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049e64aa | 1 | Submitting Patches |
2 | ================== | |
3 | ||
4 | == Guidelines | |
5 | ||
fc0825d5 LA |
6 | Here are some guidelines for contributing back to this |
7 | project. There is also a link:MyFirstContribution.html[step-by-step tutorial] | |
b75a2199 | 8 | available which covers many of these same guidelines. |
31408251 | 9 | |
b5dbfe28 LA |
10 | [[choose-starting-point]] |
11 | === Choose a starting point. | |
d0c26f0f | 12 | |
0a02ca23 LA |
13 | As a preliminary step, you must first choose a starting point for your |
14 | work. Typically this means choosing a branch, although technically | |
15 | speaking it is actually a particular commit (typically the HEAD, or tip, | |
16 | of the branch). | |
17 | ||
18 | There are several important branches to be aware of. Namely, there are | |
19 | four integration branches as discussed in linkgit:gitworkflows[7]: | |
20 | ||
21 | * maint | |
22 | * master | |
23 | * next | |
24 | * seen | |
25 | ||
26 | The branches lower on the list are typically descendants of the ones | |
27 | that come before it. For example, `maint` is an "older" branch than | |
28 | `master` because `master` usually has patches (commits) on top of | |
29 | `maint`. | |
30 | ||
31 | There are also "topic" branches, which contain work from other | |
32 | contributors. Topic branches are created by the Git maintainer (in | |
33 | their fork) to organize the current set of incoming contributions on | |
34 | the mailing list, and are itemized in the regular "What's cooking in | |
35 | git.git" announcements. To find the tip of a topic branch, run `git log | |
36 | --first-parent master..seen` and look for the merge commit. The second | |
37 | parent of this commit is the tip of the topic branch. | |
38 | ||
39 | There is one guiding principle for choosing the right starting point: in | |
40 | general, always base your work on the oldest integration branch that | |
41 | your change is relevant to (see "Merge upwards" in | |
42 | linkgit:gitworkflows[7]). What this principle means is that for the | |
43 | vast majority of cases, the starting point for new work should be the | |
44 | latest HEAD commit of `maint` or `master` based on the following cases: | |
45 | ||
46 | * If you are fixing bugs in the released version, use `maint` as the | |
47 | starting point (which may mean you have to fix things without using | |
48 | new API features on the cutting edge that recently appeared in | |
369998df | 49 | `master` but were not available in the released version). |
0a02ca23 LA |
50 | |
51 | * Otherwise (such as if you are adding new features) use `master`. | |
52 | ||
369998df JH |
53 | |
54 | NOTE: In exceptional cases, a bug that was introduced in an old | |
55 | version may have to be fixed for users of releases that are much older | |
56 | than the recent releases. `git describe --contains X` may describe | |
57 | `X` as `v2.30.0-rc2-gXXXXXX` for the commit `X` that introduced the | |
58 | bug, and the bug may be so high-impact that we may need to issue a new | |
59 | maintenance release for Git 2.30.x series, when "Git 2.41.0" is the | |
60 | current release. In such a case, you may want to use the tip of the | |
61 | maintenance branch for the 2.30.x series, which may be available in the | |
62 | `maint-2.30` branch in https://github.com/gitster/git[the maintainer's | |
63 | "broken out" repo]. | |
64 | ||
0a02ca23 LA |
65 | This also means that `next` or `seen` are inappropriate starting points |
66 | for your work, if you want your work to have a realistic chance of | |
f835de52 JH |
67 | graduating to `master`. They are simply not designed to be used as a |
68 | base for new work; they are only there to make sure that topics in | |
69 | flight work well together. This is why both `next` and `seen` are | |
70 | frequently re-integrated with incoming patches on the mailing list and | |
71 | force-pushed to replace previous versions of themselves. A topic that is | |
72 | literally built on top of `next` cannot be merged to `master` without | |
73 | dragging in all the other topics in `next`, some of which may not be | |
74 | ready. | |
0a02ca23 LA |
75 | |
76 | For example, if you are making tree-wide changes, while somebody else is | |
77 | also making their own tree-wide changes, your work may have severe | |
78 | overlap with the other person's work. This situation may tempt you to | |
79 | use `next` as your starting point (because it would have the other | |
80 | person's work included in it), but doing so would mean you'll not only | |
81 | depend on the other person's work, but all the other random things from | |
82 | other contributors that are already integrated into `next`. And as soon | |
83 | as `next` is updated with a new version, all of your work will need to | |
84 | be rebased anyway in order for them to be cleanly applied by the | |
85 | maintainer. | |
86 | ||
87 | Under truly exceptional circumstances where you absolutely must depend | |
