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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 | |
37f60407 JH |
49 | `master` but were not available in the released version). If the bug |
50 | exists in an older version (e.g., commit `X` introduced the bug, and | |
51 | `git describe --contains X` says `v2.30.0-rc2-gXXXXXX` has it), then | |
52 | use the tip of the maintenance branch for the 2.30.x versions in the | |
53 | `maint-2.30` branch in https://github.com/gitster/git[the maintainer's | |
54 | repo]. | |
0a02ca23 LA |
55 | |
56 | * Otherwise (such as if you are adding new features) use `master`. | |
57 | ||
58 | This also means that `next` or `seen` are inappropriate starting points | |
59 | for your work, if you want your work to have a realistic chance of | |
f835de52 JH |
60 | graduating to `master`. They are simply not designed to be used as a |
61 | base for new work; they are only there to make sure that topics in | |
62 | flight work well together. This is why both `next` and `seen` are | |
63 | frequently re-integrated with incoming patches on the mailing list and | |
64 | force-pushed to replace previous versions of themselves. A topic that is | |
65 | literally built on top of `next` cannot be merged to `master` without | |
66 | dragging in all the other topics in `next`, some of which may not be | |
67 | ready. | |
0a02ca23 LA |
68 | |
69 | For example, if you are making tree-wide changes, while somebody else is | |
70 | also making their own tree-wide changes, your work may have severe | |
71 | overlap with the other person's work. This situation may tempt you to | |
72 | use `next` as your starting point (because it would have the other | |
73 | person's work included in it), but doing so would mean you'll not only | |
74 | depend on the other person's work, but all the other random things from | |
75 | other contributors that are already integrated into `next`. And as soon | |
76 | as `next` is updated with a new version, all of your work will need to | |
77 | be rebased anyway in order for them to be cleanly applied by the | |
78 | maintainer. | |
79 | ||
80 | Under truly exceptional circumstances where you absolutely must depend | |
81 | on a select few topic branches that are already in `next` but not in | |
82 | `master`, you may want to create your own custom base-branch by forking | |
83 | `master` and merging the required topic branches to it. You could then | |
84 | work on top of this base-branch. But keep in mind that this base-branch | |
85 | would only be known privately to you. So when you are ready to send | |
86 | your patches to the list, be sure to communicate how you created it in | |
87 | your cover letter. This critical piece of information would allow | |
88 | others to recreate your base-branch on their end in order for them to | |
89 | try out your work. | |
31408251 | 90 | |
3423e372 LA |
91 | Finally, note that some parts of the system have dedicated maintainers |
92 | with their own separate source code repositories (see the section | |
93 | "Subsystems" below). | |
94 | ||
049e64aa | 95 | [[separate-commits]] |
96 | === Make separate commits for logically separate changes. | |
31408251 JH |
97 | |
98 | Unless your patch is really trivial, you should not be sending | |
99 | out a patch that was generated between your working tree and | |
100 | your commit head. Instead, always make a commit with complete | |
101 | commit message and generate a series of patches from your | |
102 | repository. It is a good discipline. | |
103 | ||
d0f7dcbf JH |
104 | Give an explanation for the change(s) that is detailed enough so |
105 | that people can judge if it is good thing to do, without reading | |
106 | the actual patch text to determine how well the code does what | |
107 | the explanation promises to do. | |
31408251 | 108 | |
45d2b286 | 109 | If your description starts to get too long, that's a sign that you |
31408251 | 110 | probably need to split up your commit to finer grained pieces. |
47afed5d SV |
111 | That being said, patches which plainly describe the things that |
112 | help reviewers check the patch, and future maintainers understand | |
01e60a9a | 113 | the code, are the most beautiful patches. Descriptions that summarize |
47afed5d SV |
114 | the point in the subject well, and describe the motivation for the |
115 | change, the approach taken by the change, and if relevant how this | |
d0f7dcbf JH |
