# GIT Examples

# Contributing Code to PX4

Adding a feature to PX4 follows a defined workflow. In order to share your contributions on PX4, you can follow this example.

Sign up (opens new window) for github if you haven't already
Fork the PX4-Autopilot re[p (see here (opens new window))

Clone your forked repository to your local computer

cd ~/wherever/
git clone https://github.com/<your git name>/PX4-Autopilot.git

Go into the new directory, initialize and update the submodules, and add the original upstream PX4-Autopilot

cd PX4-Autopilot
git submodule update --init --recursive
git remote add upstream https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git

You should have now two remote repositories: One repository is called upstream that points to PX4/PX4-Autopilot, and one repository that points to your forked repository of the PX4 repository.
This can be checked with the following command:
```
git remote -v
```
Make the changes that you want to add to the current master.
Create a new branch with a meaningful name that represents your feature
```
git checkout -b <your feature branch name>
```
you can use the command git branch to make sure you're on the right branch.
Add your changes that you want to be part of the commit by adding the respective files
```
git add <file name>
```
If you prefer having a GUI to add your files see Gitk (opens new window) or git add -p (opens new window).
Commit the added files with a meaningful message explaining your changes
```
git commit -m "<your commit message>"
```

For a good commit message, please refer to Contributing section.

Some time might have passed and the upstream master (opens new window) has changed. PX4 prefers a linear commit history and uses git rebase (opens new window). To include the newest changes from upstream in your local branch, switch to your master branch
```
git checkout master
```
Then pull the newest commits from upstream master
```
git pull upstream master
```
Now your local master is up to date. Switch back to your feature branch
```
git checkout <your feature branch name>
```
and rebase on your updated master
```
git rebase master
```
Now you can push your local commits to your forked repository
```
git push origin <your feature branch name>
```
You can verify that the push was successful by going to your forked repository in your browser: https://github.com/<your git name>/PX4-Autopilot.git
There you should see the message that a new branch has been pushed to your forked repository.
Now it's time to create a pull request (PR). On the right hand side of the "new branch message" (see one step before), you should see a green button saying "Compare & Create Pull Request". Then it should list your changes and you can (must) add a meaningful title (in case of a one commit PR, it's usually the commit message) and message (explain what you did for what reason. Check other pull requests (opens new window) for comparison)
You're done! Responsible members of PX4 will now have a look at your contribution and decide if they want to integrate it. Check if they have questions on your changes every once in a while.

# Get a Specific Release

To get the source code for a specific older release:

Clone the PX4-Autopilot repo and navigate into PX4-Autopilot directory:

git clone https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git
cd PX4-Autopilot

List all releases (tags)
```
git tag -l
```
Checkout code for particular tag (e.g. for tag 1.7.4beta)
```
git checkout v1.7.4beta
```

# Update Submodule

There are several ways to update a submodule. Either you clone the repository or you go in the submodule directory and follow the same procedure as in Contributing code to PX4.

# Do a PR for a submodule update

This is required after you have done a PR for a submodule X repository and the bug-fix / feature-add is in the current master of submodule X. Since the Firmware still points to a commit before your update, a submodule pull request is required such that the submodule used by the Firmware points to the newest commit.

cd Firmware

Make a new branch that describes the fix / feature for the submodule update:
```
git checkout -b pr-some-fix
```
Go to submodule subdirectory
```
cd <path to submodule>
```
PX4 submodule might not necessarily point to the newest commit. Therefore, first checkout master and pull the newest upstream code.
```
git checkout master
git pull upstream master
```

Go back to Firmware directory, and as usual add, commit and push the changes.

cd -
git add <path to submodule>
git commit -m "Update submodule to include ..."
git push upstream pr-some-fix

# Checkout pull requests

You can test someone's pull request (changes are not yet merged) even if the branch to merge only exists on the fork from that person. Do the following:

git fetch upstream  pull/<PR ID>/head:<branch name>

PR ID is the number right next to the PR's title (without the #) and the <branch name> can also be found right below the PR ID, e.g. <the other persons git name>:<branch name>. After that you can see the newly created branch locally with

git branch

Then switch to that branch

git checkout <branch name>

# Common pitfalls

# Force push to forked repository

After having done the first PR, people from the PX4 community will review your changes. In most cases this means that you have to fix your local branch according to the review. After changing the files locally, the feature branch needs to be rebased again with the most recent upstream/master. However, after the rebase, it is no longer possible to push the feature branch to your forked repository directly, but instead you need to use a force push:

git push --force-with-lease origin <your feature branch name>

# Rebase merge conflicts

If a conflict occurs during a git rebase, please refer to this guide (opens new window).

# Pull merge conflicts

If a conflict occurs during a git pull, please refer to this guide (opens new window).

# Build error due to git tags out of date

The build error Error: PX4 version too low, expected at least vx.x.x occurs if git tags are out of date.

This can be solved by fetching the upstream repository tags:

git fetch upstream --tags

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