d4b0af0a38
9 new wiki pages: getting-started, faq, troubleshooting, advanced-usage, verification-modes, adding-a-platform, adding-a-scraper, testing-guide, release-process. Updated architecture.md with mermaid diagrams, tools.md with full pipeline and target/exporter sections, profiling.md with missing fields, index.md with glossary and nav links. Expanded CONTRIBUTING.md from stub to full contributor guide. Filter .old.yml from load_emulator_profiles, generate_db alias collection, and generate_readme counts. Fix BizHawk sha1 mode in tools.md, fix RetroPie path, fix export_truth.py typos.
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Contributing to RetroBIOS
Types of contributions
- Add a BIOS file - a great way to get started. Fork, add the file, open a PR.
- Create an emulator profile - document what a core actually loads from source code. See the profiling guide.
- Add a platform - integrate a new frontend (scraper + YAML config). See adding a platform.
- Add or fix a scraper - parse upstream sources for BIOS requirements. See adding a scraper.
- Fix a bug or improve tooling - Python scripts in
scripts/, single dependency (pyyaml).
Local setup
git clone https://github.com/Abdess/retrobios.git
cd retrobios
pip install pyyaml
# run tests
python -m unittest tests.test_e2e -v
# run full pipeline (DB + verify + packs + consistency check)
python scripts/pipeline.py --offline
Requires Python 3.10 or later.
Adding a BIOS file
- Place the file in
bios/Manufacturer/Console/filename. - Alternate versions (different hash, same purpose) go in
bios/Manufacturer/Console/.variants/. - Files over 50 MB go as assets on the
large-filesGitHub release (git handles them better that way). - RPG Maker and ScummVM directories are excluded from deduplication - please keep their structure as-is.
- Open a pull request. CI validates checksums automatically and posts a report.
Commit conventions
Format: type: description (50 characters max, lowercase start).
Allowed types: feat, refactor, chore, docs, fix.
feat: add panasonic 3do bios files
docs: update architecture diagram
fix: resolve truncated md5 matching
chore: remove unused test fixtures
refactor: extract hash logic to common.py
Keep messages factual. No marketing language, no superfluous adjectives.
Code and documentation quality
The codebase runs on Python 3.10+ with a single dependency (pyyaml). All modules
include from __future__ import annotations at the top. Type hints on every function
signature, pathlib instead of os.path, and dataclasses where a plain class would
just hold attributes.
On performance: O(1) or O(n) algorithms are preferred. If something needs O(n^2), a
comment explaining why helps future readers. List comprehensions over explicit loops,
generators when iterating large datasets, and standard default arguments
(def f(items=None) over def f(items=[])).
File I/O uses context managers. ZIP extraction goes through safe_extract_zip() in
common.py, which prevents zip-slip path traversal.
The code stays lean. Comments that describe why age better than comments that restate what. Unused variables can be deleted rather than renamed with an underscore.
The same spirit applies to documentation and emulator profiles. Straightforward language, honest labels ("untested" when something is untested).
When a bug is spotted while working on something else, fixing it in the same PR keeps things tidy. Features ideally ship complete in one pass: code, tests, a passing pipeline run, and any documentation updates together.
Pull request process
CI runs four checks on every PR:
| Check | What it does |
|---|---|
validate-bios |
hashes changed BIOS files against the database, posts a validation report |
validate-configs |
schema-validates platform YAML configs |
run-tests |
runs the full E2E test suite |
label-pr |
auto-labels the PR based on changed file paths |
All four checks must pass. One maintainer approval is required before merge.
Project philosophy
This repository is an archive. The goal is a complete collection of every file a user needs to run every supported console in an emulator, with zero friction. That scope goes beyond BIOS ROMs: firmware updates, system fonts, data files, encryption keys, hiscore databases, anything the emulator loads from disk rather than generating itself. In a hundred years the pack should still work out of the box.
Licensing considerations are secondary to completeness. If an emulator needs a file to function, the file belongs in the collection. The project's legal position is documented in the FAQ section of the site.
Integrity matters. Every file, hash, and metadata field is cross-checked
against the emulator's source code. Upstream references like System.dat,
.info files, and wiki pages are valuable and generally accurate, though
they can occasionally fall out of date. When an upstream source and the
code disagree, the code at runtime is the tiebreaker.
Documentation
Full reference docs, profiling guides, and architecture details are on the documentation site.