commit cf83ac1fe8b9529d328779e121aba96e96069a82
parent 7a1269bd688df74a8bd8f46d0dd83e0c0a5b7002
Author: William Casarin <jb55@jb55.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2023 15:52:13 -0700
docs: add patch submission guidelines
Diffstat:
2 files changed, 397 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -108,19 +108,9 @@ We have a few mailing lists that anyone can join to get involved in damus develo
[product-list]: https://damus.io/list/product
[design-list]: https://damus.io/list/design
-### Code
+### Contributing
-[Email patches][git-send-email] to patches@damus.io are preferred, but I accept PRs on GitHub as well. Patches sent via email may include a bolt11 lightning invoice, choosing the price you think the patch is worth, and I will pay it once the patch is accepted and if I think the price isn't unreasonable. You can also send an any-amount invoice and I will pay what I think it's worth if you prefer not to choose. You can include the bolt11 in the commit body or email so that it can be paid once it is applied.
-
-Recommended settings when submitting code via email:
-
-```
-$ git config sendemail.to "patches@damus.io"
-$ git config format.subjectPrefix "PATCH damus"
-$ git config format.signOff yes
-```
-
-[git-send-email]: http://git-send-email.io
+See [docs/CONTRIBUTING.md](./docs/CONTRIBUTING.md)
### Privacy
Your internet protocol (IP) address is exposed to the relays you connect to, and third party media hosters (e.g. nostr.build, imgur.com, giphy.com, youtube.com etc.) that render on Damus. If you want to improve your privacy, consider utilizing a service that masks your IP address (e.g. a VPN) from trackers online.
diff --git a/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md b/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,395 @@
+# Contributing
+
+You can use github PRs to submit code but it is not encouraged. Damus is
+a decentralized social media protocol and we prefer to use decentralized
+techniques during the code submission process.
+
+[Email patches][git-send-email] to patches@damus.io are preferred, but we
+accept PRs on GitHub as well. Patches sent via email may include a bolt11
+lightning invoice, choosing the price you think the patch is worth, and
+we will pay it once the patch is accepted and if I think the price isn't
+unreasonable. You can also send an any-amount invoice and I will pay what
+I think it's worth if you prefer not to choose. You can include the
+bolt11 in the commit body or email so that it can be paid once it is
+applied.
+
+Recommended settings when submitting code via email:
+
+```
+$ git config sendemail.to "patches@damus.io"
+$ git config format.subjectPrefix "PATCH damus"
+$ git config format.signOff yes
+```
+
+You can subscribe to the [patches mailing list][patches-ml] to help review code.
+
+## Submitting patches
+
+*Most of this comes from the linux kernel guidelines for submitting
+patches, we follow many of the same guidelines. These are very important!
+If you want your code to be accepted, please read this carefully*
+
+Describe your problem. Whether your patch is a one-line bug fix or
+5000 lines of a new feature, there must be an underlying problem that
+motivated you to do this work. Convince the reviewer that there is a
+problem worth fixing and that it makes sense for them to read past the
+first paragraph.
+
+Once the problem is established, describe what you are actually doing
+about it in technical detail. It's important to describe the change
+in plain English for the reviewer to verify that the code is behaving
+as you intend it to.
+
+The maintainer will thank you if you write your patch description in a
+form which can be easily pulled into Damus's source code tree.
+
+**Solve only one problem per patch**. If your description starts to get
+long, that's a sign that you probably need to split up your patch. See
+the dedicated `Separate your changes` section because this is very
+important.
+
+When you submit or resubmit a patch or patch series, include the complete
+patch description and justification for it (-v2,v3,vn... option on
+git-send-email). Don't just say that this is version N of the patch
+(series). Don't expect the reviewer to refer back to earlier patch
+versions or referenced URLs to find the patch description and put that
+into the patch. I.e., the patch (series) and its description should be
+self-contained. This benefits both the maintainers and reviewers. Some
+reviewers probably didn't even receive earlier versions of the patch.
+
+Describe your changes in imperative mood, e.g. "make xyzzy do frotz"
+instead of "[This patch] makes xyzzy do frotz" or "[I] changed xyzzy
+to do frotz", as if you are giving orders to the codebase to change
+its behaviour.
