Code Contributors

Contributors who intend to propose modifications to the WRF repository have responsibilities beyond their own personal tests that they have previously used to validate the proper functioning of the new feature or option.

Please see the WRF User's Page for Code Contributors for the full process for getting source code into the WRF repository.

The primary responsibilities for a contributing developer include:

• Meeting WRF coding standards
• Performing code testing
• Warning the Development Committee of limiting assumptions or possible code conflicts
• Providing commit information
• Documentation

Performing code testing for the WRF model can present a challenge to developers. The particular test case (or cases) used during the model development may be appropriate for demonstrating the correct and effective application for the specific purposes of the new option or enhanced feature. However, in many existing uses of the WRF model, the modified code may unintentionally break some other WRF model functionality.

Code proposed for WRF must be thoroughly tested prior to submission, and it is the proposing developer’s responsibility to perform all required positive and negative testing. The developer must ensure that the proposed change does work as described, and importantly that the modification does not accidentally impact other parts of the model.

Performing code testing

Please see the docker-based README for Code Contributors.

This page describes how to use docker containers for both the positive tests (activated option must perform as expected) and negative tests (no unintended consequences) of code proposed to WRF. The document provides developers with simple instructions to allow them to more fully vet their code by providing data and configuration files for a wide variety of known working setups. Before issuing a pull request to the WRF github repository, the developer's code modification must demonstrate the continued proper functioning of these existing WRF capabilities.