116 | differs substantially from the prior version, are all good things |
117 | to have. | |
31408251 | 118 | |
54cc5d29 | 119 | Make sure that you have tests for the bug you are fixing. See |
049e64aa | 120 | `t/README` for guidance. |
7d5bf87b | 121 | |
049e64aa | 122 | [[tests]] |
7d5bf87b | 123 | When adding a new feature, make sure that you have new tests to show |
0e5d028a | 124 | the feature triggers the new behavior when it should, and to show the |
fdfae830 JH |
125 | feature does not trigger when it shouldn't. After any code change, |
126 | make sure that the entire test suite passes. When fixing a bug, make | |
127 | sure you have new tests that break if somebody else breaks what you | |
128 | fixed by accident to avoid regression. Also, try merging your work to | |
129 | 'next' and 'seen' and make sure the tests still pass; topics by others | |
130 | that are still in flight may have unexpected interactions with what | |
131 | you are trying to do in your topic. | |
0e5d028a | 132 | |
f003a91f ÆAB |
133 | Pushing to a fork of https://github.com/git/git will use their CI |
134 | integration to test your changes on Linux, Mac and Windows. See the | |
135 | <<GHCI,GitHub CI>> section for details. | |
0e5d028a LS |
136 | |
137 | Do not forget to update the documentation to describe the updated | |
138 | behavior and make sure that the resulting documentation set formats | |
7a76f5c6 JK |
139 | well (try the Documentation/doc-diff script). |
140 | ||
141 | We currently have a liberal mixture of US and UK English norms for | |
0e5d028a LS |
142 | spelling and grammar, which is somewhat unfortunate. A huge patch that |
143 | touches the files all over the place only to correct the inconsistency | |
144 | is not welcome, though. Potential clashes with other changes that can | |
145 | result from such a patch are not worth it. We prefer to gradually | |
146 | reconcile the inconsistencies in favor of US English, with small and | |
147 | easily digestible patches, as a side effect of doing some other real | |
148 | work in the vicinity (e.g. rewriting a paragraph for clarity, while | |
149 | turning en_UK spelling to en_US). Obvious typographical fixes are much | |
150 | more welcomed ("teh -> "the"), preferably submitted as independent | |
151 | patches separate from other documentation changes. | |
42e0fae9 | 152 | |
049e64aa | 153 | [[whitespace-check]] |
42e0fae9 | 154 | Oh, another thing. We are picky about whitespaces. Make sure your |
45d2b286 | 155 | changes do not trigger errors with the sample pre-commit hook shipped |
049e64aa | 156 | in `templates/hooks--pre-commit`. To help ensure this does not happen, |
157 | run `git diff --check` on your changes before you commit. | |
31408251 | 158 | |
049e64aa | 159 | [[describe-changes]] |
160 | === Describe your changes well. | |
7d5bf87b | 161 | |
cdba0295 JH |
162 | The log message that explains your changes is just as important as the |
163 | changes themselves. Your code may be clearly written with in-code | |
164 | comment to sufficiently explain how it works with the surrounding | |
165 | code, but those who need to fix or enhance your code in the future | |
166 | will need to know _why_ your code does what it does, for a few | |
167 | reasons: | |
168 | ||
169 | . Your code may be doing something differently from what you wanted it | |
170 | to do. Writing down what you actually wanted to achieve will help | |
171 | them fix your code and make it do what it should have been doing | |
172 | (also, you often discover your own bugs yourself, while writing the | |
173 | log message to summarize the thought behind it). | |
174 | ||
175 | . Your code may be doing things that were only necessary for your | |
176 | immediate needs (e.g. "do X to directories" without implementing or | |
177 | even designing what is to be done on files). Writing down why you | |
178 | excluded what the code does not do will help guide future developers. | |
179 | Writing down "we do X to directories, because directories have | |
180 | characteristic Y" would help them infer "oh, files also have the same | |
181 | characteristic Y, so perhaps doing X to them would also make sense?". | |
182 | Saying "we don't do the same X to files, because ..." will help them | |
183 | decide if the reasoning is sound (in which case they do not waste | |
184 | time extending your code to cover files), or reason differently (in | |
