add some notes on how to hack on go-ipfs

whyrusleeping · whyrusleeping · commit c08b4c92cab5 · 2015-10-03T10:33:30.000-07:00
License: MIT
Signed-off-by: Jeromy &lt;jeromyj@gmail.com&gt;
diff --git a/contribute.md b/contribute.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ go-ipfs is MIT licensed open source software. We welcome contributions big and
 small! Take a look at the [community contributing notes](https://github.com/ipfs/community/blob/master/contributing.md). Please make sure to check the [issues](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/issues). Search the closed ones
 before reporting things, and help us with the open ones.
 
-Guidelines:
+General Guidelines:
 
 - see the [dev pseudo-roadmap](dev.md)
 - please adhere to the protocol described in [the main ipfs repo](https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs), [paper](http://static.benet.ai/t/ipfs.pdf), and [specs](https://github.com/ipfs/specs) (WIP).
@@ -14,4 +14,15 @@ Guidelines:
 - run `go fmt` before pushing any code
 - run `golint` and `go vet` too -- some things (like protobuf files) are expected to fail.
 - if you'd like to work on ipfs part-time (20+ hrs/wk) or full-time (40+ hrs/wk), contact [@jbenet](https://github.com/jbenet)
-- have fun!
+- have fun!
+
+A short intro to the Go development workflow:
+
+- Ensure you have [Go installed on your system](https://golang.org/doc/install).
+- Make sure that you have the environment variable `GOPATH` set somewhere, e.g. `$HOME/gopkg`
+- Clone ipfs into the path `$GOPATH/src/github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs`
+  - NOTE: This is true even if you have forked go-ipfs, dependencies in go are path based and must be in the right locations.
+- You are now free to make changes to the codebase as you please
+- you can build the binary by running `go build ./cmd/ipfs` from the go-ipfs directory
+  - NOTE: when making changes remember to restart your daemon to ensure its running your new code
+    
