Zen Cart GitHub Repository

[wilt]

Open Source is the epitome of collaborative coding participation, and this is something we welcome and have supported since our inception. With Zen Cart this has been invited via 3rd-party contributions shared via our support site and sharing of bug reports and code suggestions via our support forum.

Many community discussions have debated the varying opinions about how code development should work in an Open Source space. PA-DSS also introduces some additional complexities in that area, especially in regard to safe access to code, vs officially certified code, vs things which have not been assessed for certification.

The ever increasing popularity of open source development has spawned the launch of some useful tools to enable an even more broad participation in this space. One of these is the availability of GitHub:


GitHub

Developers and coders will be pleased to learn that we have for the last couple of months been using an active GitHub repository where you can see the ongoing changes being made to Zen Cart code. The github repository contains branches that reflect code (and changes) made since the release of the PA-DSS certified v1.5.0 branch.

Furthermore it should be noted that the github branches are maintained separately from our internal git repositories. There are two reasons for this:
- Firstly, because we only release commits to the github branches once they have passed thru portions of our SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle)
- Secondly, because we also maintain (within our internal repositories) certain framework testing code, that we do not push to github.

Currently the GitHub repository has 3 branches.

- Master Branch - This represents the CURRENT STABLE release : https://github.com/zencart/zencart/ (currently v1.5.1 as of today)
- v.1.5.0 release - This is here for historical reasons. https://github.com/zencart/zencart/tree/v150-release
- Current v1.5.1 release: https://github.com/zencart/zencart/commits/v151
- OTHER: v150a-inprogress - This was originally created to show ongoing development, however we later decided to rename the release to v1.5.1. The 150a-inprogress branch is a mirror of the v1.5.1 branch and may be deleted at some point.
- More branches will be added when internal code is ready for posting publicly. (ie: The v1.6.0 didn't show there until we were ready for that stage)
- v1.6.0 branch: https://github.com/zencart/zencart/tree/v160



PA-DSS vs GitHub (or any other non-official code release)

Please note that (as of today) only the v1.5.0 release is PA-DSS certified, and that to comply with PA-DSS certification you must download that version via Sourceforge v1.5.0 Release. Furthermore to comply with PA-DSS you must use the Implementation Guide to install Zen Cart from the downloaded zip file.
- md5 hash 355ddc45094b4214029343036aa595a9
- sha1 hash 15a671d46577a1745e8cd8fd34fc59b997680637

It must be noted that any code downloaded from GitHub does not form a complete official PA-DSS-certified release package and does not have official PA-DSS certification and must not be represented as such. As with any code changes that are different from official released certified versions, if your site is subject to any PCI Compliance requirements, you must self-certify any of those changes which you use/implement/incorporate on your site.


Pull Requests

Using github also opens the opportunity for advanced coders to fork the code and even submit pull requests for consideration/review. While we cannot guarantee that any particular pull request will be accepted for core distribution or for official inclusion in any particular version, they will be reviewed and considered.


In the meantime, we are pleased to use GitHub to offer "early access" to bugfixes and upcoming code changes.

[wilt]

I guess I should also apologise to those early adopters who forked or starred the zc-v15 repository.

Initially when we set up the Githup repository, our roadmap did not envisage having a 1.6 release, we intended releases to be within the v1.5 branch.

Given changes to our roadmap, we felt it was proper to rename the repository from zc-v15 to zc-v1-series.

If you were one of a small handful who have cloned the repo before our rename, then you should be able to just edit your .git/config file to update the origin Url

[wilt]

Just another note to say that we are now commiting code for v160

https://github.com/zencart/zencart/commits/v160/

We are also using an expedited workflow, so that commits to v160 are made earlier in our SDLC process. This does mean that they may not have been subject to our full CI testing, security review, peer review at the time of the commit. However these SDLC processes will still be carried out, and adjusting commits made if need be.

The idea behind the expedited workflow is so that developers see changes in a more linear fashion and can also provide feedback earlier.

The downside is of course that we have done less testing/review of the commits before they are seen by the community. However given that you shouldn't be using pre-release code on a live site, thats OK

[wilt]

Hi,

Just wanted to plug the github repository once more, and also announce that we have pushed code for the new installer in v1.6 ... announced and discussed here: http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...ler-for-v1-6-0

disclaimer AND STRONG REMINDER: v1.6.0 is work in progress. you should not use the 1.6.0 code from github for a live store until it is officially released and merged to master.

[swguy]

I'd love to see the upcoming changes in includes and admin. It looks like no pushes have been done yet to those folders.

[wilt]

Hi Scott,


The installer changes don't affect admin/includes that much, but there have been changes there.

https://github.com/zencart/zencart/c...2277dc009e820e


Ian

[swguy]

Ian kindly pointed out that I had neglected to update my copy of the master branch with the v160 changes.

The correct series of commands is

git clone https://github.com/zencart/zencart.git
cd zc-v1-series 
git checkout v160

[torvista]

While looking at 1.60 for some hints on a mod I am doing, I find some minor validation errors (and one omission).
Do you want a pull request for every single edit/every file changed/group of files in the fork?

[DrByte]

One commit/pull request per type of fix is ideal. Sometimes that may include multiple files related to the issue being fixed.

Mixing multiple issues into one commit makes it impossible to properly link issues to tickets, and makes code-review very complicated.
Kinda like forum threads: keep it to one thread per "topic".

Or you could just make a post in the forum's bug reports section, with suggested code changes.



If you're submitting code for larger changes for which unit tests can be written, be sure to include your tests in your commit/pull request, and of course be sure your tests are passing. Tests that are failing will cause submissions to be rejected.

[DrByte]

Please see the following links for additional related information:

Getting Started with Contributing
Guidelines for reporting issues via Github
Doing a Pull Request (ie: submitting code)
Coding Standards