The Contributor’s Guide

We always welcome new contributors! There’s a lot to do, not only writing some code, but also contributing to the documentation and guides, tutorials, translations, bug reports, feature request, communication and public relations… And of course we’re always in need for donations too.

Introduction

We as members, contributors, and leaders pledge to make participation in our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

We pledge to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and healthy community.

Get in touch

First things first, if you’d like to contribute, come and say hi! We’re here to help, give advice and just have a nice chat. Don’t be afraid, we won’t bite ;) Join us on chat.rxlab.info, that’s quick, easy, and anonymous.

If you have any private inquiry or if you don’t like our chat server, you can contact us using our contact form on contact.rxlab.info, we’ll reply by e-mail. Please don’t use this form to get support for the tools but only for other and private inquiries.

Help fund the development, support and distribution

One of our main needs to continue to develop, maintain, and distribute free software is money…

We’d like to pay the developers, we have to pay for the web hosting and servers, and in general for all the people and companies working to keep the Rx Open Tools alive.

You can make a donation right now at donate.rxlab.info, or, even better, join the RxLab. membership at membership.rxlab.info and get exclusive advantages like an early access to the tools in development and new versions. You can also buy nice stuff from the shop at shop.rxlab.info!

Contribute

Code

If you’re a fellow developer, either beginner or experienced, you’re welcome to contribute to the development of Duik. Most of the work happens on our dedicated repository which you can quickly find at source.rxlab.io.

If you don’t know how to use Git yet, start by testing that. It’s not difficult.

This is the usual way to submit changes to the code:

1. Start by cloning the repo. This is easily done right from the repository website.
2. Clone your instance of the repo locally to your computer, using either the command line or any Git GUI application (a list is available on git-scm.com).
3. Then you can start to code.
4. Commit your changes regularly, and push them, using either the command line or your Git GUI application application.
5. Submit a pull request to our repository so we can review your changes. This is easily done right from the repository website.

As you can see, the process is quite easy to follow, and everything can be done with a UI if you’re not so familiar with command line interfaces.

Don’t worry if you’re not sure about what you’re doing, don’t be shy. We’ll review and fix (or ask you to fix) your code before it’s integrated into Duik, and help you learn. We’re doing everything we can so everyone feels included and safe in every place you’ll be in touch with us. We’ve all been beginners ;)

If you need help, if you’d like to submit a piece of code, an example, your own script, or anything else which would not fit the process described above, don’t hesitate to contact us, either using our contact form: contact.rxlab.info or through our chat server: chat.rxlab.info to have a little chat!

Document

If you’re a skilled user of Duik, or you find some mistakes and typos in the docs and user guides, you’re welcome to edit them or create new pages!

When you’re reading the documentation online, an Edit button should be available at the top right corner of the page. Just click it to submit your changes; we’ll review and make the changes available quickly. Don’t worry if you don’t see the change after you edit the page, it has to be accepted first and it’s not automatically published.

The documentation uses the Markdown ¹ syntax: the source is made of simple text files following this syntax, and the html web pages are generated from this using a tool called MkDocs. You’ll see that Markdown is very simple to use and quick to learn.

The link to the Duik online documentation is duik.rxlab.guide

Tutorials

The more tutorials available, the better!

Don’t hesitate to record either quick tips and tricks or complete courses. Post them on your favorite streaming service, paid or free, in any language, and let us know so we can share them!

If you’d like and if your tutorial meets our quality requirements, it could become an “official” tutorial for your language which will include on the RxLab website and even add to our shop. Contact us if you feel your tutorial or course deserves it.

Translate

We’re trying to make Duik available in as many languages as possible. When we develop the tools, they’re written in English first (as all programming languages use English keywords that makes things easier). But we’d like them to use Esperanto ² as a default language, because there’s no reason English should be the international language, la internacia lingvo. Of course, it is, and that won’t change tomorrow, but we’re trying to show it could be different.

The best would be that any user could use the tools in the language of its choice. We’ve noticed that when a tool is translated, its use grows a lot in countries where the new translation is spoken. These are the languages the most used by the users of Duik:

• (Esperanto)
• English
• French
• Spanish
• Chinese
• Portuguese
• Japanese
• German
• …

But any translation in any language is welcome!

Technically, to translate Duik, we use open PO files. To edit these translations, we use the online collaborative platform Crowdin, but we also recommend using free apps like PoEdit or Virtaal if you prefer to download the files and work offline. These files can also be easily edited with any text editor application.

When you decide to help to translate Duik, it’s best to first join us on our chat server: chat.rxlab.info so we can help you, and you can exchange with other translators in your language or other languages.

Via Crowdin

The easiest way to help translate the tools is to create a free account on Crowdin.com and start contributing to the project of your choice. You’ll find the Duik project on translate.rxlab.io

If the language you’re willing to translate to is not listed yet, just ask us and we’ll add it right away!

Via an application

If you prefer to translate the tools using an application, you’ll first have to download the translation files to edit them. You’ll find them either on the corresponding repository at source.rxlab.io or Crowdin project at translate.rxlab.io. First, create a free account on the platform, then download the files. Once you’re finished, you’ll just have to send them back (post them on our chat server at chat.rxlab.io, or attach them to an issue on the repository, or create a pull request, or upload them to Crowdin, your choice!).

Bug reports and feature request

If you find a bug (sorry!) or have a feature to request for a specific Rx Open Tool, let us know! It’s very important we get feedback from the users to keep improving all the tools.

No matter what, all bug requests and feature requests must be posted on issue.rxlab.io.

But it’s a good idea to first join us on our chat server: chat.rxlab.io to make sure the issue is not already known or fixed, or if you need any help at all.

Communicate, share, repost…

The more we are, the more contributors we get, the better will be our work. Every time you post something you’ve made using one of the Rx Open Tools, show it! Include hash tags like #rxlaboratory, #rxlab, #duik, etc. and mentions like @RxLaboratory, and ask your followers to follow us, to contribute, to donate or to become members! Use these links to get them to the right page: rxlaboratory.org, donate.rxlab.info, membership.rxlab.info, chat.rxlab.info, rxlab.io, rxlab.guide…

We’ll be happy to repost and share your posts and help you reach more people to show your work!

► Facebook.com/rxlaboratory

► Instagram.com/rxlaboratory

► Youtube.com/@rxlab

► chat.rxlab.info

Finally, if you’ve subscribed to the RxLab. Membership, use this badge ! Show your support by adding it to your website, page, etc. with a link to membership.rxlab.info.