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Contributing to NF0T-Logger

Thanks for your interest in contributing. NF0T-Logger welcomes bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests from anyone.

Reporting bugs

Open a GitHub Issue using the Bug report template. Include your OS, Qt version, radio backend, and steps to reproduce. Log output is especially helpful.

Requesting features

Open an issue using the Feature request template. Describe the problem you want solved rather than a specific implementation — it helps start a better discussion.

Branch workflow

The repository uses a two-branch model:

main ────●────────────────────────────●── tag v0.3.0
          \                          /
develop    ●──bugfix──feature──●──●──
                        \     /
                         feat
Branch Purpose
main Always matches the latest release tag. Only receives merges from develop at release time, or direct bug fixes that are immediately merged forward to develop.
develop Integration branch. All feature work targets here. Always contains everything in main plus whatever is planned for the next release.

For bug fixes: fix on main first, then immediately merge main into develop so nothing diverges.

For features: branch off develop, merge back to develop when complete. develop is your integration surface — you can build it at any point to see the full picture of the next release.

For releases: merge develop into main with --no-ff, then tag.

Submitting code

Before you start

For anything beyond a small fix, open an issue first to discuss the approach. This avoids wasted effort if the direction doesn't fit the project.

Setup

Follow the build instructions in README.md for your platform. The project uses CMake; compile_commands.json is generated automatically for IDE/tooling support.

Developer conventions are documented in CLAUDE.md. The short version:

  • C++23, no compiler extensions (CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
  • New-style Qt signal/slot connections (&Class::signal)
  • QStringLiteral for Qt string literals
  • No comments that explain what — only why when non-obvious
  • Database operations return std::expected<T, QString>, not exceptions
  • All persistent settings go through Settings::instance() or SecureSettings::instance()

Pull requests

  1. Fork the repository and create a branch off develop
  2. Make your changes — one logical change per PR
  3. Verify it builds cleanly on your platform (CI will check Linux, Windows, and macOS automatically)
  4. Open a PR against develop with a clear description of what changed and why

New backends

The architecture is designed for extension without touching MainWindow:

  • Radio backend — subclass RadioBackend, call wireRadioBackend() in MainWindow
  • Digital listener — subclass DigitalListenerService, call wireDigitalListener()
  • QSL service — subclass QslService
  • Database backend — implement DatabaseInterface, add a factory case in MainWindow

Database schema changes

Add a new migration entry in SqlBackendBase. Never alter existing migrations — they may already have run on users' databases.

AI-assisted development

This project is developed with AI assistance — specifically Claude by Anthropic — and contributions produced with AI tools are welcome. The Co-Authored-By: Claude trailers you will see in the commit history reflect this transparently.

The expectation is the same regardless of how code was produced: you should understand what you are submitting and be able to discuss it in review. The quality bar does not change based on the authoring tool.

License

By contributing you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later, the same license as the project. You retain copyright on your contributions.