185 | which case, they can explain why they extend your code to cover | |
186 | files, too). | |
187 | ||
188 | The goal of your log message is to convey the _why_ behind your | |
189 | change to help future developers. | |
190 | ||
7d5bf87b | 191 | The first line of the commit message should be a short description (50 |
049e64aa | 192 | characters is the soft limit, see DISCUSSION in linkgit:git-commit[1]), |
193 | and should skip the full stop. It is also conventional in most cases to | |
7d5bf87b JH |
194 | prefix the first line with "area: " where the area is a filename or |
195 | identifier for the general area of the code being modified, e.g. | |
196 | ||
049e64aa | 197 | * doc: clarify distinction between sign-off and pgp-signing |
198 | * githooks.txt: improve the intro section | |
7d5bf87b | 199 | |
049e64aa | 200 | If in doubt which identifier to use, run `git log --no-merges` on the |
7d5bf87b JH |
201 | files you are modifying to see the current conventions. |
202 | ||
049e64aa | 203 | [[summary-section]] |
151b6c2d | 204 | The title sentence after the "area:" prefix omits the full stop at the |
3991bb73 JH |
205 | end, and its first word is not capitalized (the omission |
206 | of capitalization applies only to the word after the "area:" | |
207 | prefix of the title) unless there is a reason to | |
151b6c2d JH |
208 | capitalize it other than because it is the first word in the sentence. |
209 | E.g. "doc: clarify...", not "doc: Clarify...", or "githooks.txt: | |
210 | improve...", not "githooks.txt: Improve...". But "refs: HEAD is also | |
211 | treated as a ref" is correct, as we spell `HEAD` in all caps even when | |
212 | it appears in the middle of a sentence. | |
2ee00567 | 213 | |
049e64aa | 214 | [[meaningful-message]] |
7d5bf87b JH |
215 | The body should provide a meaningful commit message, which: |
216 | ||
049e64aa | 217 | . explains the problem the change tries to solve, i.e. what is wrong |
218 | with the current code without the change. | |
7d5bf87b | 219 | |
049e64aa | 220 | . justifies the way the change solves the problem, i.e. why the |
221 | result with the change is better. | |
7d5bf87b | 222 | |
049e64aa | 223 | . alternate solutions considered but discarded, if any. |
7d5bf87b | 224 | |
fa1101af JH |
225 | [[present-tense]] |
226 | The problem statement that describes the status quo is written in the | |
227 | present tense. Write "The code does X when it is given input Y", | |
228 | instead of "The code used to do Y when given input X". You do not | |
229 | have to say "Currently"---the status quo in the problem statement is | |
230 | about the code _without_ your change, by project convention. | |
231 | ||
049e64aa | 232 | [[imperative-mood]] |
7d5bf87b JH |
233 | Describe your changes in imperative mood, e.g. "make xyzzy do frotz" |
234 | instead of "[This patch] makes xyzzy do frotz" or "[I] changed xyzzy | |
235 | to do frotz", as if you are giving orders to the codebase to change | |
01e60a9a | 236 | its behavior. Try to make sure your explanation can be understood |
7d5bf87b JH |
237 | without external resources. Instead of giving a URL to a mailing list |
238 | archive, summarize the relevant points of the discussion. | |
239 | ||
049e64aa | 240 | [[commit-reference]] |
fdfae830 JH |
241 | |
242 | There are a few reasons why you may want to refer to another commit in | |
243 | the "more stable" part of the history (i.e. on branches like `maint`, | |
244 | `master`, and `next`): | |
245 | ||
246 | . A commit that introduced the root cause of a bug you are fixing. | |
247 | ||
248 | . A commit that introduced a feature that you are enhancing. | |
249 | ||
250 | . A commit that conflicts with your work when you made a trial merge | |
251 | of your work into `next` and `seen` for testing. | |
252 | ||
253 | When you reference a commit on a more stable branch (like `master`, | |
254 | `maint` and `next`), use the format "abbreviated hash (subject, | |
255 | date)", like this: | |
4369523b | 256 | |
049e64aa | 257 | .... |
fb2ffa77 | 258 | Commit f86a374 (pack-bitmap.c: fix a memleak, 2015-03-30) |
049e64aa | 259 | noticed that ... |
260 | .... | |
4369523b BB |
261 | |
262 | The "Copy commit summary" command of gitk can be used to obtain this | |
fb2ffa77 DL |
263 | format (with the subject enclosed in a pair of double-quotes), or this |
264 | invocation of `git show`: | |
175d38ca | 265 | |
049e64aa | 266 | .... |
3798149a DL |
