NWChemEx Community FAQs

When do I open an issue vs. a draft pull request (PR)?

TL;DR, if you’re not sure, open an issue first.

Draft PRs are meant to signal to the community that you intend to work on a task, are ready to get started on it, and have a pretty good idea of how you are going to accomplish the task. It should be possible to accomplish the task in about two weeks (if you go over two weeks we’re not going to close your PR or anything, that’s just a suggestion). Conversations in PRs should focus on reviews of the code and what needs to happen to get it merged.

If you need help designing, are not sure how to implement the task, or think that the task will take longer than two weeks, you probably want to open an issue first (specifically a feature request issue). Admittedly, the distinction is not always as clear cut as we tried to depict here and whether to open an issue or a draft PR is somewhat subjective. If you open a draft PR, but should have opened an issue, or vice versa, it’s fine.