a smart person, capable of figuring it out given what you have right now. Learn to do that, and you will be all right no matter what circumstances you find yourself in. Roll with the flow. Work on a Chromebook sometimes. Or an Android phone. It’s all the same in the end. Tools only matter to those who either are wedded to them, or are forced to use them, or to those who don’t actually grasp the underlying systems at work.
Just saying. 😉
> Tools only matter to those who either are wedded to them, or are forced to use them, or to those who don’t actually grasp the underlying systems at work.
You’re right, but at some point, someone who isn’t super familiar with Trac, Diffs, SVN, Node, Grunt, rando dependencies, or even WordPress is going to come along and want to contribute only to get caught up in a pretty steep learning curve. Think about the difficulty curve for someone wanting change a few lines of CSS and test it out. Even if you’re a pro, it’s not exactly a straightforward process.
Ultimately, I’d like to find a way streamline the setup needed to contribute.