88 | on a select few topic branches that are already in `next` but not in | |
89 | `master`, you may want to create your own custom base-branch by forking | |
9a9fd289 | 90 | `master` and merging the required topic branches into it. You could then |
0a02ca23 LA |
91 | work on top of this base-branch. But keep in mind that this base-branch |
92 | would only be known privately to you. So when you are ready to send | |
93 | your patches to the list, be sure to communicate how you created it in | |
94 | your cover letter. This critical piece of information would allow | |
95 | others to recreate your base-branch on their end in order for them to | |
96 | try out your work. | |
31408251 | 97 | |
3423e372 LA |
98 | Finally, note that some parts of the system have dedicated maintainers |
99 | with their own separate source code repositories (see the section | |
100 | "Subsystems" below). | |
101 | ||
049e64aa | 102 | [[separate-commits]] |
103 | === Make separate commits for logically separate changes. | |
31408251 JH |
104 | |
105 | Unless your patch is really trivial, you should not be sending | |
106 | out a patch that was generated between your working tree and | |
107 | your commit head. Instead, always make a commit with complete | |
108 | commit message and generate a series of patches from your | |
109 | repository. It is a good discipline. | |
110 | ||
d0f7dcbf JH |
111 | Give an explanation for the change(s) that is detailed enough so |
112 | that people can judge if it is good thing to do, without reading | |
113 | the actual patch text to determine how well the code does what | |
114 | the explanation promises to do. | |
31408251 | 115 | |
45d2b286 | 116 | If your description starts to get too long, that's a sign that you |
31408251 | 117 | probably need to split up your commit to finer grained pieces. |
47afed5d SV |
118 | That being said, patches which plainly describe the things that |
119 | help reviewers check the patch, and future maintainers understand | |
01e60a9a | 120 | the code, are the most beautiful patches. Descriptions that summarize |
47afed5d SV |
121 | the point in the subject well, and describe the motivation for the |
122 | change, the approach taken by the change, and if relevant how this | |
d0f7dcbf JH |
123 | differs substantially from the prior version, are all good things |
124 | to have. | |
31408251 | 125 | |
54cc5d29 | 126 | Make sure that you have tests for the bug you are fixing. See |
049e64aa | 127 | `t/README` for guidance. |
7d5bf87b | 128 | |
049e64aa | 129 | [[tests]] |
7d5bf87b | 130 | When adding a new feature, make sure that you have new tests to show |
0e5d028a | 131 | the feature triggers the new behavior when it should, and to show the |
fdfae830 JH |
132 | feature does not trigger when it shouldn't. After any code change, |
133 | make sure that the entire test suite passes. When fixing a bug, make | |
134 | sure you have new tests that break if somebody else breaks what you | |
135 | fixed by accident to avoid regression. Also, try merging your work to | |
136 | 'next' and 'seen' and make sure the tests still pass; topics by others | |
137 | that are still in flight may have unexpected interactions with what | |
138 | you are trying to do in your topic. | |
0e5d028a | 139 | |
f003a91f ÆAB |
140 | Pushing to a fork of https://github.com/git/git will use their CI |
141 | integration to test your changes on Linux, Mac and Windows. See the | |
142 | <<GHCI,GitHub CI>> section for details. | |
0e5d028a LS |
143 | |
144 | Do not forget to update the documentation to describe the updated | |
145 | behavior and make sure that the resulting documentation set formats | |
7a76f5c6 JK |
146 | well (try the Documentation/doc-diff script). |
147 | ||
148 | We currently have a liberal mixture of US and UK English norms for | |
0e5d028a LS |
149 | spelling and grammar, which is somewhat unfortunate. A huge patch that |
150 | touches the files all over the place only to correct the inconsistency | |
151 | is not welcome, though. Potential clashes with other changes that can | |
152 | result from such a patch are not worth it. We prefer to gradually | |
153 | reconcile the inconsistencies in favor of US English, with small and | |
154 | easily digestible patches, as a side effect of doing some other real | |
155 | work in the vicinity (e.g. rewriting a paragraph for clarity, while | |
156 | turning en_UK spelling to en_US). Obvious typographical fixes are much | |
157 | more welcomed ("teh -> "the"), preferably submitted as independent | |
158 | patches separate from other documentation changes. | |
42e0fae9 | 159 | |
049e64aa | 160 | [[whitespace-check]] |
42e0fae9 | 161 | Oh, another thing. We are picky about whitespaces. Make sure your |
45d2b286 | 162 | changes do not trigger errors with the sample pre-commit hook shipped |
049e64aa | 163 | in `templates/hooks--pre-commit`. To help ensure this does not happen, |
164 | run `git diff --check` on your changes before you commit. | |
31408251 | 165 | |
