surplus/CONTRIBUTING.md

the contributors guide to surplus

• git workflow
• reporting incorrect output
  • the reporting process
    • what counts as "incorrect"

also see the DEVELOPING.md file for more information on the codebase.

git workflow

1. fork the repository and branch off from the future branch,
   or main if future is not available
2. make and commit your changes!
3. pull in any changes from upstream, and resolve any conflicts, if any
4. commit your copyright waiver (see below)
5. submit a pull request (or mail in a diff)

when contributing your first changes, please include an empty commit for a copyright waiver using the following message (replace 'Your Name' with your name or nickname):

Your Name Copyright Waiver

I dedicate any and all copyright interest in this software to the
public domain.  I make this dedication for the benefit of the public at
large and to the detriment of my heirs and successors.  I intend this
dedication to be an overt act of relinquishment in perpetuity of all
present and future rights to this software under copyright law.

the command to create an empty commit is git commit --allow-empty

reporting incorrect output

Note

this section is independent of the rest of the contributing section.

different output from the iOS Shortcuts app is expected, however incorrect output is not.

the reporting process

open an issue in the repositories issue tracker, and do the following:

1. ensure that your issue is not an error of incorrect data returned by your reverser function, which by default is OpenStreetMap Nominatim. (don't know what the above means? then you are using the default reverser.)

   also look at the 'what counts as "incorrect"' section before moving on.

2. include the erroneous query. (the Plus Code/local code/latlong coordinate/query string you passed into surplus)

3. include output from the terminal with the --debug flag passed to the surplus CLI or with debug=True set in function calls.

   Note

   if you are using the surplus API and have passed custom stdout and stderr parameters to redirect output, include that instead.

4. how it should look like instead, with reasoning if the error is not obvious. (e.g., missing details)

   for reference, see how the following issues were written:

   • issue #4: "Incorrect format: repeated lines"
   • issue #6: "Incorrect format: missing details"
   • issue #12: "Incorrect format: State before county"

what counts as "incorrect"

• example (correct)

  • iOS Shortcuts Output

    Plaza Singapura
    68 Orchard Rd
    238839
    Singapore
    

  • surplus Output

    Plaza Singapura
    68 Orchard Road
    Museum
    238839
    Central, Singapore
    

  this should not be reported as incorrect, as the only difference between the two is that surplus displays more information.

other examples that should not be reported are:

• name of place is incorrect/different

  this may be due to incorrect data from the geocoder function, which is OpenStreetMap Nominatim by default. in the case of Nominatim, it means that the data on OpenStreetMap is incorrect.

  (if so, then consider updating OpenStreetMap to help not just you, but other surplus and OpenStreetMap users!)

you should report when the output does not make logical sense, or something similar wherein the output of surplus is illogical to read or is not correct in the traditional sense of a correct address.

see the linked issues in the reporting process for examples of incorrect outputs.