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Contributing to the Burn Project

Welcome to the Burn project! We're thrilled that you're considering contributing to our project. Every contribution helps, and we're delighted to have you on board.

How to Contribute?

Here are some steps to guide you through the process of contributing to the Burn project:

Step 1: Review the Issue Tickets

Before you start working on a contribution, please take a moment to look through the open issues in the issue tracker for this project. This will give you an idea of what kind of work is currently being planned or is in progress.

Step 2: Get Familiar with the Project Architecture

It's crucial to have an understanding of the project's architecture. Familiarize yourself with the structure of the project, the purpose of different components, and how they interact with each other. This will give you the context needed to make meaningful contributions.

Step 3: Fork and Clone the Repository

Before you can start making changes, you'll need to fork the Burn repository and clone it to your local machine. This can be done via the GitHub website or the GitHub Desktop application. Here are the steps:

Click the "Fork" button at the top-right of this page to create a copy of this project in your GitHub account.
Clone the repository to your local machine. You can do this by clicking the "Code" button on the GitHub website and copying the URL. Then open a terminal on your local machine and type git clone [the URL you copied].

Step 4: Create a New Branch

It's a good practice to create a new branch for each contribution you make. This keeps your changes organized and separated from the main project, which can make the process of reviewing and merging your changes easier. You can create a new branch by using the command git checkout -b [branch-name].

Step 5: Make Your Changes

Once you have set up your local repository and created a new branch, you can start making changes. Be sure to follow the coding standards and guidelines used in the rest of the project.

Step 6: Validate code before opening a Pull Request

Before you open a pull request, please run ./run-checks.sh all. This will ensure that your changes are in line with our project's standards and guidelines. You can run this script by opening a terminal, navigating to your local project directory, and typing ./run-checks.

Note that under the hood run-checks runs the cargo xtask validate command which is powered by the tracel-xtask crate. It is recommended to get familiar with it as it provides a wide variety of commands to help you work with the code base.

If you have an error related to torch installation, see Burn Torch Backend Installation

Format and lint errors can often be fixed automatically using the command cargo xtask fix all.

Step 7: Submit a Pull Request

After you've made your changes and run the pre-pull request script, you're ready to submit a pull request. This can be done through the GitHub website or the GitHub Desktop application.

When submitting your pull request, please provide a brief description of the changes you've made and the issue or issues that your changes address.

Optional step for VS Code: Setting up environment

Install the following extensions:

Open Command Palette with Ctrl+Shift+P or F1 and type LLDB: Generate Launch Configurations from Cargo.toml then select it, this will generate a file that should be saved as .vscode/launch.json. You may also want to enable debugging by creating a .vscode/settings.json file:
```
{
"rust-analyzer.runnables.extraEnv": {
   "CARGO_PROFILE_DEV_DEBUG": true
}
}
```
since this repo has debug = 0 in the root Cargo.toml to speed up compilation.
Now you can enable breakpoint on code through IDE and then start debugging the library/binary you want, such as the following example:

If you're creating a new library or binary, keep in mind to repeat the step 2 to always keep a fresh list of targets.

Code Guidelines

We believe in clean and efficient code. While we don't enforce strict coding guidelines, we trust and use tools like cargo fmt and cargo clippy to maintain code quality. These are integrated into our run-checks script, ensuring consistency across our codebase.

Writing Expect Messages

In Rust, the expect() function is a crucial tool for handling errors. However, the power of expect() lies in its ability to convey clear, actionable messages. When you use expect(), your message should describe the successful outcome of the function rather than focusing on the error.

Here's a helpful tip from the Rust documentation:

Think of expect() messages as guidelines for future you and other developers. Frame them with the word “should” like “The ENV variable should be set by X function” or “The binary should be accessible and executable by the current user.”

This approach ensures that expect() messages are informative and aligned with the intended function outcomes, making debugging and maintenance more straightforward for everyone.

Writing integration tests

Integration tests should be in a directory called tests besides the src directory of a crate. Per convention, they must be implemented in files whose name start with the test_ prefix.

Others

To bump for the next version, install cargo-edit if its not on your system, and use this command:

cargo set-version --bump minor

We look forward to seeing your contributions to the Burn project. Happy coding!

If you have any questions and would like to get in touch with us, please feel free to join our discord server:

6.6 KiB Raw Blame History