Getting started with building Deviation from src

Hello developers. First off, let me thank all of you for DevintaionTx.

Bought (and modded) my first Devo transmitter, a 7E, last month and I'm already hooked on the power of Deviation. I've been looking onto the source code on github with the goal of some day being about to contribute to this awesome project.

So far I have followed the Docker wiki instructions , and successfully compiled my own copy of the nightly builds.

Next I'd like to try downloading a copy source code and create a custom build. For my first "enhancement" I'll attempt to change the line width on the trim bars from 1 pixel wide for non-zero values to something my aging eyes can actually see (like 3 pixels).

GitHub allowed me to download a copy of the source code quite easily. But the Docker wiki mentioned needing to set up a git workspace on my PC for custom builds...

docker create -it -v ~/devo_builds:/release -v <path to git>:/git --name deviation_build deviationtx/deviation-docker

Question: Do I need to (learn how to) actually properly check out the source from GitHub to just dabble like this?

I'm just taking my first baby steps, and certainly not experienced or confident enough to check-in any changes... A few days ago was the 1st time I'd ever used docker... But it worked flawlessly!

Any advice to noobs would be appreciated. My long term goal of being able to contribute may turn out to be unrealistic, but I want to at least try...

Meanwhile I'm carefully re-reading the sticky thread, trying to educate myself.
www.deviationtx.com/forum/7-development/...r-building-deviation

Hey, congratulations on entering the DeviationTX developer world

It really make sense to read one of the many tutorials on git available online, as it is a really powerful tool and let's you do many even different code changes, switch around between them and if satisfied even push them to the main repository from your fork. But a basic understanding of Git's concept and it's command line should be a must have. Good luck coding!

Thanks for the advice. I will do that. Kinda figured I'd need to know Git eventually. Right now I know just enough to be dangerous...

BTW, I just bought one of those rare Devo 6S's off eBay... You know, to feed my addiction!? I hope I don't fry the darn thing. Maybe I better pick up another 7E for beta-testing...

EDIT: It just occurred to me that beta-testing is the whole point of building the emulators...

You don't have to do a proper git checkout to do builds. But it really is easy (one command), and you'll need that if you want to submit your changes for inclusion into the official build.

The command is "git clone <URL>", where URL is from the "Clone or Download" pop box.

Thanks for the help. I've been watching YouTube vids on the basics of Git & GitHub. Learning the lingo of source code control. pull/push/clone/fork/add/commit/branch/etc. Not sure I'll be ready to make any real changes (pull requests?) for while. But I will get there eventually.

BTW, the source code you guys have written is very clean and well organized. I'm in awe actually. Good stuff.

I've been playing with the code (specifically the _bargraph.c file). I was able to shave 0.06 KB off the ROM size of the Devo7E, without changing the functionality at all. Is that significant enough to submit a pull requests for? I know its not much...

Every byte helps.

I was able to create a local branch, but when I tried to merge my branch back into the master on GitHub, it was not allowed. Apparently I do not have write permissions.

EDIT: I was able to submit the changes directly on GitHub.com. FDR's comment about creating my own fork now makes sense to me.

BTW, I'm fine with not having write permissions. For now, I'd rather not have them...

Congrats to your first commit
Now you only have 127.94 kB to optimize left