Files
paperspec/CONTRIBUTING.md
T
alexmandClaude 607062056f feat!: pin Python 3.14 and Unicode 16.0, and make the tools commands
Python and Unicode
- requires-python is >=3.14,<3.15: 3.14 is the only Python with the
  Unicode 16.0 data the specification pins (3.13 has 15.1, 3.15 has 17.0).
- `import paperspec` raises ImportError unless unicodedata reports
  paperspec.UNICODE_VERSION (16.0.0), so a source checkout or an install
  that bypasses requires-python cannot compute values on other data.

Commands
- tools/{check,build,validate,load,stress,site}.py move with history to
  src/paperspec/cli/ and install as paperspec-check, -build, -validate,
  -load, -stress and -site; each also runs as `python -m paperspec.cli.X`.
- paperspec.cli.require() exits with "install paperspec[tools]" when
  cryptography or jsonschema is missing; paperspec.cli.checkout() finds
  the repository the check, build, stress and site commands work on (the
  editable install's own checkout, else the one around the current
  folder) and exits with a message outside one. tools/__init__.py is gone.
- validate and load read the schemas and SQL through the new
  paperspec.resources.path(), which finds them in a wheel and in an
  editable install alike, so they work anywhere the package is installed.
- check runs the rebuild as `python -m paperspec.cli.build`.
- build still writes the provenance tool label "paperspec tools/build.py":
  it is part of every hashed and signed fixture.
- pixi tasks and the check workflow run the commands; tools/README.md
  documents them, and the other docs name the commands instead of paths.

License
- LICENSE.md gives `src/` Apache-2.0 alongside `tools/`. Since the
  previous commit moved the code to src/, no row had covered it.

pixi run check passes (run as `python -m paperspec.cli.check` with src/ on
the path, since this environment cannot install the entry points); the
byte-for-byte rebuild matches, so no fixture or vector changed.
pixi.lock still needs `pixi lock`.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-10-15 09:17:27 -04:00

4.1 KiB

Contributing

This page is for anyone who wants to fix the specification, change a format or add an example. Propose a change as a pull request on the repository at https://git.scient.ing/infra/paperspec.

What a change needs

A change starts in the chapter of the specification that defines the rule, because the chapters are normative. The schemas, SQL, registries, vectors and fixtures then follow the chapter (spec/00 §0.5).

  1. Change the chapter. Say what is new in the chapter's own terms, and link the sections it touches.
  2. Change the schemas, SQL and registries that the rule shapes. A new refusal gets a rule ID in registry/rules.json.
  3. Compute, never type, the expected values. Change the oracle in src/paperspec/ to apply the rule, and add the case that shows it to src/paperspec/cli/build.py: a vector, a fixture or a broken package in fixtures/invalid/. Then run pixi run build, which rewrites fixtures/ and vectors/.
  4. Run the checks. pixi run check must end with All checks pass. Without pixi, install the checkout with pip install -e ".[tools]" on Python 3.14, then run paperspec-check.
  5. Record the change in CHANGELOG.md.

Versions

A change that makes a valid file invalid, or that changes a computed value, is a breaking change and needs a new major version of the format, with a migration. Adding an optional property, a node kind, a run kind or an enumeration value is a minor change (spec/00 §0.3). A rebuild that changes any file under vectors/ or any hash in fixtures/ is a computed value changing, so say in the pull request why it must.

New node kinds and run kinds

Propose a kind with the vector or fixture that shows it. A node kind needs its row in chapter 3, the node schema, and its entry in the CHILDREN table of src/paperspec/model.py. A run kind needs its row in section 3.5 and the node schema, and its text in the plain projection (3.6) and in the strict and lossy projections (5.3, 5.5).

Releasing

A release is a tag on main whose version is the top heading of CHANGELOG.md. Before tagging:

  1. pixi run check passes on Linux and macOS, which the workflow in .gitea/workflows/ runs on every push. The check also confirms that every count the prose states (formats, schemas, vectors, broken packages) matches the repository, and that pixi.toml, the registries and src/paperspec/cli/build.py state the same version.
  2. paperspec-stress passes with its default seed, and with one or two others.
  3. The website is published from the release (deploy/), and the JSON-LD context at https://paperspec.scient.ing/context/scienting-1.jsonld and a schema at its $id both answer with their media types. Layers claim to be W3C Web Annotations, and a JSON-LD processor that cannot fetch the context cannot read them.
  4. The decisions that freeze on release are made: enumeration values and format identifiers never change meaning afterwards (spec/22 §22.5), so a name worth changing is changed now.
  5. The CHANGELOG entry describes the release in the terms of the chapters it touches.

Writing

The checker enforces two rules on every Markdown file: one sentence per line, and US spelling. pixi run lint runs markdownlint with the repository's settings. Define each term where it first appears, because the guides and READMEs are written for newcomers as well as implementers.

All fixture text is synthetic, written for the fixtures. The keys in fixtures/keys/ are public test keys and must never sign anything else.

Licenses

Each path keeps the license that LICENSE.md gives it: prose CC-BY-4.0, the normative data CC0-1.0, and the code in src/ and tools/ Apache-2.0.