049e64aa | 166 | [[describe-changes]] |
167 | === Describe your changes well. | |
7d5bf87b | 168 | |
cdba0295 JH |
169 | The log message that explains your changes is just as important as the |
170 | changes themselves. Your code may be clearly written with in-code | |
171 | comment to sufficiently explain how it works with the surrounding | |
172 | code, but those who need to fix or enhance your code in the future | |
173 | will need to know _why_ your code does what it does, for a few | |
174 | reasons: | |
175 | ||
176 | . Your code may be doing something differently from what you wanted it | |
177 | to do. Writing down what you actually wanted to achieve will help | |
178 | them fix your code and make it do what it should have been doing | |
179 | (also, you often discover your own bugs yourself, while writing the | |
180 | log message to summarize the thought behind it). | |
181 | ||
182 | . Your code may be doing things that were only necessary for your | |
183 | immediate needs (e.g. "do X to directories" without implementing or | |
184 | even designing what is to be done on files). Writing down why you | |
185 | excluded what the code does not do will help guide future developers. | |
186 | Writing down "we do X to directories, because directories have | |
187 | characteristic Y" would help them infer "oh, files also have the same | |
188 | characteristic Y, so perhaps doing X to them would also make sense?". | |
189 | Saying "we don't do the same X to files, because ..." will help them | |
190 | decide if the reasoning is sound (in which case they do not waste | |
191 | time extending your code to cover files), or reason differently (in | |
192 | which case, they can explain why they extend your code to cover | |
193 | files, too). | |
194 | ||
195 | The goal of your log message is to convey the _why_ behind your | |
196 | change to help future developers. | |
197 | ||
7d5bf87b | 198 | The first line of the commit message should be a short description (50 |
049e64aa | 199 | characters is the soft limit, see DISCUSSION in linkgit:git-commit[1]), |
200 | and should skip the full stop. It is also conventional in most cases to | |
7d5bf87b JH |
201 | prefix the first line with "area: " where the area is a filename or |
202 | identifier for the general area of the code being modified, e.g. | |
203 | ||
049e64aa | 204 | * doc: clarify distinction between sign-off and pgp-signing |
205 | * githooks.txt: improve the intro section | |
7d5bf87b | 206 | |
049e64aa | 207 | If in doubt which identifier to use, run `git log --no-merges` on the |
7d5bf87b JH |
208 | files you are modifying to see the current conventions. |
209 | ||
049e64aa | 210 | [[summary-section]] |
151b6c2d | 211 | The title sentence after the "area:" prefix omits the full stop at the |
3991bb73 JH |
212 | end, and its first word is not capitalized (the omission |
213 | of capitalization applies only to the word after the "area:" | |
214 | prefix of the title) unless there is a reason to | |
151b6c2d JH |
215 | capitalize it other than because it is the first word in the sentence. |
216 | E.g. "doc: clarify...", not "doc: Clarify...", or "githooks.txt: | |
217 | improve...", not "githooks.txt: Improve...". But "refs: HEAD is also | |
218 | treated as a ref" is correct, as we spell `HEAD` in all caps even when | |
219 | it appears in the middle of a sentence. | |
2ee00567 | 220 | |
049e64aa | 221 | [[meaningful-message]] |
7d5bf87b JH |
222 | The body should provide a meaningful commit message, which: |
223 | ||
049e64aa | 224 | . explains the problem the change tries to solve, i.e. what is wrong |
225 | with the current code without the change. | |
7d5bf87b | 226 | |
049e64aa | 227 | . justifies the way the change solves the problem, i.e. why the |
228 | result with the change is better. | |
7d5bf87b | 229 | |
049e64aa | 230 | . alternate solutions considered but discarded, if any. |
7d5bf87b | 231 | |
fa1101af JH |
232 | [[present-tense]] |
233 | The problem statement that describes the status quo is written in the | |
234 | present tense. Write "The code does X when it is given input Y", | |
235 | instead of "The code used to do Y when given input X". You do not | |
236 | have to say "Currently"---the status quo in the problem statement is | |
237 | about the code _without_ your change, by project convention. | |
238 | ||
049e64aa | 239 | [[imperative-mood]] |
7d5bf87b JH |
240 | Describe your changes in imperative mood, e.g. "make xyzzy do frotz" |
241 | instead of "[This patch] makes xyzzy do frotz" or "[I] changed xyzzy | |
242 | to do frotz", as if you are giving orders to the codebase to change | |
01e60a9a | 243 | its behavior. Try to make sure your explanation can be understood |
7d5bf87b JH |
244 | without external resources. Instead of giving a URL to a mailing list |
245 | archive, summarize the relevant points of the discussion. | |
246 | ||
049e64aa | 247 | [[commit-reference]] |
fdfae830 JH |
248 | |
249 | There are a few reasons why you may want to refer to another commit in | |