267 | git show -s --pretty=reference <commit> |
268 | .... | |
269 | ||
270 | or, on an older version of Git without support for --pretty=reference: | |
271 | ||
049e64aa | 272 | .... |
fb2ffa77 | 273 | git show -s --date=short --pretty='format:%h (%s, %ad)' <commit> |
049e64aa | 274 | .... |
7d5bf87b | 275 | |
4523dc86 ÆAB |
276 | [[sign-off]] |
277 | === Certify your work by adding your `Signed-off-by` trailer | |
278 | ||
279 | To improve tracking of who did what, we ask you to certify that you | |
280 | wrote the patch or have the right to pass it on under the same license | |
281 | as ours, by "signing off" your patch. Without sign-off, we cannot | |
282 | accept your patches. | |
283 | ||
284 | If (and only if) you certify the below D-C-O: | |
285 | ||
286 | [[dco]] | |
287 | .Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1 | |
288 | ____ | |
289 | By making a contribution to this project, I certify that: | |
290 | ||
291 | a. The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I | |
292 | have the right to submit it under the open source license | |
293 | indicated in the file; or | |
294 | ||
295 | b. The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best | |
296 | of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source | |
297 | license and I have the right under that license to submit that | |
298 | work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part | |
299 | by me, under the same open source license (unless I am | |
300 | permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated | |
301 | in the file; or | |
302 | ||
303 | c. The contribution was provided directly to me by some other | |
304 | person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified | |
305 | it. | |
306 | ||
307 | d. I understand and agree that this project and the contribution | |
308 | are public and that a record of the contribution (including all | |
309 | personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is | |
310 | maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with | |
311 | this project or the open source license(s) involved. | |
312 | ____ | |
313 | ||
314 | you add a "Signed-off-by" trailer to your commit, that looks like | |
315 | this: | |
316 | ||
317 | .... | |
318 | Signed-off-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.example.org> | |
319 | .... | |
320 | ||
321 | This line can be added by Git if you run the git-commit command with | |
322 | the -s option. | |
323 | ||
324 | Notice that you can place your own `Signed-off-by` trailer when | |
325 | forwarding somebody else's patch with the above rules for | |
326 | D-C-O. Indeed you are encouraged to do so. Do not forget to | |
327 | place an in-body "From: " line at the beginning to properly attribute | |
328 | the change to its true author (see (2) above). | |
329 | ||
330 | This procedure originally came from the Linux kernel project, so our | |
331 | rule is quite similar to theirs, but what exactly it means to sign-off | |
332 | your patch differs from project to project, so it may be different | |
333 | from that of the project you are accustomed to. | |
334 | ||
335 | [[real-name]] | |
336 | Also notice that a real name is used in the `Signed-off-by` trailer. Please | |
337 | don't hide your real name. | |
338 | ||
339 | [[commit-trailers]] | |
340 | If you like, you can put extra tags at the end: | |
341 | ||
342 | . `Reported-by:` is used to credit someone who found the bug that | |
343 | the patch attempts to fix. | |
344 | . `Acked-by:` says that the person who is more familiar with the area | |
345 | the patch attempts to modify liked the patch. | |
346 | . `Reviewed-by:`, unlike the other tags, can only be offered by the | |
347 | reviewers themselves when they are completely satisfied with the | |
348 | patch after a detailed analysis. | |
349 | . `Tested-by:` is used to indicate that the person applied the patch | |
350 | and found it to have the desired effect. | |
351 | ||
352 | You can also create your own tag or use one that's in common usage | |
353 | such as "Thanks-to:", "Based-on-patch-by:", or "Mentored-by:". | |
354 | ||
049e64aa | 355 | [[git-tools]] |
356 | === Generate your patch using Git tools out of your commits. | |
45d2b286 | 357 | |
2de9b711 | 358 | Git based diff tools generate unidiff which is the preferred format. |
45d2b286 | 359 | |
049e64aa | 360 | You do not have to be afraid to use `-M` option to `git diff` or |
