Writing Plugins

The EditorConfig Python Core can be easily used by text editor plugins written in Python or plugins that can call an external Python interpreter. The EditorConfig Python Core supports Python versions 2.2 to 2.7. Check out the Vim and Gedit plugins for example usages of the EditorConfig Python Core.

Use as a library

For instructions on using the EditorConfig Python Core as a Python library see Usage.

Using with an external Python interpreter

The EditorConfig Python Core can be used with an external Python interpreter by executing the main.py file. The main.py file can be executed like so:

python editorconfig-core-py/main.py /home/zoidberg/humans/anatomy.md

For more information on command line usage of the EditorConfig Python Core see Command Line Usage.

Bundling EditorConfig Python Core with Plugin

A text editor or IDE plugin will either need to bundle the EditorConfig Python Core with the plugin installation package or the will need to assist the user in installing the EditorConfig Python Core. Below are instructions for bundling the EditorConfig Python Core with plugins.

Bundling as a Submodule in Git

Git submodules allow one repository to be included inside another. A submodule stores a remote repositry and commit to use for fetching the embedded repository. Submodules take up very little space in the repository since they do not actually include the code of the embedded repository directly.

To add EditorConfig Python Core as a submodule in the editorconfig-core-py directory of your repository:

git submodule add git://github.com/editorconfig/editorconfig-core-py.git editorconfig-core-py

Then every time the code is checked out the submodule directory should be initialized and updated:

git submodule update --init

Bundling as a Subtree in Git

Git subtrees are convenient because, unlike submodules, they do not require any extra work to be performed when cloning the git repository. Git subtrees include one git codebase as a subdirectory of another.

Example of using a subtree for the editorconfig directory from the EditorConfig Python Core repository:

git remote add -f editorconfig-core-py git://github.com/editorconfig/editorconfig-core-py.git
git merge -s ours --no-commit editorconfig-core-py/master
git read-tree --prefix=editorconfig -u editorconfig-core-py/master:editorconfig
git commit

For more information on subtrees consult the subtree merge guide on Github and Chapter 6.7 in the book Pro Git.