Newbie Guide for Windows People Working on Minor Bugs

= Install and Set Things Up =

You'll only have to do this once.

Get a Dreamhack and PuTTY
What's a Dreamhack? To put it simply, it's a mirror of the Dreamwidth site where you can test your changes.


 * Apply for a Dreamhack by filling this form.


 * Get PuTTY - choose the 'Windows installer for everything except PuTTYtel' .exe file - and install it.


 * Run PuTTY. In the configuration window, enter "hack.dreamwidth.net" for the host name. Go to Connection/Data and enter the username/login given to you in the welcome e-mail. It should be something like dh-username.


 * You may also want to change the Window/Appearance, Window/Colours and Window/Selection settings.


 * Once you're done, go back to Session. Select Default Settings and click on Save.


 * Click on Open. Click Yes on the pop-up message box.


 * Enter the password given to you in the welcome e-mail when asked. Note that no characters are displayed and the cursor won't move. It's normal.


 * Change your password by typing:


 * On your Dreamhack, the default user is called 'system'. You need to set its password so you can access this account. Type:


 * Once you're done type:


 * You can now access your Dreamhack at http://yourusername.hack.dreamwidth.net/ and log in as 'system'.

Install WinSCP
What for? WinSCP will allow you to see and edit the files of your Dreamhack. You'll use it to edit the theme/layout files.


 * Install WinSCP. I chose the Explorer mode because I don't need to access any files on my computer but choose what's best for you.


 * Use "hack.dreamwidth.net" for the host name. Enter your username and password. Click on Save then on Login.

Set Up Your Dreamhack
Again?! Yes. This part is long and tedious but you need to do it. It will make everything easier afterwards.


 * Follow the steps outlined at Back Up Your Configs.


 * N.B. To create files, go to WinSCP, go to the right directory, right-click on New/File and edit.


 * Create the dwu, dws and dwdb scripts as explained in Scripting.


 * Now you can easily create other accounts with different levels to make testing easier on your Dreamhack:


 * Go to  and open  . Find   and change 1 to  . Save your file. This will get rid of invite codes.


 * In PuTTY, type this to make the changes go live on your Dreamhack:


 * Log in onto your Dreamhack and go to http://yourusername.hack.dreamwidth.net/create to create more accounts.


 * Go to http://yourusername.hack.dreamwidth.net/admin/pay to give paid time to an account or make it a seed one.


 * The last step is to create a directory where your patches will be put into:


 * In PuTTY, type this then Enter:

The newly created directory is:


 * Do the same thing with dw-nonfree if you're working with non-free code (if you don't know yet you can always do that later):

The directory is:

Create a Bugzilla account
Simply click here.

= How All of This Works =


 * Your Dreamhack has two parts:
 * the live part
 * two main repository parts ( and  ).


 * What you see on http://yourusername.hack.dreamwidth.net/ is the live part.


 * But you work with the repositories: you edit repository files and you create patches in repository folders.


 * To test your changes, you need to make the live part match the repository parts. To do that, you use the 'synchronize' and 'update database' scripts you've created earlier:


 * Code is committed by other users all the time. You mustn't forget to regularly update your repositories by running the 'update' script:

Of course, you'll have to run  and   again after that. You'll do this often. :)


 * To edit files, you use WinSCP.


 * To create patches and update code, you use PuTTY.


 * To find bugs, file bugs, upload patches, you use Bugzilla.

= Before You Fix Anything =

Find or File a Bug

 * To find: use simple search, advanced search or predefined searches such as unassigned effort-minor.


 * To file: use this form. Fill and edit the fields as needed and don't forget to enter your e-mail address in Assign To and set the status to Assigned if you want to fix it. It's also ok to file a bug you know you're not going to be able to fix. Just leave it as New.

Create a Patch

 * First make sure nobody's working on the files you want to edit. If there are already patches up for review/commit, you may need to first import and apply these patches to your Dreamhack to avoid conflicts. You can see patches up for commit by clicking here. You can also wait for them to be committed if you don't want to go to the trouble of importing other patches. There's no rush. :)


 * Open PuTTY and update everything. You need to work with the latest code.


 * Go to dw-free by typing this then Enter:


 * To go to dw-nonfree, type this then Enter:


 * Create a new patch by typing this then Enter (change NUMBER and PATCHNAME of course):

Import a Patch

 * Go to Bugzilla, open the bug, click on the patch. Copy its URL.


 * In PuTTY, go to dw-free:


 * Then type this to import the patch:


 * This will put the patch in  and name it 'patch'.


 * Type this to apply the patch:


 * Synchronize your live code (as explained above).


 * To go back to the default code:


 * Synchronize your live code again.

