Creating new files

When new files are to be added to VMD, for any of the different subdirectories, the following steps should be followed:

1. Once an initial version of the file is ready, it must be formatted properly to conform to the standards used by files similar to it, i.e., to be similar to other .h files if the file is a C/C++ header. The rules for formatting each type of file are given in the following section.
2. If RCS is being used, then after formatting for almost all cases the file must be put in the RCS system. The only type of files which should NOT be placed in the RCS are the following:
   • Binary executable files, i.e., binary executable files which are in the bin directory.
   • Image files used for the documentation, i.e., which are in the doc/pictures directory. There is a single copy of these files, which cannot work with RCS due to the way RCS stores files internally.
   • Libraries, including the library archive file and the library header files. These should all be in a single place, and all users should simply have a link from their working lib directory to the single official VMD lib directory.
   To put a file in RCS, follow the steps in section 10.
3. Once placed in the RCS, the configure script must be updated, if necessary, to include the name of the new file in the appropriate list. For example, if a new C++ object is being added and there are two new files newobj.C and newobj.h, the names of these files would go into the lists of VMD C++ source code and header files in the configure script.