250 | the "more stable" part of the history (i.e. on branches like `maint`, | |
251 | `master`, and `next`): | |
252 | ||
253 | . A commit that introduced the root cause of a bug you are fixing. | |
254 | ||
255 | . A commit that introduced a feature that you are enhancing. | |
256 | ||
257 | . A commit that conflicts with your work when you made a trial merge | |
258 | of your work into `next` and `seen` for testing. | |
259 | ||
260 | When you reference a commit on a more stable branch (like `master`, | |
261 | `maint` and `next`), use the format "abbreviated hash (subject, | |
262 | date)", like this: | |
4369523b | 263 | |
049e64aa | 264 | .... |
fb2ffa77 | 265 | Commit f86a374 (pack-bitmap.c: fix a memleak, 2015-03-30) |
049e64aa | 266 | noticed that ... |
267 | .... | |
4369523b | 268 | |
d15b8539 | 269 | The "Copy commit reference" command of gitk can be used to obtain this |
fb2ffa77 DL |
270 | format (with the subject enclosed in a pair of double-quotes), or this |
271 | invocation of `git show`: | |
175d38ca | 272 | |
049e64aa | 273 | .... |
3798149a DL |
274 | git show -s --pretty=reference <commit> |
275 | .... | |
276 | ||
277 | or, on an older version of Git without support for --pretty=reference: | |
278 | ||
049e64aa | 279 | .... |
fb2ffa77 | 280 | git show -s --date=short --pretty='format:%h (%s, %ad)' <commit> |
049e64aa | 281 | .... |
7d5bf87b | 282 | |
4523dc86 ÆAB |
283 | [[sign-off]] |
284 | === Certify your work by adding your `Signed-off-by` trailer | |
285 | ||
286 | To improve tracking of who did what, we ask you to certify that you | |
287 | wrote the patch or have the right to pass it on under the same license | |
288 | as ours, by "signing off" your patch. Without sign-off, we cannot | |
289 | accept your patches. | |
290 | ||
291 | If (and only if) you certify the below D-C-O: | |
292 | ||
293 | [[dco]] | |
294 | .Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1 | |
295 | ____ | |
296 | By making a contribution to this project, I certify that: | |
297 | ||
298 | a. The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I | |
299 | have the right to submit it under the open source license | |
300 | indicated in the file; or | |
301 | ||
302 | b. The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best | |
303 | of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source | |
304 | license and I have the right under that license to submit that | |
305 | work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part | |
306 | by me, under the same open source license (unless I am | |
307 | permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated | |
308 | in the file; or | |
309 | ||
310 | c. The contribution was provided directly to me by some other | |
311 | person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified | |
312 | it. | |
313 | ||
314 | d. I understand and agree that this project and the contribution | |
315 | are public and that a record of the contribution (including all | |
316 | personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is | |
317 | maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with | |
318 | this project or the open source license(s) involved. | |
319 | ____ | |
320 | ||
321 | you add a "Signed-off-by" trailer to your commit, that looks like | |
322 | this: | |
323 | ||
324 | .... | |
325 | Signed-off-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.example.org> | |
326 | .... | |
327 | ||
328 | This line can be added by Git if you run the git-commit command with | |
329 | the -s option. | |
330 | ||
331 | Notice that you can place your own `Signed-off-by` trailer when | |
332 | forwarding somebody else's patch with the above rules for | |
333 | D-C-O. Indeed you are encouraged to do so. Do not forget to | |
334 | place an in-body "From: " line at the beginning to properly attribute | |
335 | the change to its true author (see (2) above). | |
336 | ||
337 | This procedure originally came from the Linux kernel project, so our | |
338 | rule is quite similar to theirs, but what exactly it means to sign-off | |
339 | your patch differs from project to project, so it may be different | |
340 | from that of the project you are accustomed to. | |
341 | ||
342 | [[real-name]] | |
343 | Also notice that a real name is used in the `Signed-off-by` trailer. Please | |
344 | don't hide your real name. | |
345 | ||
346 | [[commit-trailers]] | |
347 | If you like, you can put extra tags at the end: | |
348 | ||
349 | . `Reported-by:` is used to credit someone who found the bug that | |
350 | the patch attempts to fix. | |
351 | . `Acked-by:` says that the person who is more familiar with the area | |
352 | the patch attempts to modify liked the patch. | |
353 | . `Reviewed-by:`, unlike the other tags, can only be offered by the | |
354 | reviewers themselves when they are completely satisfied with the | |
355 | patch after a detailed analysis. | |
356 | . `Tested-by:` is used to indicate that the person applied the patch | |