+
+If your patch fixes a bug, use the 'Closes:' tag with a URL referencing
+the report in the mailing list archives or a public bug tracker. For
+example:
+
+ Closes: https://github.com/damus-io/damus/issues/1234
+
+Some bug trackers have the ability to close issues automatically when a
+commit with such a tag is applied. Some bots monitoring mailing lists can
+also track such tags and take certain actions. Private bug trackers and
+invalid URLs are forbidden.
+
+If your patch fixes a bug in a specific commit, e.g. you found an issue using
+``git bisect``, please use the 'Fixes:' tag with the first 12 characters of
+the SHA-1 ID, and the one line summary. Do not split the tag across multiple
+lines, tags are exempt from the "wrap at 75 columns" rule in order to simplify
+parsing scripts. For example::
+
+ Fixes: 54a4f0239f2e ("Fix crash in navigation")
+
+The following ``git config`` settings can be used to add a pretty format for
+outputting the above style in the ``git log`` or ``git show`` commands::
+
+ [core]
+ abbrev = 12
+ [pretty]
+ fixes = Fixes: %h (\"%s\")
+
+An example call::
+
+ $ git log -1 --pretty=fixes 54a4f0239f2e
+ Fixes: 54a4f0239f2e ("Fix crash in navigation")
+
+
+### Separate your changes
+
+Separate each **logical change** into a separate patch.
+
+For example, if your changes include both bug fixes and performance
+enhancements for a particular feature, separate those changes into two or
+more patches. If your changes include an API update, and a new feature
+which uses that new API, separate those into two patches.
+
+On the other hand, if you make a single change to numerous files, group
+those changes into a single patch. Thus a single logical change is
+contained within a single patch.
+
+The point to remember is that each patch should make an easily understood
+change that can be verified by reviewers. Each patch should be justifiable
+on its own merits.
+
+If one patch depends on another patch in order for a change to be
+complete, that is OK. Simply note **"this patch depends on patch X"**
+in your patch description.
+
+When dividing your change into a series of patches, take special care to
+ensure that the Damus builds and runs properly after each patch in the
+series. Developers using ``git bisect`` to track down a problem can end
+up splitting your patch series at any point; they will not thank you if
+you introduce bugs in the middle.
+
+If you cannot condense your patch set into a smaller set of patches,
+then only post say 15 or so at a time and wait for review and integration.
+
+
+### Select the recipients for your patch
+
+You should always copy the appropriate people on any patch to code that
+they may have been involved with. You can use
+[git-contacts][git-contacts] to find people who have touched the code
+previously.
+
+patches@damus.io should be used by default for all patches.
+
+William Casarin is the final arbiter of all changes accepted into the
+Damus. His email address is <jb55@jb55.com>.
+
+If you have a patch that fixes an exploitable security bug, send that
+patch to jb55@jb55.com. For severe bugs, a short embargo may be
+considered to allow distributors to get the patch out to users; in such
+cases, obviously, the patch should not be sent to any public lists.
+
+### No MIME, no links, no compression, no attachments. Just plain text.
+
+Will and other Damus developers need to be able to read and comment
+on the changes you are submitting. It is important for a Damus
+developer to be able to "quote" your changes, using standard e-mail
+tools, so that they may comment on specific portions of your code.
+
+For this reason, all patches should be submitted by e-mail "inline". The
+easiest way to do this is with `git send-email`, which is strongly
+recommended. An interactive tutorial for `git send-email` is available at
+[git-send-email][git-send-email]
+
+### Respond to review comments
+
+Your patch will almost certainly get comments from reviewers on ways in
+which the patch can be improved, in the form of a reply to your email. You must
+respond to those comments; ignoring reviewers is a good way to get ignored in
+return. You can simply reply to their emails to answer their comments. Review
+comments or questions that do not lead to a code change should almost certainly
+bring about a comment or changelog entry so that the next reviewer better
+understands what is going on.
