Contribution Guidelines

Contribution Guidelines#

We wholeheartedly welcome contributions to the project to make the framework more mature and useful for everyone. These may happen in forms of:

  • Bug reports: Please report any bugs you find in the issue tracker.

  • Feature requests: Please suggest new features you would like to see in the discussions.

  • Code contributions: Please submit a pull request.

    • Bug fixes

    • New features

    • Documentation improvements

    • Tutorials and tutorial improvements

Attention

We prefer GitHub discussions for discussing ideas, asking questions, conversations and requests for new features.

Please use the issue tracker only to track executable pieces of work with a definite scope and a clear deliverable. These can be fixing bugs, new features, or general updates.

Contributing Code#

We use GitHub for code hosting. Please follow the following steps to contribute code:

  1. Create an issue in the issue tracker to discuss the changes or additions you would like to make. This helps us to avoid duplicate work and to make sure that the changes are aligned with the roadmap of the project.

  2. Fork the repository.

  3. Create a new branch for your changes.

  4. Make your changes and commit them.

  5. Push your changes to your fork.

  6. Submit a pull request to the main branch.

  7. Ensure all the checks on the pull request template are performed.

After sending a pull request, the maintainers will review your code and provide feedback.

Please ensure that your code is well-formatted, documented and passes all the tests.

Tip

It is important to keep the pull request as small as possible. This makes it easier for the maintainers to review your code. If you are making multiple changes, please send multiple pull requests. Large pull requests are difficult to review and may take a long time to merge.

Coding Style#

We follow the Google Style Guides for the codebase. For Python code, the PEP guidelines are followed. Most important ones are PEP-8 for code comments and layout, PEP-484 and PEP-585 for type-hinting.

For documentation, we adopt the Google Style Guide for docstrings. We use Sphinx for generating the documentation. Please make sure that your code is well-documented and follows the guidelines.

Circular Imports#

Circular imports happen when two modules import each other, which is a common issue in Python. You can prevent circular imports by adhering to the best practices outlined in this StackOverflow post.

In general, it is essential to avoid circular imports as they can lead to unpredictable behavior.

However, in our codebase, we encounter circular imports at a sub-package level. This situation arises due to our specific code structure. We organize classes or functions and their corresponding configuration objects into separate files. This separation enhances code readability and maintainability. Nevertheless, it can result in circular imports because, in many configuration objects, we specify classes or functions as default values using the attributes class_type and func respectively.

To address circular imports, we leverage the typing.TYPE_CHECKING variable. This special variable is evaluated only during type-checking, allowing us to import classes or functions in the configuration objects without triggering circular imports.

It is important to note that this is the sole instance within our codebase where circular imports are used and are acceptable. In all other scenarios, we adhere to best practices and recommend that you do the same.

Type-hinting#

To make the code more readable, we use type hints for all the functions and classes. This helps in understanding the code and makes it easier to maintain. Following this practice also helps in catching bugs early with static type checkers like mypy.

To avoid duplication of efforts, we do not specify type hints for the arguments and return values in the docstrings. However, if your function or class is not self-explanatory, please add a docstring with the type hints.

Tools#

We use the following tools for maintaining code quality:

  • pre-commit: Runs a list of formatters and linters over the codebase.

  • black: The uncompromising code formatter.

  • flake8: A wrapper around PyFlakes, pycodestyle and McCabe complexity checker.

Please check here for instructions to set these up. To run over the entire repository, please execute the following command in the terminal:

./isaaclab.sh --format  # or "./isaaclab.sh -f"

Contributing Documentation#

Contributing to the documentation is as easy as contributing to the codebase. All the source files for the documentation are located in the IsaacLab/docs directory. The documentation is written in reStructuredText format.

We use Sphinx with the Book Theme for maintaining the documentation.

Sending a pull request for the documentation is the same as sending a pull request for the codebase. Please follow the steps mentioned in the Contributing Code section.

Caution

To build the documentation, we recommend creating a virtual environment to install the dependencies. This can also be a conda environment.

To build the documentation, run the following command in the terminal which installs the required python packages and builds the documentation using the docs/Makefile:

./isaaclab.sh --docs  # or "./isaaclab.sh -d"

The documentation is generated in the docs/_build directory. To view the documentation, open the index.html file in the html directory. This can be done by running the following command in the terminal:

xdg-open docs/_build/html/index.html

Hint

The xdg-open command is used to open the index.html file in the default browser. If you are using a different operating system, you can use the appropriate command to open the file in the browser.

To do a clean build, run the following command in the terminal:

rm -rf docs/_build && ./isaaclab.sh --docs

Contributing assets#

Currently, we host the assets for the extensions on NVIDIA Nucleus Server. Nucleus is a cloud-based storage service that allows users to store and share large files. It is integrated with the NVIDIA Omniverse Platform.

Since all assets are hosted on Nucleus, we do not need to include them in the repository. However, we need to include the links to the assets in the documentation.

The included assets are part of the Isaac Sim Content. To use this content, you need to download the files to a Nucleus server or create an Isaac Mount on a Nucleus server.

Please check the Isaac Sim documentation for more information on how to download the assets.

Attention

We are currently working on a better way to contribute assets. We will update this section once we have a solution. In the meantime, please follow the steps mentioned below.

To host your own assets, the current solution is:

  1. Create a separate repository for the assets and add it over there

  2. Make sure the assets are licensed for use and distribution

  3. Include images of the assets in the README file of the repository

  4. Send a pull request with a link to the repository

We will then verify the assets, its licensing, and include the assets into the Nucleus server for hosting. In case you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us through e-mail or by opening an issue in the repository.

Maintaining a changelog#

Each extension maintains a changelog in the CHANGELOG.rst file in the docs directory. The file is written in reStructuredText format. It contains a curated, chronologically ordered list of notable changes for each version of the extension.

The goal of this changelog is to help users and contributors see precisely what notable changes have been made between each release (or version) of the extension. This is a MUST for every extension.

For updating the changelog, please follow the following guidelines:

  • Each version should have a section with the version number and the release date.

  • The version number is updated according to Semantic Versioning. The release date is the date on which the version is released.

  • Each version is divided into subsections based on the type of changes made.

    • Added: For new features.

    • Changed: For changes in existing functionality.

    • Deprecated: For soon-to-be removed features.

    • Removed: For now removed features.

    • Fixed: For any bug fixes.

  • Each change is described in its corresponding sub-section with a bullet point.

  • The bullet points are written in the past tense and in imperative mode.

For example, the following is a sample changelog:

Changelog
---------

0.1.0 (2021-02-01)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Added
^^^^^

* Added a new feature.

Changed
^^^^^^^

* Changed an existing feature.

Deprecated
^^^^^^^^^^

* Deprecated an existing feature.

Removed
^^^^^^^

* Removed an existing feature.

Fixed
^^^^^

* Fixed a bug.

0.0.1 (2021-01-01)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Added
^^^^^

* Added a new feature.