From 03d6e5391a5b715e53ee74acaec5b649a2183e63 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Georgios Kafanas <g.kafanas@greeklug.gr>
Date: Sat, 3 Aug 2024 01:21:08 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Add a section on how to run a development instance of
 EasyBuild

---
 docs/contributing.md | 35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 35 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/contributing.md b/docs/contributing.md
index 75a67b0bb..d73e567ee 100644
--- a/docs/contributing.md
+++ b/docs/contributing.md
@@ -266,6 +266,41 @@ git checkout develop
 git pull upstream develop
 ```
 
+##### Running your development instance {: #running_your_development_instance }
+
+To run your development instance locally access to a copy of the
+[easybuild-easyblocks](https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyblocks) and
+the [easybuild-easyconfigs](https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs)
+repositories is required. Assuming that you have cloned `easybuild-framework`,
+`easybuild-easyblocks`, and `easybuild-easyconfigs` repositories in the safe
+directory, say `EasyBuild`, your directory structure should resemble the
+following:
+
+```
+EasyBuild
+|
++- easybuild-framework
++- easybuild-easyblocks
++- easybuild-easyconfigs
+```
+
+To run the development instance, you need to add the framework and easyblocks
+directories in the Python path, and the easyconfigs in the robot search path.
+
+You can also define the `PYTHONPATH` in inline format:
+
+```bash
+PYTHONPATH=/path/to/EasyBuild/easybuild-framework:/path/to/EasyBuild/easybuild-easyblocks:${PYTHONPATH} /path/to/EasyBuild/easybuild-framework/eb --dry-run --robot=/path/to/EasyBuild/easybuild-easyconfigs/easybuild/easyconfigs ReFrame-4.3.3.eb
+```
+
+For convenience, you can define an alias for the development instance of
+EasyBuild as follows:
+
+```bash
+alias eb="PYTHONPATH=/path/to/EasyBuild/easybuild-framework:/path/to/EasyBuild/easybuild-easyblocks:${PYTHONPATH} /path/to/EasyBuild/easybuild-framework/eb --robot-paths=/path/to/EasyBuild/easybuild-easyconfigs/easybuild/easyconfigs:"
+```
+
+
 ### Opening a new pull request {: #contributing_creating_pull_requests }
 
 !!! note