+
+Be sure to tell the reviewers what changes you are making and to thank them
+for their time. Code review is a tiring and time-consuming process, and
+reviewers sometimes get grumpy. Even in that case, though, respond
+politely and address the problems they have pointed out. When sending a next
+version, add a `patch changelog` to the cover letter or to individual patches
+explaining difference against previous submission (see `The canonical patch format`)
+
+
+### Use trimmed interleaved replies in email discussions
+
+Top-posting is strongly discouraged in Damus development
+discussions. Interleaved (or "inline") replies make conversations much
+easier to follow. For more details see: [Posting style][posting-style]
+
+As is frequently quoted on the mailing list:
+
+ A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_post
+ Q: Were do I find info about this thing called top-posting?
+ A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
+ Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
+ A: Top-posting.
+ Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
+
+Similarly, please trim all unneeded quotations that aren't relevant
+to your reply. This makes responses easier to find, and saves time and
+space. For more details see: http://daringfireball.net/2007/07/on_top
+
+ A: No.
+ Q: Should I include quotations after my reply?
+
+
+### Sign your work - the Developer's Certificate of Origin
+
+To improve tracking of who did what, especially with patches that can
+percolate to their final resting place in the kernel through several
+layers of maintainers, we've introduced a "sign-off" procedure on
+patches that are being emailed around.
+
+The sign-off is a simple line at the end of the explanation for the
+patch, which certifies that you wrote it or otherwise have the right to
+pass it on as an open-source patch. The rules are pretty simple: if you
+can certify the below:
+
+Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
+
+ (a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
+ have the right to submit it under the open source license
+ indicated in the file; or
+
+ (b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
+ of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
+ license and I have the right under that license to submit that
+ work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
+ by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
+ permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
+ in the file; or
+
+ (c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
+ person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified
+ it.
+
+ (d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
+ are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
+ personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
+ maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
+ this project or the open source license(s) involved.
+
+then you just add a line saying:
+
+ Signed-off-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.example.org>
+
+This will be done for you automatically if you use `git commit -s`.
+Reverts should also include "Signed-off-by". `git revert -s` does that
+for you.
+
+Any further SoBs (Signed-off-by:'s) following the author's SoB are from
+people handling and transporting the patch, but were not involved in its
+development. SoB chains should reflect the **real** route a patch took
+as it was propagated to the maintainers and ultimately to Will, with
+the first SoB entry signalling primary authorship of a single author.
+
+### Add Changelog-Changed, Changelog-Fixed, etc
+
+If you have a *user facing* change that you would like to include in Damus
+changelogs, please include:
+
+- Changelog-Changed: Changed the heart button to a shaka
+- Changelog-Fixed: Fixed notes not appearing on profile
+- Changelog-Added: Added a cool new feature
+- Changelog-Removed: Removed zaps
+
+The changelog script will pick these up and give you attribution for your
+change
+
+### When to use Acked-by:, Cc:, and Co-developed-by:
+
+The Signed-off-by: tag indicates that the signer was involved in the
+development of the patch, or that he/she was in the patch's delivery path.
+
+If a person was not directly involved in the preparation or handling of a
+patch but wishes to signify and record their approval of it then they can
+ask to have an Acked-by: line added to the patch's changelog.
+
+Acked-by: is often used by the maintainer of the affected code when that
+maintainer neither contributed to nor forwarded the patch.
+
+Acked-by: is not as formal as Signed-off-by:. It is a record that the acker
+has at least reviewed the patch and has indicated acceptance. Hence patch
+mergers will sometimes manually convert an acker's "yep, looks good to me"
+into an Acked-by: (but note that it is usually better to ask for an
+explicit ack).
+
+Acked-by: does not necessarily indicate acknowledgement of the entire patch.
+For example, if a patch affects multiple subsystems and has an Acked-by: from
+one subsystem maintainer then this usually indicates acknowledgement of just
+the part which affects that maintainer's code. Judgement should be used here.
+When in doubt people should refer to the original discussion in the mailing
+list archives.
+
+If a person has had the opportunity to comment on a patch, but has not
+provided such comments, you may optionally add a ``Cc:`` tag to the patch.
+This is the only tag which might be added without an explicit action by the
+person it names - but it should indicate that this person was copied on the
+patch. This tag documents that potentially interested parties
+have been included in the discussion.
+
+Co-developed-by: states that the patch was co-created by multiple developers;
+it is used to give attribution to co-authors (in addition to the author
+attributed by the From: tag) when several people work on a single patch.