361 | `git format-patch`, if your patch involves file renames. The | |
31408251 JH |
362 | receiving end can handle them just fine. |
363 | ||
049e64aa | 364 | [[review-patch]] |
7d5bf87b JH |
365 | Please make sure your patch does not add commented out debugging code, |
366 | or include any extra files which do not relate to what your patch | |
367 | is trying to achieve. Make sure to review | |
31408251 | 368 | your patch after generating it, to ensure accuracy. Before |
b5dbfe28 | 369 | sending out, please make sure it cleanly applies to the starting point you |
5c98149c LA |
370 | have chosen in the "Choose a starting point" section. |
371 | ||
372 | NOTE: From the perspective of those reviewing your patch, the `master` | |
373 | branch is the default expected starting point. So if you have chosen a | |
374 | different starting point, please communicate this choice in your cover | |
375 | letter. | |
fdfae830 | 376 | |
31408251 | 377 | |
049e64aa | 378 | [[send-patches]] |
379 | === Sending your patches. | |
31408251 | 380 | |
2a00502b TG |
381 | :security-ml: footnoteref:[security-ml,The Git Security mailing list: git-security@googlegroups.com] |
382 | ||
383 | Before sending any patches, please note that patches that may be | |
384 | security relevant should be submitted privately to the Git Security | |
385 | mailing list{security-ml}, instead of the public mailing list. | |
386 | ||
b25c4699 JH |
387 | Learn to use format-patch and send-email if possible. These commands |
388 | are optimized for the workflow of sending patches, avoiding many ways | |
389 | your existing e-mail client that is optimized for "multipart/*" mime | |
390 | type e-mails to corrupt and render your patches unusable. | |
391 | ||
2de9b711 | 392 | People on the Git mailing list need to be able to read and |
31408251 JH |
393 | comment on the changes you are submitting. It is important for |
394 | a developer to be able to "quote" your changes, using standard | |
395 | e-mail tools, so that they may comment on specific portions of | |
eaa6c987 RS |
396 | your code. For this reason, each patch should be submitted |
397 | "inline" in a separate message. | |
398 | ||
399 | Multiple related patches should be grouped into their own e-mail | |
400 | thread to help readers find all parts of the series. To that end, | |
401 | send them as replies to either an additional "cover letter" message | |
402 | (see below), the first patch, or the respective preceding patch. | |
403 | ||
404 | If your log message (including your name on the | |
3abd4a67 | 405 | `Signed-off-by` trailer) is not writable in ASCII, make sure that |
7d5bf87b JH |
406 | you send off a message in the correct encoding. |
407 | ||
408 | WARNING: Be wary of your MUAs word-wrap | |
45d2b286 JH |
409 | corrupting your patch. Do not cut-n-paste your patch; you can |
410 | lose tabs that way if you are not careful. | |
31408251 | 411 | |
45d2b286 | 412 | It is a common convention to prefix your subject line with |
31408251 | 413 | [PATCH]. This lets people easily distinguish patches from other |
f6be7edc AD |
414 | e-mail discussions. Use of markers in addition to PATCH within |
415 | the brackets to describe the nature of the patch is also | |
416 | encouraged. E.g. [RFC PATCH] (where RFC stands for "request for | |
417 | comments") is often used to indicate a patch needs further | |
418 | discussion before being accepted, [PATCH v2], [PATCH v3] etc. | |
419 | are often seen when you are sending an update to what you have | |
420 | previously sent. | |
421 | ||
1a5f2e44 | 422 | The `git format-patch` command follows the best current practice to |
31408251 JH |
423 | format the body of an e-mail message. At the beginning of the |
424 | patch should come your commit message, ending with the | |
3abd4a67 | 425 | `Signed-off-by` trailers, and a line that consists of three dashes, |
31408251 JH |
426 | followed by the diffstat information and the patch itself. If |
427 | you are forwarding a patch from somebody else, optionally, at | |
428 | the beginning of the e-mail message just before the commit | |
429 | message starts, you can put a "From: " line to name that person. | |
f6be7edc AD |
430 | To change the default "[PATCH]" in the subject to "[<text>]", use |
431 | `git format-patch --subject-prefix=<text>`. As a shortcut, you | |
432 | can use `--rfc` instead of `--subject-prefix="RFC PATCH"`, or | |
433 | `-v <n>` instead of `--subject-prefix="PATCH v<n>"`. | |