= Edit Files =

Use WinSCP to open the file(s) you need to edit.


 * If you're working on site pages, your file probably is in  and it may be using stuff which is in   or.


 * If you're working on styles, it's in one of these folders.


 * For text strings which are not in .text files, see.


 * For more specific searches, see Dev_Finding_Things.

N.B. If WinSCP is not using your favorite editor, go to View/Preferences/Editor. Click on Add/External Editor and Browse. At the end don't forget to click on Up to make it the default editor.

= Test Your Changes on Your Dreamhack =


 * In PuTTY, stop your Dreamhack:


 * Synchronize your live code and update your database:


 * Start your Dreamhack again:


 * Go to your Dreamhack and test. Edit the files again in WinSCP if more changes are needed. Go through these steps again to resynchronize your live code and test your new changes.

= Upload Your Patch =

Update & Save Your Patch

 * In PuTTY, go to your patch directory (see this section if you've forgotten how to).


 * Type this to update your patch file:


 * Go to your patch directory in WinSCP and save a copy of your patch on your computer (see this section if you've forgotten where the patch folder is).


 * Go back to the default code by typing (PATCHNAME is full name with extension too):

For more commands, see https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Mercurial_Queues

Put Your Patch On Bugzilla

 * Log in onto Bugzilla and open your bug.


 * Click on 'Add an Attachment' to attach your patch. Add a description and check 'patch'. Set Flags/Commit and Flags/Review to ? then click on Commit.


 * If your patch depends on another patch being reviewed and committed first (you imported this other patch to make yours) then enter its number in the Depends On field and add your patch number in the Blocks field of the other patch. This well lett committers know in which order these should be committed.


 * Wait for someone to review and commit your patch. :) You're done. Congrats!

= Specific Topics for People Working on Style Bugs =

Where Are Style Bugs?
Right here!

How do I File a New Style Bug?
Use this template. Fill and edit the fields as needed and don't forget to change the e-mail address in Assign To.

People adding themes can use this template.

Where are Style Files?

 * core2.s2 is in


 * Theme and layout .s2 files are in  or


 * .pm layout files are in  or


 * S2Theme.pm is in


 * S2Theme_local.pm is in


 * s2layers.dat is in


 * s2layers-local.dat is in

Edit s2layers.dat

 * See this section to know where this file is located. Edit  for non-free layouts.


 * If this is a new Core2 layout, add:


 * If this is a child of another layout, add:

Edit S2Theme.pm

 * See this section to know where this file is located. Edit  for non-free layouts.


 * Scroll down to  and add the layout and default theme:

Create LAYOUTNAME.pm

 * Create LAYOUTNAME.pm in.


 * Add:

Remove display options that don't apply to the layout of course.

Create the LAYOUTNAME directory

 * Create a directory with the name of the layout in  or.

Create layout.s2

 * In the directory you've created, create a file named.


 * Then add the layout code.

Create themes.s2

 * In the directory you've created, create a file named.


 * Follow the steps outlined in this section.

Edit themes.s2

 * See this section to know where this file is located.


 * Find the correct place in the file so that themes stay alphabetically sorted.


 * Make sure your theme header is correctly formatted. As Afuna explained here in dw_dev_training, it should look like this:


 * If you're the layout author, no need to add.


 * Then add the theme code.


 * If you need to add theme-specific CSS, use:


 * If the theme has any images, name them like this: . Keep the image name used in other themes if there are any. If they're generic images used in other themes, simply use  . In the theme, use   or   for the URLs.

Edit LAYOUTNAME.pm
You must include the theme into the general layout file. Otherwise, people wouldn't be able to select it at Customize.


 * See this section to know where this file is located.


 * Find the correct place in the file so that themes stay alphabetically sorted.


 * Add the following code:


 * If you're the layout author, no need to add.

On Bugzilla

 * In addition to uploading your patch, comment on bug 680 to add a link to your bug so that Piranha can do a preview.


 * Don't forget to zip images and attach them to your bug if there are any.

= Tips and Tricks =


 * If your repositories won't update properly with, you may need to first remove all your local changes with   then run   again.


 * If there's something wrong with your patch queue (it says the patch is not in the series or you can't delete a patch) don't forget that you can start over: delete the patches folder with WinSCP and recreate it again in PuTTY using.


 * To see what's string of text is used in a page append  to the page URL.


 * As denise explained here, you need to delete old text strings and create new ones when you edit .text files or en.dat instead of simply editing the text. See the comments for exceptions to that rule.


 * If text you've modified doesn't appear on the site after a code push, append  to make sure it's using the right string. If it is then it may be that things haven't been updated yet.