Glance development environment

On 07/02/2012 05:21 PM, João Pereira wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm starting with OpenStack and most precisely with Glance, and although I've very few experience with Python, I've a very strong Ruby background so I think I can learn Python while experimenting with Glance directly.

Hi! We always appreciate new contributors. Welcome :)

> However, I dont know what's the recommended development environment if wanting to experiment with glance in order to contribute with code improvements...
>
> Is it better to install it with the package manager and go experimenting by editing the code in the packages installation location (I guess this is not the best option)

No, absolutely not... the best way to begin contributing is to follow
the contributor guidelines and get a local Git repository set up for
developing Glance.

Start here:

http://wiki.openstack.org/GerritWorkflow

Do the following:

* Clone the Glance repo to your local workstation

git clone git://github.com/openstack/glance
cd glance

* Install all the necessary dependencies for doing development and testing

# Depends on your workstation. For Ubuntu, do:
apt-get install -y gcc libxslt-dev libxml2-dev python-dev

* Run the test suite in a virtual environment

./run_tests.sh -V

The above will create a virtualenv
(http://www.virtualenv.org/en/latest/index.html) and install all the
development stuff for Glance into the virtual environment and then run
the Glance test suite.

* Peruse the source code and read the developer documentation at
http://glance.openstack.org

After that, hop onto Freenode.net #openstack-dev and chat with the PTL,
Brian Waldon (bcwaldon) and ask about starter bugs or tasks you might be
able to take a hack at.

All the best,
-jay

> or is it recommended to fetch the source code from git and patch and run the code/servers manually (./bin/glance ...)? If yes, how do we handle the .ini and .conf files?
>
> I'm seeking for best practice advices from the programmers already integrated in the project. If anyone can point me some guidelines/tools/tutorials,etc I would be grateful. I've already read the "how to contribute" wikis but cant find any guidelines about the code development environment.
>

A related tip: if you do

mkdir ~/.pip_download_cache
export PIP_DOWNLOAD_CACHE=~/.pip_download_cache

this will save you some time since you'll only download the pip packages once ... the next time you set up your virtual environment the packages will be taken from your local cache.

More details here:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4806448/how-do-i-install-from-a-local-cache-with-pip

Jay and Stuart, thanks for the help.

I've already configured my environment as you've said to do, and I've issued 'source .venv/bin/activate' to enable the venv for digging in Glance (I think this is the easiest way?).

I've already configured a database for it (following the OpenStack CSSCorp starter guide). Now what's the best way to deploy the servers? I want to start digging the code and make some changes and then restart servers so I know if I do it wrong or not.

I've already installed glance in a server and played with it a bit (start, stop, customize conf file, etc). However I want a development environment, not a production one.

If I try to issue 'bin/glance-registry' it obviously aborts saying that it could not found the paste config file. So, should I install glance (from 'setup.py' I think), customize the conf files in place and always reinstall it whenever I make any code changes?

Or is there a way to deploy it directly from source directory (/bin) and let it know about the conf files (if there is no best options)?

Can anyone help on this?

Can anyone help on this?

Can anyone help on this?

(Sorry for the repetition mistake...)

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.

I'm still needing an answer for the last question if anyone can help on this.

Thanks Jay Pipes, that solved my question.