31408251 JH |
434 | |
435 | You often want to add additional explanation about the patch, | |
436 | other than the commit message itself. Place such "cover letter" | |
86010993 ES |
437 | material between the three-dash line and the diffstat. For |
438 | patches requiring multiple iterations of review and discussion, | |
439 | an explanation of changes between each iteration can be kept in | |
440 | Git-notes and inserted automatically following the three-dash | |
441 | line via `git format-patch --notes`. | |
31408251 | 442 | |
049e64aa | 443 | [[attachment]] |
31408251 | 444 | Do not attach the patch as a MIME attachment, compressed or not. |
e30b217b JH |
445 | Do not let your e-mail client send quoted-printable. Do not let |
446 | your e-mail client send format=flowed which would destroy | |
447 | whitespaces in your patches. Many | |
31408251 JH |
448 | popular e-mail applications will not always transmit a MIME |
449 | attachment as plain text, making it impossible to comment on | |
450 | your code. A MIME attachment also takes a bit more time to | |
451 | process. This does not decrease the likelihood of your | |
452 | MIME-attached change being accepted, but it makes it more likely | |
453 | that it will be postponed. | |
454 | ||
455 | Exception: If your mailer is mangling patches then someone may ask | |
9847f7e0 | 456 | you to re-send them using MIME, that is OK. |
31408251 | 457 | |
049e64aa | 458 | [[pgp-signature]] |
eafd5d94 CW |
459 | Do not PGP sign your patch. Most likely, your maintainer or other people on the |
460 | list would not have your PGP key and would not bother obtaining it anyway. | |
461 | Your patch is not judged by who you are; a good patch from an unknown origin | |
462 | has a far better chance of being accepted than a patch from a known, respected | |
463 | origin that is done poorly or does incorrect things. | |
9847f7e0 JH |
464 | |
465 | If you really really really really want to do a PGP signed | |
466 | patch, format it as "multipart/signed", not a text/plain message | |
049e64aa | 467 | that starts with `-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----`. That is |
9847f7e0 JH |
468 | not a text/plain, it's something else. |
469 | ||
2a00502b TG |
470 | :security-ml-ref: footnoteref:[security-ml] |
471 | ||
472 | As mentioned at the beginning of the section, patches that may be | |
473 | security relevant should not be submitted to the public mailing list | |
474 | mentioned below, but should instead be sent privately to the Git | |
475 | Security mailing list{security-ml-ref}. | |
476 | ||
7d5bf87b | 477 | Send your patch with "To:" set to the mailing list, with "cc:" listing |
92a5dbbc TG |
478 | people who are involved in the area you are touching (the `git |
479 | contacts` command in `contrib/contacts/` can help to | |
fdfae830 JH |
480 | identify them), to solicit comments and reviews. Also, when you made |
481 | trial merges of your topic to `next` and `seen`, you may have noticed | |
482 | work by others conflicting with your changes. There is a good possibility | |
483 | that these people may know the area you are touching well. | |
04d24455 | 484 | |
a27cd1ab TG |
485 | :current-maintainer: footnote:[The current maintainer: gitster@pobox.com] |
486 | :git-ml: footnote:[The mailing list: git@vger.kernel.org] | |
049e64aa | 487 | |
7d5bf87b | 488 | After the list reached a consensus that it is a good idea to apply the |
d95b192e JH |
489 | patch, re-send it with "To:" set to the maintainer{current-maintainer} |
490 | and "cc:" the list{git-ml} for inclusion. This is especially relevant | |
491 | when the maintainer did not heavily participate in the discussion and | |
492 | instead left the review to trusted others. | |
31408251 | 493 | |
049e64aa | 494 | Do not forget to add trailers such as `Acked-by:`, `Reviewed-by:` and |
495 | `Tested-by:` lines as necessary to credit people who helped your | |
d95b192e | 496 | patch, and "cc:" them when sending such a final version for inclusion. |
04d24455 | 497 | |
049e64aa | 498 | == Subsystems with dedicated maintainers |
e6da8ee8 JH |
499 | |
500 | Some parts of the system have dedicated maintainers with their own | |
501 | repositories. | |
502 | ||
253bfe49 | 503 | - `git-gui/` comes from git-gui project, maintained by Pratyush Yadav: |
e6da8ee8 | 504 | |
253bfe49 | 505 | https://github.com/prati0100/git-gui.git |
e6da8ee8 | 506 | |