357 | and found it to have the desired effect. | |
c771ef6f JS |
358 | . `Co-authored-by:` is used to indicate that people exchanged drafts |
359 | of a patch before submitting it. | |
360 | . `Helped-by:` is used to credit someone who suggested ideas for | |
361 | changes without providing the precise changes in patch form. | |
362 | . `Mentored-by:` is used to credit someone with helping develop a | |
363 | patch as part of a mentorship program (e.g., GSoC or Outreachy). | |
364 | . `Suggested-by:` is used to credit someone with suggesting the idea | |
365 | for a patch. | |
4523dc86 | 366 | |
ac9fff2b JS |
367 | While you can also create your own trailer if the situation warrants it, we |
368 | encourage you to instead use one of the common trailers in this project | |
369 | highlighted above. | |
4523dc86 | 370 | |
08e2e6f8 JS |
371 | Only capitalize the very first letter of tags, i.e. favor |
372 | "Signed-off-by" over "Signed-Off-By" and "Acked-by:" over "Acked-By". | |
373 | ||
049e64aa | 374 | [[git-tools]] |
375 | === Generate your patch using Git tools out of your commits. | |
45d2b286 | 376 | |
2de9b711 | 377 | Git based diff tools generate unidiff which is the preferred format. |
45d2b286 | 378 | |
049e64aa | 379 | You do not have to be afraid to use `-M` option to `git diff` or |
380 | `git format-patch`, if your patch involves file renames. The | |
31408251 JH |
381 | receiving end can handle them just fine. |
382 | ||
049e64aa | 383 | [[review-patch]] |
7d5bf87b JH |
384 | Please make sure your patch does not add commented out debugging code, |
385 | or include any extra files which do not relate to what your patch | |
386 | is trying to achieve. Make sure to review | |
31408251 | 387 | your patch after generating it, to ensure accuracy. Before |
b5dbfe28 | 388 | sending out, please make sure it cleanly applies to the starting point you |
5c98149c LA |
389 | have chosen in the "Choose a starting point" section. |
390 | ||
391 | NOTE: From the perspective of those reviewing your patch, the `master` | |
392 | branch is the default expected starting point. So if you have chosen a | |
393 | different starting point, please communicate this choice in your cover | |
394 | letter. | |
fdfae830 | 395 | |
31408251 | 396 | |
049e64aa | 397 | [[send-patches]] |
398 | === Sending your patches. | |
31408251 | 399 | |
2a00502b TG |
400 | :security-ml: footnoteref:[security-ml,The Git Security mailing list: git-security@googlegroups.com] |
401 | ||
402 | Before sending any patches, please note that patches that may be | |
403 | security relevant should be submitted privately to the Git Security | |
404 | mailing list{security-ml}, instead of the public mailing list. | |
405 | ||
b25c4699 JH |
406 | Learn to use format-patch and send-email if possible. These commands |
407 | are optimized for the workflow of sending patches, avoiding many ways | |
97509a34 ŠN |
408 | your existing e-mail client (often optimized for "multipart/*" MIME |
409 | type e-mails) might render your patches unusable. | |
b25c4699 | 410 | |
2de9b711 | 411 | People on the Git mailing list need to be able to read and |
31408251 JH |
412 | comment on the changes you are submitting. It is important for |
413 | a developer to be able to "quote" your changes, using standard | |
414 | e-mail tools, so that they may comment on specific portions of | |
eaa6c987 RS |
415 | your code. For this reason, each patch should be submitted |
416 | "inline" in a separate message. | |
417 | ||
4cf6e7bf JT |
418 | All subsequent versions of a patch series and other related patches should be |
419 | grouped into their own e-mail thread to help readers find all parts of the | |
420 | series. To that end, send them as replies to either an additional "cover | |
421 | letter" message (see below), the first patch, or the respective preceding patch. | |
422 | Here is a link:MyFirstContribution.html#v2-git-send-email[step-by-step guide] on | |
423 | how to submit updated versions of a patch series. | |
eaa6c987 RS |
424 | |
425 | If your log message (including your name on the | |
3abd4a67 | 426 | `Signed-off-by` trailer) is not writable in ASCII, make sure that |
7d5bf87b JH |
427 | you send off a message in the correct encoding. |
428 | ||
429 | WARNING: Be wary of your MUAs word-wrap | |
45d2b286 JH |
430 | corrupting your patch. Do not cut-n-paste your patch; you can |
431 | lose tabs that way if you are not careful. | |
31408251 | 432 | |
45d2b286 | 433 | It is a common convention to prefix your subject line with |
31408251 | 434 | [PATCH]. This lets people easily distinguish patches from other |
f6be7edc AD |
435 | e-mail discussions. Use of markers in addition to PATCH within |
436 | the brackets to describe the nature of the patch is also | |
437 | encouraged. E.g. [RFC PATCH] (where RFC stands for "request for | |
438 | comments") is often used to indicate a patch needs further | |
439 | discussion before being accepted, [PATCH v2], [PATCH v3] etc. | |
