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Contributing to structest

Source: .github/CONTRIBUTING.md

Thank you for considering contributing to structest! This package implements the statistical tests from VanderWeele and Vansteelandt (2022) for rejecting the structural interpretation of a latent factor model. Contributions that improve the package are welcome.

Reporting Issues

If you encounter a bug or have a suggestion, please open an issue on GitHub. When reporting a bug:

  • Provide a clear and descriptive title.
  • Include a minimal reproducible example demonstrating the problem.
  • Describe the expected behaviour and what actually happened.
  • Include your R version and sessionInfo() output if relevant.

Making Changes

Getting started

  1. Fork the repository on GitHub.

  2. Clone your fork to your local machine.

    git clone https://github.com/your-username/structest.git
cd structest

  3. Install development dependencies.

    install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_deps()

  4. Make sure the package passes checks before you start.

    devtools::check()
devtools::test()

Creating a branch

Always create a new branch for your work.

git checkout -b your-branch-name

Making your changes

  • Make your changes in the codebase.
  • Write tests for your changes if applicable. We use testthat for unit tests.
  • We use roxygen2 with Markdown syntax for documentation. Edit the .R source files, not .Rd files directly.
  • Run devtools::document() after changing any roxygen comments.
  • Run devtools::test() to ensure your changes do not break existing functionality.

Fixing typos

You can fix typos, spelling mistakes, or grammatical errors in the documentation directly using the GitHub web interface, as long as the changes are made in the source .R file (not the generated .Rd file).

Submitting a Pull Request

  1. Push your changes to your fork.

    git push origin your-branch-name

  2. Open a pull request on GitHub against the main branch.

  3. Provide a clear and descriptive title for your pull request.

  4. Describe the changes you made and why they are necessary.

  5. Reference any related issues (e.g., Fixes #issue-number).

  6. Ensure all tests pass and there are no merge conflicts.

LLM Usage

We are not against the use of LLMs (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot) to assist with contributions. However, if you use an LLM to generate code, please:

  • Provide a clear explanation of the choices made in your code. You should be able to justify why the code does what it does.
  • Be transparent about it — if the LLM wrote the entirety of your contribution, say so in the pull request.
  • Review and understand the generated code before submitting. You are responsible for the correctness of your contribution.

Code of Conduct

Please note that the structest project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By contributing to this project you agree to abide by its terms.