68ed71b5 | 507 | - `gitk-git/` comes from Paul Mackerras's gitk project: |
e6da8ee8 | 508 | |
b014cee8 JH |
509 | git://git.ozlabs.org/~paulus/gitk |
510 | ||
511 | Those who are interested in improve gitk can volunteer to help Paul | |
512 | in maintaining it cf. <YntxL/fTplFm8lr6@cleo>. | |
e6da8ee8 | 513 | |
68ed71b5 | 514 | - `po/` comes from the localization coordinator, Jiang Xin: |
e6da8ee8 JH |
515 | |
516 | https://github.com/git-l10n/git-po/ | |
517 | ||
518 | Patches to these parts should be based on their trees. | |
519 | ||
049e64aa | 520 | [[patch-flow]] |
521 | == An ideal patch flow | |
a941fb4a JH |
522 | |
523 | Here is an ideal patch flow for this project the current maintainer | |
524 | suggests to the contributors: | |
525 | ||
049e64aa | 526 | . You come up with an itch. You code it up. |
a941fb4a | 527 | |
049e64aa | 528 | . Send it to the list and cc people who may need to know about |
529 | the change. | |
530 | + | |
531 | The people who may need to know are the ones whose code you | |
532 | are butchering. These people happen to be the ones who are | |
533 | most likely to be knowledgeable enough to help you, but | |
534 | they have no obligation to help you (i.e. you ask for help, | |
535 | don't demand). +git log -p {litdd} _$area_you_are_modifying_+ would | |
536 | help you find out who they are. | |
a941fb4a | 537 | |
049e64aa | 538 | . You get comments and suggestions for improvements. You may |
928f0ab4 | 539 | even get them in an "on top of your change" patch form. |
a941fb4a | 540 | |
049e64aa | 541 | . Polish, refine, and re-send to the list and the people who |
542 | spend their time to improve your patch. Go back to step (2). | |
a941fb4a | 543 | |
049e64aa | 544 | . The list forms consensus that the last round of your patch is |
545 | good. Send it to the maintainer and cc the list. | |
a941fb4a | 546 | |
049e64aa | 547 | . A topic branch is created with the patch and is merged to `next`, |
548 | and cooked further and eventually graduates to `master`. | |
a941fb4a JH |
549 | |
550 | In any time between the (2)-(3) cycle, the maintainer may pick it up | |
828197de | 551 | from the list and queue it to `seen`, in order to make it easier for |
a941fb4a JH |
552 | people play with it without having to pick up and apply the patch to |
553 | their trees themselves. | |
554 | ||
049e64aa | 555 | [[patch-status]] |
556 | == Know the status of your patch after submission | |
63cb8215 MM |
557 | |
558 | * You can use Git itself to find out when your patch is merged in | |
049e64aa | 559 | master. `git pull --rebase` will automatically skip already-applied |
63cb8215 MM |
560 | patches, and will let you know. This works only if you rebase on top |
561 | of the branch in which your patch has been merged (i.e. it will not | |
828197de | 562 | tell you if your patch is merged in `seen` if you rebase on top of |
63cb8215 MM |
563 | master). |
564 | ||
2de9b711 | 565 | * Read the Git mailing list, the maintainer regularly posts messages |
63cb8215 MM |
566 | entitled "What's cooking in git.git" and "What's in git.git" giving |
567 | the status of various proposed changes. | |
568 | ||
edbd9f37 | 569 | == GitHub CI[[GHCI]] |
0e5d028a | 570 | |
f003a91f ÆAB |
571 | With an account at GitHub, you can use GitHub CI to test your changes |
572 | on Linux, Mac and Windows. See | |
573 | https://github.com/git/git/actions/workflows/main.yml for examples of | |
574 | recent CI runs. | |
0e5d028a LS |
575 | |
576 | Follow these steps for the initial setup: | |
577 | ||
049e64aa | 578 | . Fork https://github.com/git/git to your GitHub account. |
579 | You can find detailed instructions how to fork here: | |
580 | https://help.github.com/articles/fork-a-repo/ | |
0e5d028a | 581 | |
f003a91f | 582 | After the initial setup, CI will run whenever you push new changes |
0e5d028a | 583 | to your fork of Git on GitHub. You can monitor the test state of all your |
edbd9f37 | 584 | branches here: `https://github.com/<Your GitHub handle>/git/actions/workflows/main.yml` |
0e5d028a LS |
585 | |
586 | If a branch did not pass all test cases then it is marked with a red | |
f003a91f ÆAB |
587 | cross. In that case you can click on the failing job and navigate to |
588 | "ci/run-build-and-tests.sh" and/or "ci/print-test-failures.sh". You | |
589 | can also download "Artifacts" which are tarred (or zipped) archives | |
590 | with test data relevant for debugging. | |
591 | ||