440 | are often seen when you are sending an update to what you have | |
441 | previously sent. | |
442 | ||
1a5f2e44 | 443 | The `git format-patch` command follows the best current practice to |
31408251 JH |
444 | format the body of an e-mail message. At the beginning of the |
445 | patch should come your commit message, ending with the | |
3abd4a67 | 446 | `Signed-off-by` trailers, and a line that consists of three dashes, |
31408251 JH |
447 | followed by the diffstat information and the patch itself. If |
448 | you are forwarding a patch from somebody else, optionally, at | |
449 | the beginning of the e-mail message just before the commit | |
450 | message starts, you can put a "From: " line to name that person. | |
f6be7edc AD |
451 | To change the default "[PATCH]" in the subject to "[<text>]", use |
452 | `git format-patch --subject-prefix=<text>`. As a shortcut, you | |
453 | can use `--rfc` instead of `--subject-prefix="RFC PATCH"`, or | |
454 | `-v <n>` instead of `--subject-prefix="PATCH v<n>"`. | |
31408251 JH |
455 | |
456 | You often want to add additional explanation about the patch, | |
457 | other than the commit message itself. Place such "cover letter" | |
86010993 ES |
458 | material between the three-dash line and the diffstat. For |
459 | patches requiring multiple iterations of review and discussion, | |
460 | an explanation of changes between each iteration can be kept in | |
461 | Git-notes and inserted automatically following the three-dash | |
462 | line via `git format-patch --notes`. | |
31408251 | 463 | |
d255105c JH |
464 | [[the-topic-summary]] |
465 | *This is EXPERIMENTAL*. | |
466 | ||
467 | When sending a topic, you can propose a one-paragraph summary that | |
468 | should appear in the "What's cooking" report when it is picked up to | |
469 | explain the topic. If you choose to do so, please write a 2-5 line | |
470 | paragraph that will fit well in our release notes (see many bulleted | |
471 | entries in the Documentation/RelNotes/* files for examples), and make | |
472 | it the first paragraph of the cover letter. For a single-patch | |
473 | series, use the space between the three-dash line and the diffstat, as | |
474 | described earlier. | |
475 | ||
049e64aa | 476 | [[attachment]] |
31408251 | 477 | Do not attach the patch as a MIME attachment, compressed or not. |
e30b217b JH |
478 | Do not let your e-mail client send quoted-printable. Do not let |
479 | your e-mail client send format=flowed which would destroy | |
480 | whitespaces in your patches. Many | |
31408251 JH |
481 | popular e-mail applications will not always transmit a MIME |
482 | attachment as plain text, making it impossible to comment on | |
483 | your code. A MIME attachment also takes a bit more time to | |
484 | process. This does not decrease the likelihood of your | |
485 | MIME-attached change being accepted, but it makes it more likely | |
486 | that it will be postponed. | |
487 | ||
488 | Exception: If your mailer is mangling patches then someone may ask | |
9847f7e0 | 489 | you to re-send them using MIME, that is OK. |
31408251 | 490 | |
049e64aa | 491 | [[pgp-signature]] |
eafd5d94 CW |
492 | Do not PGP sign your patch. Most likely, your maintainer or other people on the |
493 | list would not have your PGP key and would not bother obtaining it anyway. | |
494 | Your patch is not judged by who you are; a good patch from an unknown origin | |
495 | has a far better chance of being accepted than a patch from a known, respected | |
496 | origin that is done poorly or does incorrect things. | |
9847f7e0 JH |
497 | |
498 | If you really really really really want to do a PGP signed | |
499 | patch, format it as "multipart/signed", not a text/plain message | |
049e64aa | 500 | that starts with `-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----`. That is |
9847f7e0 JH |
501 | not a text/plain, it's something else. |
502 | ||
2a00502b TG |
503 | :security-ml-ref: footnoteref:[security-ml] |
504 | ||
505 | As mentioned at the beginning of the section, patches that may be | |
506 | security relevant should not be submitted to the public mailing list | |
507 | mentioned below, but should instead be sent privately to the Git | |
508 | Security mailing list{security-ml-ref}. | |
509 | ||
7d5bf87b | 510 | Send your patch with "To:" set to the mailing list, with "cc:" listing |
92a5dbbc TG |
511 | people who are involved in the area you are touching (the `git |
512 | contacts` command in `contrib/contacts/` can help to | |
fdfae830 JH |
513 | identify them), to solicit comments and reviews. Also, when you made |
514 | trial merges of your topic to `next` and `seen`, you may have noticed | |
515 | work by others conflicting with your changes. There is a good possibility | |
516 | that these people may know the area you are touching well. | |
04d24455 | 517 | |
a27cd1ab TG |
518 | :current-maintainer: footnote:[The current maintainer: gitster@pobox.com] |
519 | :git-ml: footnote:[The mailing list: git@vger.kernel.org] | |
049e64aa | 520 | |
