Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/master' into feat/179/cli-export-import-public-keys

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -57,7 +57,28 @@ git fetch upstream
 git merge upstream/master
 ```
 
-### Step 5 - Create a New Branch for Each Bug/Feature
+### Step 5 - Install the Python module and the CLI
+
+In order to use and run the source you just cloned from your fork, you need to install BigchainDB on your computer.
+The core of BigchainDB is a Python module you can install using the standard [Python packaging tools](http://python-packaging-user-guide.readthedocs.org/en/latest/).
+We highly suggest you use `pip` and `virtualenv` to manage your local development.
+If you need more information on how to do that, refer to the *Python Packaging User Guide* to [install `pip`](http://python-packaging-user-guide.readthedocs.org/en/latest/installing/#requirements-for-installing-packages) and to [create your first `virtualenv`](http://python-packaging-user-guide.readthedocs.org/en/latest/installing/#creating-virtual-environments).
+
+Once you have `pip` installed and (optionally) you are in a virtualenv, go to the root of the repository (i.e. where the `setup.py` file is), and type:
+```bash
+$ pip install -e .[dev]
+```
+
+This will install the BigchainDB Python module, the CLI, and all the dependencies useful for contributing to the development of BigchainDB.
+How? Let's split the command down into its components:
+ - `pip` is the Python command to install packages
+ - `install` tells pip to use the *install* action
+ - `-e` installs a project in [editable mode](https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/reference/pip_install/#editable-installs)
+ - `.` installs what's in the current directory
+ - `[dev]` adds some [extra requirements](https://pythonhosted.org/setuptools/setuptools.html#declaring-extras-optional-features-with-their-own-dependencies) to the installation. (If you are curious, open `setup.py` and look for `dev` in the `extras_require` section.)
+
+
+### Step 6 - Create a New Branch for Each Bug/Feature
 
 If your new branch is to **fix a bug** identified in a specific GitHub Issue with number `ISSNO`, then name your new branch `bug/ISSNO/short-description-here`. For example, `bug/67/fix-leap-year-crash`.
 
@@ -68,7 +89,7 @@ Otherwise, please give your new branch a short, descriptive, all-lowercase name.
 git checkout -b new-branch-name
 ```
 
-### Step 6 - Make Edits, git add, git commit
+### Step 7 - Make Edits, git add, git commit
 
 With your new branch checked out locally, make changes or additions to the code or documentation. Remember to:
 
@@ -95,14 +116,14 @@ If your addition or change is substantial, then please add a line or two to the
 
 (When you submit your pull request [following the instructions below], we run all the tests automatically, so we will see if some are failing. If you don't know why some tests are failing, you can still submit your pull request, but be sure to note the failing tests and to ask for help with resolving them.)
 
-### Step 7 - Push Your New Branch to origin
+### Step 8 - Push Your New Branch to origin
 
 Make sure you've commited all the additions or changes you want to include in your pull request. Then push your new branch to origin (i.e. _your_ remote bigchaindb repository).
 ```text
 git push origin new-branch-name
 ```
 
-### Step 8 - Create a Pull Request 
+### Step 9 - Create a Pull Request 
 
 Go to the GitHub website and to _your_ remote bigchaindb repository (i.e. something like https://github.com/your-user-name/bigchaindb). 
 

PYTHON_STYLE_GUIDE.md

@@ -55,12 +55,27 @@ x = 'name: {}; score: {}'.format(name, n)
 we use the `format()` version. The [official Python documentation says](https://docs.python.org/2/library/stdtypes.html#str.format), "This method of string formatting is the new standard in Python 3, and should be preferred to the % formatting described in String Formatting Operations in new code."
 
 
-## Writing (Python) Tests
+## Writing and Running (Python) Unit Tests
 
 We write unit tests for our Python code using the [pytest](http://pytest.org/latest/) framework.
 