592 | Then fix the problem and push your fix to your GitHub fork. This will | |
593 | trigger a new CI build to ensure all tests pass. | |
0e5d028a | 594 | |
049e64aa | 595 | [[mua]] |
596 | == MUA specific hints | |
9740d289 | 597 | |
d0ea2ca1 | 598 | Some of the patches I receive or pick up from the list share common |
9740d289 | 599 | patterns of breakage. Please make sure your MUA is set up |
57756161 JN |
600 | properly not to corrupt whitespaces. |
601 | ||
049e64aa | 602 | See the DISCUSSION section of linkgit:git-format-patch[1] for hints on |
57756161 | 603 | checking your patch by mailing it to yourself and applying with |
049e64aa | 604 | linkgit:git-am[1]. |
57756161 JN |
605 | |
606 | While you are at it, check the resulting commit log message from | |
607 | a trial run of applying the patch. If what is in the resulting | |
608 | commit is not exactly what you would want to see, it is very | |
609 | likely that your maintainer would end up hand editing the log | |
610 | message when he applies your patch. Things like "Hi, this is my | |
611 | first patch.\n", if you really want to put in the patch e-mail, | |
612 | should come after the three-dash line that signals the end of the | |
613 | commit message. | |
9847f7e0 | 614 | |
9740d289 | 615 | |
049e64aa | 616 | === Pine |
9740d289 JH |
617 | |
618 | (Johannes Schindelin) | |
619 | ||
049e64aa | 620 | .... |
9740d289 JH |
621 | I don't know how many people still use pine, but for those poor |
622 | souls it may be good to mention that the quell-flowed-text is | |
623 | needed for recent versions. | |
624 | ||
625 | ... the "no-strip-whitespace-before-send" option, too. AFAIK it | |
626 | was introduced in 4.60. | |
049e64aa | 627 | .... |
9740d289 JH |
628 | |
629 | (Linus Torvalds) | |
630 | ||
049e64aa | 631 | .... |
9740d289 JH |
632 | And 4.58 needs at least this. |
633 | ||
9740d289 JH |
634 | diff-tree 8326dd8350be64ac7fc805f6563a1d61ad10d32c (from e886a61f76edf5410573e92e38ce22974f9c40f1) |
635 | Author: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@g5.osdl.org> | |
636 | Date: Mon Aug 15 17:23:51 2005 -0700 | |
637 | ||
638 | Fix pine whitespace-corruption bug | |
639 | ||
640 | There's no excuse for unconditionally removing whitespace from | |
641 | the pico buffers on close. | |
642 | ||
643 | diff --git a/pico/pico.c b/pico/pico.c | |
644 | --- a/pico/pico.c | |
645 | +++ b/pico/pico.c | |
646 | @@ -219,7 +219,9 @@ PICO *pm; | |
a6080a0a JH |
647 | switch(pico_all_done){ /* prepare for/handle final events */ |
648 | case COMP_EXIT : /* already confirmed */ | |
649 | packheader(); | |
9740d289 | 650 | +#if 0 |
a6080a0a | 651 | stripwhitespace(); |
9740d289 | 652 | +#endif |
a6080a0a JH |
653 | c |= COMP_EXIT; |
654 | break; | |
049e64aa | 655 | .... |
9740d289 | 656 | |
1eb446fa JH |
657 | (Daniel Barkalow) |
658 | ||
049e64aa | 659 | .... |
1eb446fa JH |
660 | > A patch to SubmittingPatches, MUA specific help section for |
661 | > users of Pine 4.63 would be very much appreciated. | |
662 | ||
663 | Ah, it looks like a recent version changed the default behavior to do the | |
664 | right thing, and inverted the sense of the configuration option. (Either | |
665 | that or Gentoo did it.) So you need to set the | |
666 | "no-strip-whitespace-before-send" option, unless the option you have is | |
667 | "strip-whitespace-before-send", in which case you should avoid checking | |
668 | it. | |
049e64aa | 669 | .... |
1eb446fa | 670 | |
049e64aa | 671 | === Thunderbird, KMail, GMail |
9740d289 | 672 | |
049e64aa | 673 | See the MUA-SPECIFIC HINTS section of linkgit:git-format-patch[1]. |
e30b217b | 674 | |
049e64aa | 675 | === Gnus |
e30b217b | 676 | |
049e64aa | 677 | "|" in the `*Summary*` buffer can be used to pipe the current |
e30b217b | 678 | message to an external program, and this is a handy way to drive |
049e64aa | 679 | `git am`. However, if the message is MIME encoded, what is |
e30b217b | 680 | piped into the program is the representation you see in your |
049e64aa | 681 | `*Article*` buffer after unwrapping MIME. This is often not what |
e30b217b JH |
682 | you would want for two reasons. It tends to screw up non ASCII |
683 | characters (most notably in people's names), and also | |
049e64aa | 684 | whitespaces (fatal in patches). Running "C-u g" to display the |
685 | message in raw form before using "|" to run the pipe can work | |
e30b217b | 686 | this problem around. |