The use of configure.php will let you know if the XML is valid or not. Use it before any commit.
It is important to test before committing changes because committing errors will cause other contributors tests to fail. This also means the automatic build process will halt, so the manuals files and downloads will not be updated online.
Before a commit is made, the diff should be reviewed to ensure the patch only contains intentional modifications. For example, whitespace changes are rarely necessary so should be eliminated before commit. For example:
Example #1 Creating a unified diff / patch
# Creates a unified diff, and saves it as a file named diff.patch # Next, open this file in a text editor (like vim) and be certain # it looks correct $ svn diff en/reference/foo/bar.xml > diff.patch $ vim diff.patch
If command-line tools are unavailable, consider using a GUI based SVN tool to create and check the diffs.
Note: When adding a new file
Be certain to run php configure.php after adding a new file as otherwise the new file will not be validated or built.