% Contributing

# Contributing to `plaintextaccounting.org`

It's as easy as forking this Github repo, making your changes, and submitting a pull request.

If you're a recurring contributor, [open an issue](https://github.com/plaintextaccounting/plaintextaccounting.github.io/issues/new?title=Contributor+requesting+commit+bit&body=Hello,+I+have+made+some+commits+and+would+like+to+have+commit+access.+May+I?) to request commit access if it is not granted to you. This is a human-driven process.

## Dependencies

This system requires a few dependencies:

* [make]
* [pandoc]

[make]:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_(software)
[pandoc]: http://pandoc.org/

Optional, to make active development easier:

* [fswatch]
* [livereloadx]
* [LiveReload]

[fswatch]:     https://emcrisostomo.github.io/fswatch/
[livereloadx]: https://nitoyon.github.io/livereloadx/
[LiveReload]:  http://livereload.com/

### Installation of dependencies

#### macOS

Using [Homebrew](https://brew.sh)

For base requirements:

    brew install pandoc

`make` is already available when Xcode is installed.

For all reloading options:

    brew install fswatch npm caskroom/cask/livereload && \
    npm install -g livereloadx

## Making changes

Once you've cloned the repository and setup the tools, make changes to whatever is necessary. **Don't change the `html` files**. The `html` is automatically generated!

Before committing, rebuild the `html`, which requires `pandoc`):

    make

and include it in your commit.

### Accelerating development with automated rebuilds

To rebuild on each file change, which requires [fswatch]:

    make watch

Refresh the page in the browser manually.

To rebuild _and_ reload the browser page on file change, there are two methods.

**Method 1**, which requires [livereloadx]:

    make watch

and in another terminal:

    npm install -g livereloadx
    make livereload

Then visit [`localhost:35729`](http://localhost:35729) in your browser.

**Method 2**, requires [LiveReload]:

1. Add the site folder in the LiveReload GUI
2. Configure custom command `make`
3. Edit away.