= Orxonox Primer =

This is a little tutorial for all new to Orxonox, a little refresh for all others:

== 1. Mail lists ==
We've got 3 major mailing lists: [[br]]
 * [https://lists.orxonox.net/mailman/listinfo/orxonox-announce orxonox-announce] : announcements to all who like orxonox (low traffic)
 * [https://lists.orxonox.net/mailman/listinfo/orxonox-dev orxonox-dev] : development stuff just for us (medium traffic)
 * [https://lists.orxonox.net/mailman/listinfo/orxonox-commit orxonox-commit] : auto-mail if the svn repository changes (high traffic during development sessions)
 * [https://lists.orxonox.net/mailman/listinfo/tickets tickets] : notifications if a ticket is added or changed

== 2. Website ==
You can find our website on [http://www.orxonox.net]. We have a trac wiki system.

The wiki has got some nice features like the ticket system, where you can set up development requests. The roadmap shows what the current development goals are. Anyone with a account / password (all developers) is able to make changes to the wiki or the ticket system; just by using the account from the subversion system.


== 3. Forum ==
There is also a [http://forum.orxonox.net/ forum]. We use it to exchange thoughts, drawings, materials, whatever. You will have to create a new account to be able to post there.


== 4. Infrastructure ==
We host serveral services on our server, including svn, mail, irc, and a buildserver. You can find a description of all services and how to use them in the [wiki:ITUserManual IT User Manual].


== 5. Repository ==
Orxonox is programmed by many programmers at the same time. To synchronize the work and to make it available for all, we've got a central subversion server (subversion is a versioning system; the newer form of cvs). Most Linuxes already have svn (subversion) in their software repository (gentoo: portage tree, debian: apt-system), for Windows you need to install tortoise svn, which you can get here: http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/ [[br]]
If you want to read more about this topic, go to:
 * A [wiki:SVN list of SVN commands] written by Nico.
 * [http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/index.html the official subversion guide, written very funnily]
 * [http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/10/31/subversion.html a shorter version]
You can download the code repositories in Linux by typing: 
{{{
yourcomputer $ svn co https://svn.orxonox.net/game/code/trunk trunk
}}}
and the data repository (ships, textures, pictures, sounds, etc):
{{{
yourcomputer $ svn co https://svn.orxonox.net/game/data/trunk media
}}}


== 6. Compiling and Running ==
To get Orxonox running on your system, first read [wiki:Running how to get Orxonox running].


== 7. Finding your Way as a Developer ==
As a developer of Orxonox you will want to communicate over our [wiki:Primer#a1.Maillists mailing lists], [wiki:WikiStart the wiki], [http://forum.orxonox.net the forum] and [wiki:Primer#a4.ChatIRC IRC]. If you want to work on the project, check out the [wiki:Contribute page]. You will find the current tasks, for the next orxonox release under:
 * [http://www.orxonox.net/roadmap Roadmap]
and all tasks, that we have defined yet:
 * [http://www.orxonox.net/report/1 Tasks]
You will see the current changes on the orxonox source and the Wiki on
the timeline of our Wiki:
 * [http://www.orxonox.net/timeline timeline]
The commit messages will also be sent to your email address, if you have registered to the orxonox-commit mailing list.


== 8. Understanding Orxonox ==
It definitely takes some time to understand the Orxonox source code. The best way to get your questions answered is to post them on the development-mailing list. Even better is to just go to the developers and ask specific questions. Once you know where to find which functions, you will want to read some more about special topics in the source files themselves: we use doxygen to comment the code, so you will find comments for every class/function. There are also [wiki:ModulesDescription module descriptions] which we are currently working on.