Project Documentation

ChitChat is a Python powered social media platform initiated by Buluwayo Python developers.

The project is built using Django for the backend and React JS for the frontend. The backend is located in the backend folder while the frontend is in the frontend folder.

Installation

Here's how to get yourself started with ChitChat on your machine.

Backend Initialization

Move into the backend folder from your terminal with the following command

cd backend

Initialize the virtual environment

python -m venv venv

Activate the virtual environment

# Unix
source venv/bin/activate

# Windows
venv\Scripts\activate

Install dependencies from the requirements.txt text file

pip install -r requirements.txt

Backend Server Startup

To start your server, run the following commands from the backend folder, on your terminal.

Create database migrations from codebase

python manage.py makemigrations

Install the database migration

python manage.py migrate

Create a project super user

python manage.py createsuperuser

Run the server

python manage.py runserver

Frontend Initialization

Move into the frontend folder

cd frontend

Install npm modules

npm install

Run the development server

npm run dev

Setting Up Docker (Optional)

Install Docker on Windows

Download Docker Desktop from the official Docker website: Docker Desktop for Windows

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Once the installation is complete, Docker Desktop will be running on your system.

Install Docker on MacOS

Download Docker Desktop from the official Docker website: Docker Desktop for Mac

Double-click the installer package to mount the Docker disk image.

Drag the Docker icon to the Applications folder.

Open Docker from the Applications folder and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Once the installation is complete, Docker Desktop will be running on your system.

Install Docker on Linux

NB: Refer to the official Docker documentation for updates: Docker Desktop for Linux (Ubuntu)

Open a terminal window.

Update the package index:

sudo apt update

Install Docker dependencies:

sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common

Add the Docker GPG key:

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg

Set up the stable Docker repository:

echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

Update the package index again:

sudo apt update

Install Docker:

sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

Docker should now be installed on your Linux system. Check if Docker is installed correctly:

docker --version

Run the application

To run this project using docker, please follow these steps:

Change to the repository directory on your computer (if you are not already there):

cd chitchat

In this directory you should see a docker-compose.yaml file

Then in your terminal, run the following command:

docker compose up --build

This should bring up the entire project. Good luck!

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change. Please make sure to update tests as appropriate. This section is a simplified guide to make contributions. Follow the steps below to contribute:

Fork the repository

Fork this repository by clicking on the fork button on the top of this page. This will create a copy of this repository in your account.

Clone the repository

The next step is to clone the forked repository to your machine. Go to your GitHub account, open the forked repository, click on the code button and then click the copy to clipboard icon. The copied url should look like this: https://github.com/PythonBulawayo/ChitChat.git

Open a terminal and run the following git command:

git clone https://github.com/PythonBulawayo/ChitChat.git

If you prefer using SSH for Git operations, you can clone the repository using the SSH URL.

Open a terminal and run the following git command:

git clone git@github.com:PythonBulawayo/ChitChat.git

Create a branch

Change to the repository directory on your computer (if you are not already there):

cd chitchat

Now create a branch using the git switch command:

git switch -c your-new-branch-name

For example:

git switch -c update-documentation

Commit your changes

Make necessary changes.

To see the changes you have made, use the git status command:

git status

Add those changes to the branch you just created using the git add command:

git add the-file-you-made-changes-to

For example:

git add read.md

Commit the changes using the git commit command:

git commit -m "Update README with new information"

Push changes to GitHub

Push your changes using the git push command:

git push -u origin your-branch-name

Replace your-branch-name with the name of the branch you created earlier.

For example:

git push -u origin update-documentation

Submit your changes for review

If you go to your repository on GitHub, you'll see a Compare & pull request button. Click on that button.

1. Create a pull request

2. Now submit the pull request.

What next?

Reviewing your Changes:

Your changes will thoroughly be reviewed by the collaborator and other contributors in your pull request to ensure that the changes align with the purpose of the pull request.

Merging the Pull Request:

Once your pull request has been reviewed and all checks pass, it will be merged into the target branch.

License

Licensed under MIT