+
+### Using Reported-by:, Tested-by:, Reviewed-by:, Suggested-by: and Fixes:
+
+The Reported-by tag gives credit to people who find bugs and report them and it
+hopefully inspires them to help us again in the future. The tag is intended for
+bugs; please do not use it to credit feature requests. The tag should be
+followed by a Closes: tag pointing to the report, unless the report is not
+available on the web. The Link: tag can be used instead of Closes: if the patch
+fixes a part of the issue(s) being reported. Please note that if the bug was
+reported in private, then ask for permission first before using the Reported-by
+tag.
+
+A Tested-by: tag indicates that the patch has been successfully tested (in
+some environment) by the person named. This tag informs maintainers that
+some testing has been performed, provides a means to locate testers for
+future patches, and ensures credit for the testers.
+
+Reviewed-by:, instead, indicates that the patch has been reviewed and found
+acceptable according to the Reviewer's Statement:
+
+A Reviewed-by tag is a statement of opinion that the patch is an
+appropriate modification of Damus and related libraies without any
+remaining serious technical issues. Any interested reviewer (who has
+done the work) can offer a Reviewed-by tag for a patch. This tag serves
+to give credit to reviewers and to inform maintainers of the degree of
+review which has been done on the patch. Reviewed-by: tags, when
+supplied by reviewers known to understand the subject area and to perform
+thorough reviews, will normally increase the likelihood of your patch
+getting into Damus.
+
+Both Tested-by and Reviewed-by tags, once received on mailing list from tester
+or reviewer, should be added by author to the applicable patches when sending
+next versions. However if the patch has changed substantially in following
+version, these tags might not be applicable anymore and thus should be removed.
+Usually removal of someone's Tested-by or Reviewed-by tags should be mentioned
+in the patch changelog (after the '---' separator).
+
+A Suggested-by: tag indicates that the patch idea is suggested by the person
+named and ensures credit to the person for the idea. Please note that this
+tag should not be added without the reporter's permission, especially if the
+idea was not posted in a public forum. That said, if we diligently credit our
+idea reporters, they will, hopefully, be inspired to help us again in the
+future.
+
+### Explicit In-Reply-To headers
+
+It can be helpful to manually add In-Reply-To: headers to a patch
+(e.g., when using ``git send-email``) to associate the patch with
+previous relevant discussion, e.g. to link a bug fix to the email with
+the bug report. However, for a multi-patch series, it is generally
+best to avoid using In-Reply-To: to link to older versions of the
+series. This way multiple versions of the patch don't become an
+unmanageable forest of references in email clients.
+
+### Providing base tree information
+
+When other developers receive your patches and start the review process,
+it is often useful for them to know where in the tree history they
+should place your work. This is particularly useful for automated CI
+processes that attempt to run a series of tests in order to establish
+the quality of your submission before the maintainer starts the review.
+
+If you are using `git format-patch` to generate your patches, you can
+automatically include the base tree information in your submission by
+using the `--base` flag. The easiest and most convenient way to use
+this option is with topical branches:
+
+ $ git checkout -t -b my-topical-branch master
+ Branch 'my-topical-branch' set up to track local branch 'master'.
+ Switched to a new branch 'my-topical-branch'
+
+ [perform your edits and commits]
+
+ $ git format-patch --base=auto --cover-letter -o outgoing/ master
+ outgoing/0000-cover-letter.patch
+ outgoing/0001-First-Commit.patch
+ outgoing/...
+
+When you open `outgoing/0000-cover-letter.patch` for editing, you will
+notice that it will have the `base-commit:` trailer at the very
+bottom, which provides the reviewer and the CI tools enough information
+to properly perform `git am` without worrying about conflicts::
+
+ $ git checkout -b patch-review [base-commit-id]
+ Switched to a new branch 'patch-review'
+ $ git am patches.mbox
+ Applying: First Commit
+ Applying: ...
+
+Please see ``man git-format-patch`` for more information about this
+option.
+
+[git-contacts]: https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/contrib/contacts/git-contacts
+[git-send-email]: http://git-send-email.io
+[patches-ml]: https://damus.io/list/patches
+[posting-style]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
