Differences between Github Repository and downloaded releases?

[Jonathan]

Hello,

I am attempting to fix a bug in Zotero Standalone (not a translator bug). Currently I have a public release version of Zotero 5.0.27 for Windows installed, downloaded from zotero.org. Following this somewhat outdated tutorial: https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/modifying_zotero_files I unpacked zotero.jar in a folder, made Zotero load the unpacked files using chrome.manifest, and made modifications to the .jar files.

Now I noticed that the files on https://github.com/zotero/zotero in the master branch (and also in https://github.com/zotero/zotero/releases/tag/5.0.27) are vastly different from what I found in zotero.jar. My questions now are:

1) If the files in the repository are newer, why are there outdated files in my release of 5.0.27? If my files are newer, where is the up-to-date repository?
2) In the former case: How do I get to run a version of Zotero on my machine that uses the up-to-date code? Do I have to compile Zotero myself?

Best,

Jonathan

[Dan Stillman]

On 11/19/17 9:40 AM, Jonathan wrote:

I am attempting to fix a bug in Zotero Standalone (not a translator bug). Currently I have a public release version of Zotero 5.0.27 for Windows installed, downloaded from zotero.org. Following this somewhat outdated tutorial: https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/modifying_zotero_files I unpacked zotero.jar in a folder, made Zotero load the unpacked files using chrome.manifest, and made modifications to the .jar files.

Now I noticed that the files on https://github.com/zotero/zotero in the master branch (and also in https://github.com/zotero/zotero/releases/tag/5.0.27) are vastly different from what I found in zotero.jar. My questions now are:

1) If the files in the repository are newer, why are there outdated files in my release of 5.0.27? If my files are newer, where is the up-to-date repository?

The files you're looking at are processed by Babel, which changes a few things (mostly just to add CommonJS module support at this point). It also does some crazy things with whitespace, because we use the retainLines flag to keep line numbers matching up.

2) In the former case: How do I get to run a version of Zotero on my machine that uses the up-to-date code? Do I have to compile Zotero myself?

You can edit those files to test something quickly, but I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than a quick proof-of-concept. Most of Zotero isn't compiled, per se, but if you want to make permanent changes (and particularly if you want to contribute those changes back) you'd want to build the client yourself:

https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/client_coding/building_the_standalone_client

[Jonathan]

Thank you!