Developer Guide

👨‍💻 Developer Guide — Contributing & Local Development

This page explains how to set up a development environment, run ExifPlus locally from source, test, and create pull requests.

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1) Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/ZahidServers/ExifPlus.git
cd ExifPlus

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2) Create a virtual environment and install development deps

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate        # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements.txt  # if exists
pip install -e .

Notes:

• If requirements.txt is not present, install main deps:

  pip install pyexiv2 hachoir ttkbootstrap exifread Pillow

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3) Run the app from source

python -m exifplus
# or
python app.py

This runs the GUI directly using your editable install.

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4) Code style & tests

• Follow PEP8 for Python code.
• Use flake8 linting (we recommend adding a pre-commit hook).
• Tests (if any) use pytest. Run:

pytest

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5) Packaging & PyPI

• pyproject.toml or setup.py should contain metadata.
• Build distributions:

python -m build

• Upload with twine (make sure version is bumped):

twine upload dist/*

Important: PyPI may reject invalid classifiers or license metadata. Use license = "BSD-3-Clause" and avoid invalid trove classifiers.

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6) Documentation

• Docs live in docs/ (Sphinx). Use pinned Sphinx + theme versions in docs/requirements-docs.txt.
• To build docs locally:

pip install -r docs/requirements-docs.txt
pip install -e .
sphinx-build -b html docs/ docs/_build/html

• On ReadTheDocs, mock native libs in docs/conf.py:

  autodoc_mock_imports = ["pyexiv2"]

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7) Releasing

1. Bump package version in exifplus/__init__.py (or pyproject.toml).
2. Tag git: git tag vX.Y.Z && git push --tags
3. Build & upload to PyPI.
4. Create a GitHub release (title: vX.Y.Z) and attach release notes.

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8) How to contribute

• Fork repo → create a feature branch → push → open PR.
• Include clear description of changes and why.
• Add tests if the change modifies logic.
• Keep PR titles and commit messages descriptive.

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9) Local debugging tips

• If GUI crashes on import, move heavy GUI imports into if __name__ == "__main__": or lazily import inside functions to allow module import for tests/docs.
• Use logging for debug output; avoid print() in library code.