7d5bf87b | 521 | After the list reached a consensus that it is a good idea to apply the |
d95b192e JH |
522 | patch, re-send it with "To:" set to the maintainer{current-maintainer} |
523 | and "cc:" the list{git-ml} for inclusion. This is especially relevant | |
524 | when the maintainer did not heavily participate in the discussion and | |
525 | instead left the review to trusted others. | |
31408251 | 526 | |
049e64aa | 527 | Do not forget to add trailers such as `Acked-by:`, `Reviewed-by:` and |
528 | `Tested-by:` lines as necessary to credit people who helped your | |
d95b192e | 529 | patch, and "cc:" them when sending such a final version for inclusion. |
04d24455 | 530 | |
049e64aa | 531 | == Subsystems with dedicated maintainers |
e6da8ee8 JH |
532 | |
533 | Some parts of the system have dedicated maintainers with their own | |
534 | repositories. | |
535 | ||
253bfe49 | 536 | - `git-gui/` comes from git-gui project, maintained by Pratyush Yadav: |
e6da8ee8 | 537 | |
253bfe49 | 538 | https://github.com/prati0100/git-gui.git |
e6da8ee8 | 539 | |
68ed71b5 | 540 | - `gitk-git/` comes from Paul Mackerras's gitk project: |
e6da8ee8 | 541 | |
b014cee8 JH |
542 | git://git.ozlabs.org/~paulus/gitk |
543 | ||
97509a34 ŠN |
544 | Those who are interested in improving gitk can volunteer to help Paul |
545 | maintain it, cf. <YntxL/fTplFm8lr6@cleo>. | |
e6da8ee8 | 546 | |
68ed71b5 | 547 | - `po/` comes from the localization coordinator, Jiang Xin: |
e6da8ee8 JH |
548 | |
549 | https://github.com/git-l10n/git-po/ | |
550 | ||
551 | Patches to these parts should be based on their trees. | |
552 | ||
049e64aa | 553 | [[patch-flow]] |
554 | == An ideal patch flow | |
a941fb4a JH |
555 | |
556 | Here is an ideal patch flow for this project the current maintainer | |
557 | suggests to the contributors: | |
558 | ||
049e64aa | 559 | . You come up with an itch. You code it up. |
a941fb4a | 560 | |
049e64aa | 561 | . Send it to the list and cc people who may need to know about |
562 | the change. | |
563 | + | |
564 | The people who may need to know are the ones whose code you | |
565 | are butchering. These people happen to be the ones who are | |
566 | most likely to be knowledgeable enough to help you, but | |
567 | they have no obligation to help you (i.e. you ask for help, | |
568 | don't demand). +git log -p {litdd} _$area_you_are_modifying_+ would | |
569 | help you find out who they are. | |
a941fb4a | 570 | |
049e64aa | 571 | . You get comments and suggestions for improvements. You may |
928f0ab4 | 572 | even get them in an "on top of your change" patch form. |
a941fb4a | 573 | |
049e64aa | 574 | . Polish, refine, and re-send to the list and the people who |
575 | spend their time to improve your patch. Go back to step (2). | |
a941fb4a | 576 | |
049e64aa | 577 | . The list forms consensus that the last round of your patch is |
578 | good. Send it to the maintainer and cc the list. | |
a941fb4a | 579 | |
049e64aa | 580 | . A topic branch is created with the patch and is merged to `next`, |
581 | and cooked further and eventually graduates to `master`. | |
a941fb4a JH |
582 | |
583 | In any time between the (2)-(3) cycle, the maintainer may pick it up | |
828197de | 584 | from the list and queue it to `seen`, in order to make it easier for |
97509a34 | 585 | people to play with it without having to pick up and apply the patch to |
a941fb4a JH |
586 | their trees themselves. |
587 | ||
049e64aa | 588 | [[patch-status]] |
589 | == Know the status of your patch after submission | |
63cb8215 MM |
590 | |
591 | * You can use Git itself to find out when your patch is merged in | |
049e64aa | 592 | master. `git pull --rebase` will automatically skip already-applied |
63cb8215 MM |
593 | patches, and will let you know. This works only if you rebase on top |
594 | of the branch in which your patch has been merged (i.e. it will not | |
828197de | 595 | tell you if your patch is merged in `seen` if you rebase on top of |
63cb8215 MM |
596 | master). |
597 | ||
2de9b711 | 598 | * Read the Git mailing list, the maintainer regularly posts messages |
12710629 | 599 | entitled "What's cooking in git.git" giving |
63cb8215 MM |
600 | the status of various proposed changes. |
601 | ||
edbd9f37 | 602 | == GitHub CI[[GHCI]] |
0e5d028a | 603 | |
f003a91f ÆAB |
604 | With an account at GitHub, you can use GitHub CI to test your changes |
605 | on Linux, Mac and Windows. See | |
606 | https://github.com/git/git/actions/workflows/main.yml for examples of | |
607 | recent CI runs. | |
0e5d028a LS |
608 | |
609 | Follow these steps for the initial setup: | |
610 | ||
049e64aa | 611 | . Fork https://github.com/git/git to your GitHub account. |
612 | You can find detailed instructions how to fork here: | |
613 | https://help.github.com/articles/fork-a-repo/ | |
0e5d028a | 614 | |
f003a91f | 615 | After the initial setup, CI will run whenever you push new changes |
0e5d028a | 616 | to your fork of Git on GitHub. You can monitor the test state of all your |
