CONTRIBUTING.md need improvements

[pratiman-91]

Hi @vergauwenthomas,
I am using CONTRIBUTING.md as a reference for contribution. I would like to highlight some possible changes that might improve the overall experience.

• Minimum version of Python is set to 3.9 which should be changed to 3.10. Changes required here: conda create -n metobs_dev python==3.9 poetry
• There is no source deploiment/build_and_test.sh. Maybe you are referring to source deployment/develop_pipeline.sh?
• deployment/develop_pipeline.sh is hard-coded to some of the applications such as geany. I suggest to use something more of generic approach such as

1. After the git checkout, make editable install using

pip install -e .

2. Install pre-commit hooks using

pip install --user pre-commit
pre-commit install

3. Run tests preferably using pytest. If you want to use poetry. Better to write in the CONTRIBUTING.md.
4. Some tests require GEE account. Not all people developing will have a connected GEE account. It is better to have an option to skip these while developing. When PR is ready to be merged then it must pass all tests through GitHub workflows.

Feel free to provide your thoughts. I have provided these suggestions based on my experience with xarray and ultraplot contributions.

[vergauwenthomas]

@pratiman-91 i fully agree. This contribution file is a bit outdated and could use an update.

@pratiman-91, Are you willing to take on this issue? If you like, i can let the copilot make a proposal that you can coordinate in a PR?

[pratiman-91]

Hi @vergauwenthomas ,
I can try.

[pratiman-91]

@vergauwenthomas I will try it next week. Busy with other work.

[vergauwenthomas]

@pratiman-91 No problem, this issue is low-priority.