CONTRIBUTING.md

Issue descriptions

Please see the issue template for how to write a good issue description. In short, it should contain the following:

1. Describe the issue in detail, include steps to reproduce the issue
2. Include a minimal working example
3. Include a minimal vimrc file
4. If you have a .latexmkrc file, please mention it and provide the relevant content

Guide for code contributions

Branch model

vimtex is developed mainly through the master branch, and pull requests should be fork based.

Documentation style

Vim help files have their own specific syntax. There is a Vim help section on how to write them, see :h help-writing.

The vimtex documentation style should be relatively clear, and it should be easy to see from the existing documentation how to write it. Still, here are some pointers:

• Max 80 columns per line
• Use the help tag system for pointers to other parts of the Vim documentation
• Use line of =s to separate sections
• Use line of -s to separate subsections
• The section tags should be right aligned at the 79th column
• Sections should be included and linked to from the table of contents

Code style

When submitting code for vimtex, please adhere to the following standards:

• Use shiftwidth=2 - no tabs!
• Write readable code
  • Break lines for readability
    • Line should not be longer than 80 columns
  • Use comments:
    • For complex code that is difficult to understand
    • Simple code does not need comments
  • Use (single) empty lines to separate logical blocks of code
  • Use good variable names
    • The name should indicate what the variable is/does
    • Variable names should be lower case
    • Local function variables should be preceded with l:
  • Prefer single quoted strings
  • See also the Google vimscript style guide
• Use markers for folding
  • I generally only fold functions, and I tend to group similar functions so that when folded, I get a nice structural overview of a file
  • See some of the files for examples of how I do this