edbd9f37 | 617 | branches here: `https://github.com/<Your GitHub handle>/git/actions/workflows/main.yml` |
0e5d028a | 618 | |
0771a3b5 JS |
619 | If a branch does not pass all test cases then it will be marked with a |
620 | red +x+, instead of a green check. In that case, you can click on the | |
621 | failing job and navigate to "ci/run-build-and-tests.sh" and/or | |
622 | "ci/print-test-failures.sh". You can also download "Artifacts" which | |
78189516 JS |
623 | are zip archives containing tarred (or zipped) archives with test data |
624 | relevant for debugging. | |
f003a91f ÆAB |
625 | |
626 | Then fix the problem and push your fix to your GitHub fork. This will | |
627 | trigger a new CI build to ensure all tests pass. | |
0e5d028a | 628 | |
049e64aa | 629 | [[mua]] |
630 | == MUA specific hints | |
9740d289 | 631 | |
d0ea2ca1 | 632 | Some of the patches I receive or pick up from the list share common |
9740d289 | 633 | patterns of breakage. Please make sure your MUA is set up |
57756161 JN |
634 | properly not to corrupt whitespaces. |
635 | ||
049e64aa | 636 | See the DISCUSSION section of linkgit:git-format-patch[1] for hints on |
57756161 | 637 | checking your patch by mailing it to yourself and applying with |
049e64aa | 638 | linkgit:git-am[1]. |
57756161 JN |
639 | |
640 | While you are at it, check the resulting commit log message from | |
641 | a trial run of applying the patch. If what is in the resulting | |
642 | commit is not exactly what you would want to see, it is very | |
643 | likely that your maintainer would end up hand editing the log | |
644 | message when he applies your patch. Things like "Hi, this is my | |
645 | first patch.\n", if you really want to put in the patch e-mail, | |
646 | should come after the three-dash line that signals the end of the | |
647 | commit message. | |
9847f7e0 | 648 | |
9740d289 | 649 | |
049e64aa | 650 | === Pine |
9740d289 JH |
651 | |
652 | (Johannes Schindelin) | |
653 | ||
049e64aa | 654 | .... |
9740d289 JH |
655 | I don't know how many people still use pine, but for those poor |
656 | souls it may be good to mention that the quell-flowed-text is | |
657 | needed for recent versions. | |
658 | ||
659 | ... the "no-strip-whitespace-before-send" option, too. AFAIK it | |
660 | was introduced in 4.60. | |
049e64aa | 661 | .... |
9740d289 JH |
662 | |
663 | (Linus Torvalds) | |
664 | ||
049e64aa | 665 | .... |
9740d289 JH |
666 | And 4.58 needs at least this. |
667 | ||
9740d289 JH |
668 | diff-tree 8326dd8350be64ac7fc805f6563a1d61ad10d32c (from e886a61f76edf5410573e92e38ce22974f9c40f1) |
669 | Author: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@g5.osdl.org> | |
670 | Date: Mon Aug 15 17:23:51 2005 -0700 | |
671 | ||
672 | Fix pine whitespace-corruption bug | |
673 | ||
674 | There's no excuse for unconditionally removing whitespace from | |
675 | the pico buffers on close. | |
676 | ||
677 | diff --git a/pico/pico.c b/pico/pico.c | |
678 | --- a/pico/pico.c | |
679 | +++ b/pico/pico.c | |
680 | @@ -219,7 +219,9 @@ PICO *pm; | |
a6080a0a JH |
681 | switch(pico_all_done){ /* prepare for/handle final events */ |
682 | case COMP_EXIT : /* already confirmed */ | |
683 | packheader(); | |
9740d289 | 684 | +#if 0 |
a6080a0a | 685 | stripwhitespace(); |
9740d289 | 686 | +#endif |
a6080a0a JH |
687 | c |= COMP_EXIT; |
688 | break; | |
049e64aa | 689 | .... |
9740d289 | 690 | |
1eb446fa JH |
691 | (Daniel Barkalow) |
692 | ||
049e64aa | 693 | .... |
1eb446fa JH |
694 | > A patch to SubmittingPatches, MUA specific help section for |
695 | > users of Pine 4.63 would be very much appreciated. | |
696 | ||
697 | Ah, it looks like a recent version changed the default behavior to do the | |
698 | right thing, and inverted the sense of the configuration option. (Either | |
699 | that or Gentoo did it.) So you need to set the | |
700 | "no-strip-whitespace-before-send" option, unless the option you have is | |
701 | "strip-whitespace-before-send", in which case you should avoid checking | |
702 | it. | |
049e64aa | 703 | .... |
1eb446fa | 704 | |
049e64aa | 705 | === Thunderbird, KMail, GMail |
9740d289 | 706 | |
049e64aa | 707 | See the MUA-SPECIFIC HINTS section of linkgit:git-format-patch[1]. |
e30b217b | 708 | |
049e64aa | 709 | === Gnus |
e30b217b | 710 | |
049e64aa | 711 | "|" in the `*Summary*` buffer can be used to pipe the current |
e30b217b | 712 | message to an external program, and this is a handy way to drive |
049e64aa | 713 | `git am`. However, if the message is MIME encoded, what is |
e30b217b | 714 | piped into the program is the representation you see in your |
049e64aa | 715 | `*Article*` buffer after unwrapping MIME. This is often not what |
291873e5 | 716 | you would want for two reasons. It tends to screw up non-ASCII |
e30b217b | 717 | characters (most notably in people's names), and also |
049e64aa | 718 | whitespaces (fatal in patches). Running "C-u g" to display the |
719 | message in raw form before using "|" to run the pipe can work | |
e30b217b | 720 | this problem around. |