Chapter 3. Hacking The Source
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# Chapter 3. Hacking The Source

MPD sources are managed in a git repository on GitHub.

Always write your code against the latest git:

    git clone git://github.com/MusicPlayerDaemon/MPD

If you already have a clone, update it:

    git pull --rebase git://github.com/MusicPlayerDaemon/MPD master

You can do without "--rebase", but we recommend that you rebase your repository on the "master" repository all the time.

Configure with the options `--enable-debug --enable-werror`. Enable as many plugins as possible, to be sure that you don't break any disabled code.

Don't mix several changes in one single patch. Create a separate patch for every change. Tools like stgit help you with that. This way, we can review your patches more easily, and we can pick the patches we like most first.

## Basic stgit usage

stgit allows you to create a set of patches and refine all of them: you can go back to any patch at any time, and re-edit it (both the code and the commit message). You can reorder patches and insert new patches at any position. It encourages creating separate patches for tiny changes.

stgit needs to be initialized on a git repository: stg init

Before you edit the code, create a patch: stg new my-patch-name (stgit now asks you for the commit message).

Now edit the code. Once you're finished, you have to "refresh" the patch, i.e. your edits are incorporated into the patch you have created: stg refresh

You may now continue editing the same patch, and refresh it as often as you like. Create more patches, edit and refresh them.

To view the list of patches, type stg series. To go back to a specific patch, type stg goto my-patch-name; now you can re-edit it (don't forget stg refresh when you're finished with that patch).

When the whole patch series is finished, convert stgit patches to git commits: stg commit

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