 All tests go in the `bigchaindb/tests` directory or one of its subdirectories. You can use the tests already in there as templates or examples.
 
-The BigchainDB Documentation has a [section explaining how to run all unit tests](http://bigchaindb.readthedocs.org/en/master/running-unit-tests.html).
+You can run all unit tests using:
+```text
+py.test -v
+```
+
+or, if that doesn't work, try:
+```text
+python -m pytest -v
+```
+
+or:
+```text
+python setup.py test
+```
+
+If you want to learn about all the things you can do with pytest, see [the pytest documentation](http://pytest.org/latest/).
 
 **Automated testing of pull requests.** We use [Travis CI](https://travis-ci.com/), so that whenever someone creates a new BigchainDB pull request on GitHub, Travis CI gets the new code and does _a bunch of stuff_. You can find out what we tell Travis CI to do in [the `.travis.yml` file](.travis.yml): it tells Travis CI how to install BigchainDB, how to run all the tests, and what to do "after success" (e.g. run `codecov`). (We use [Codecov](https://codecov.io/) to get a rough estimate of our test coverage.)

docs/source/installing-server.md

@@ -68,23 +68,18 @@ Note: You can use `pip` to upgrade the `bigchaindb` package to the latest versio
 
 ### How to Install BigchainDB from Source
 
-BigchainDB (i.e. both the Server and the officially-supported drivers) is in its early stages and being actively developed on its [GitHub repository](https://github.com/bigchaindb/bigchaindb). Contributions are highly appreciated. If you want to help with development, then you'll want to install BigchainDB from source. Here's how.
+If you want to install BitchainDB from source because you want to contribute code (i.e. as a BigchainDB developer), then please see the instructions in [the `CONTRIBUTING.md` file](https://github.com/bigchaindb/bigchaindb/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md).
 
-First, clone the public repository:
+Otherwise, clone the public repository:
 ```text
 $ git clone git@github.com:bigchaindb/bigchaindb.git
 ```
 
-Install from the source:
+and then install from source:
 ```text
 $ python setup.py install
 ```
 
-If you want to update BigchainDB to reflect the latest local source code changes, you can use:
-```text
-$ pip install -e .
-```
-
 ### How to Install BigchainDB on a VM with Vagrant
 
 One of our community members ([@Mec-Is](https://github.com/Mec-iS)) wrote [a page about how to install BigchainDB on a VM with Vagrant](https://gist.github.com/Mec-iS/b84758397f1b21f21700).

docs/source/running-unit-tests.md

@@ -2,29 +2,21 @@
 
 Once you've installed BigchainDB Server, you may want to run all the unit tests. This section explains how.
 
-First of all, if you installed BigchainDB Server using `pip` (i.e. by getting the package from PyPI), then you didn't install the tests. Before you can run all the unit tests, you must [install BigchainDB from source](installing-server.html#how-to-install-bigchaindb-from-source).
+First of all, if you installed BigchainDB Server using `pip` (i.e. by getting the package from PyPI), then you didn't install the tests. **Before you can run all the unit tests, you must [install BigchainDB from source](installing-server.html#how-to-install-bigchaindb-from-source).**
 
 To run all the unit tests, first make sure you have RethinkDB running:
+
 ```text
 $ rethinkdb
 ```
 
 then in another terminal, do:
+
 ```text
-$ py.test -v
+$ python setup.py test
 ```
 
-If the above command doesn't work (e.g. maybe you are running in a conda virtual environment), try:
-```text
-$ python -m pytest -v
-```
-
-(We write our unit tests using the [pytest](http://pytest.org/latest/) framework.)
-
-You can also run all unit tests via `setup.py`, using:
-```text
-$  python setup.py test
-```
+(Aside: How does the above command work? The documentation for [pytest-runner](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pytest-runner) explains. We use [pytest](http://pytest.org/latest/) to write all unit tests.)
 
 ### Using docker-compose to Run the Tests