This file last updated: Jan 2022
This is the current implementation of the Grand Comics Database, hosted at https://www.comics.org/ (production) and https://beta.comics.org/ (public beta for new features).
See the Technical section on docs.comics.org and the Wiki for more detailed information about how we work and what has been done to date. This file just covers the essentials of branches and code reviews.
Please join the gcd-tech list for help and to find out where we could use your contributions:
http://groups.google.com/group/gcd-tech/
We recommend that you use our Docker-based development environment.
You can find manual instructions for various platforms using virtual environments for python in the docs directory GCD Docs but they aren't necessarily up to date. As of September 2023 they should work.
Our primary collaboration space is the gcd-tech mailing list. We use the GitHub code review system for discussing code changes.
Pull requests are welcome, but you might want to poke the mailing list if no one seems to be paying attention.
This is (generally) the production deployment. For the most part, work should not be done here directly.
Contact: gcd-tech-team via gcd-tech
This is the general-purpose development branch. It is often deployed to
the beta site, and most work should be done here.
Special-purpose development branches are based from beta unless otherwise
noted.
Contact: gcd-tech-team via gcd-tech
This branch is for experimental work to refactor the system in several stages.
There will probably be some modernization and code clean-up along the way.
Contact: handrews via gcd-tech
This is an experimental branch for developing the REST API. We expect that
proceeding here will also involve some code clean-up to move the web UI onto
the REST API. It is not yet determined how often this branch will merge
to beta.
Contact: gcd-tech-team via gcd-tech
The current production code runs on Django 3.2.
This version of the GCD web application was initially written in Python using Django 0.96, and rushed into deployment in late 2009 when the prior system's host crashed after many years of service. Due to both of these facts, there remain some oddities and things that you would not see in a modern Django system.
Bugs and feature requests are recorded in GitHub's issue tracking system.
If you are unfamiliar with the code, please contact the gcd-tech list before starting to submit fixes.
In addition to the contributors you see within the git log, we'd like to thank Jon Løvstadt for his work developing and running the previous iteration of the GCD web application.