xref: /freebsd/CONTRIBUTING.md (revision 6580f5c38dd5b01aeeaed16b370f1a12423437f0)
1# Contribution Guidelines for GitHub
2
3## General Contributions to FreeBSD
4
5Please read the guidelines in [Contributing to FreeBSD](https://docs.freebsd.org/en/articles/contributing/)
6for all the ways you can contribute to the project, how the project is organized,
7how to build different parts of the project, etc. The
8[developer's handbook](https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/developers-handbook/)
9is another useful resource.
10
11FreeBSD accepts source code contributions using one of several methods:
12- A GitHub [pull request](https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-src/pulls)
13- A code review in [Phabricator](https://reviews.freebsd.org/differential)
14- An attachment on a [Bugzilla ticket](https://bugs.freebsd.org)
15- Direct access to the [Git repository](https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/)
16
17The preferred method depends on a few factors including the size or scope of
18the change.  GitHub pull requests are preferred for relatively straightforward
19changes where the contributor already has a GitHub account.
20
21A change should be submitted by only one method.  For example, please do not
22open a GitHub pull request and create a Phabricator review for the same change
23(unless explicitly requested to do so by a FreeBSD committer).
24
25## GitHub Pull Requests
26
27Presently, GitHub 'freebsd-src' repository is one of the publish-only services
28for the FreeBSD 'src' repository the project uses to promote collaboration and
29contribution.  Pull requests that need little developer time, are generally
30small, and have limited scope should be submitted. Do not submit pull requests
31that are security-related, problem reports, works in progress, changes that are controversial
32and need discussion, or changes that require specialized review.
33
34A pull request will be considered if:
35
36* It is ready or nearly ready to be committed. A committer should be able to land the pull request with less than 10 minutes of additional work.
37* It passes all the GitHub CI jobs.
38* You can respond to feedback quickly.
39* It touches fewer than about 10 files and the changes are less than about 200 lines. Changes larger than this may be OK, or you may be asked to submit multiple pull requests of a more manageable size.
40* Each logical change is a separate commit within the pull request. Commit messages for each change should follow the [commit log message guide](https://docs.freebsd.org/en/articles/committers-guide/#commit-log-message).
41* All commits have, as the author, your name and valid email address as you would like to see them in the FreeBSD repository. Fake github.com addresses cannot be used.
42* The scope of the pull request should not change during review. If the review suggests changes that expand the scope, please create an independent pull request.
43* Fixup commits should be squashed with the commit they are fixing. Each commit in your branch should be suitable for FreeBSD's repository.
44* Commits should include one or more `Signed-off-by:` lines with full name and email address certifying [Developer Certificate of Origin](https://developercertificate.org/).
45* The commits follow FreeBSD's style guide. See [Style](#Style).
46* Run tools/build/checkstyle9.pl on your Git branch and eliminate all errors.
47* The commits do not introduce trailing white space.
48* If the commit fixes a bug, please add 'PR: \<bugnumber\>' to the commit message.
49* If there's a code review in Phabricator, please include a link as a 'Differential Revision: ' line.
50* If you have run FreeBSD's sources through a static analysis tool, please don't submit the raw results. Please also see the chunking up guidelines. Also, please make sure that kyua tests are the same before / after your change. Ideally, you'd also create a test case that shows an actual bug that's being fixed by these changes.
51
52When updating your pull request, please rebase with a forced push rather than a
53merge commit.
54
55More complex changes may be submitted as pull requests, but they may be closed
56if they are too large, too unwieldy, become inactive, need further discussion in
57the community, or need extensive revision.  Please avoid creating large,
58wide-ranging cleanup patches: they are too large and lack the focus needed for a
59good review.  Misdirected patches may be redirected to a more appropriate forum
60for the patch to be resolved.
61
62Please make sure that your submissions compile and work before submitting. If
63you need feedback, a pull request might not be the right place (it may just be
64summarily closed if there are too many obvious mistakes).
65
66If you want to cleanup style or older coding conventions in preparation for some
67other commit, please go ahead and prepare those patches. However, please avoid just
68cleaning up to make it cleaner, unless there's a clear advantage to doing
69so. While the project strives to have a uniform coding style, our style offers a
70range of choices making some 'cleanups' ambiguous at best. Also, some files have
71their own consistent style that deviates from style(9). Style changes take
72volunteer time to process, but that time can be quite limited, so please be
73respectful.
74
75The current theory for pull requests on GitHub is to facilitate inclusion in the
76project. The guidelines are streamlined for quick decisions about each pull
77request. Unless explicitly stated, rejection here as "not ready" or "too large"
78does not mean the project is uninterested in the work, it just means the
79submission does not meet the limited scope for pull requests accepted
80here. Sometimes it is easier to review a GitHub pull request than to do the
81review in Phabricator, so that's also allowed.
82
83Finally, if we close a pull request because it's not ready yet, or stalled out,
84please don't give up. You can resubmit them later once you have time to finish
85the work, or to have them reconsidered if you think we've made an error in
86closing it.
87
88### Author Name and Email
89
90We require that contributions are associated with a unique identity.
91The author email address should not be `<something>@users.noreply.github.com`.
92Do note that your name and email address will become a permanent and immutable
93part of the public Git history of the FreeBSD source tree.
94
95## Style
96
97Avoid adding trailing newlines and whitespace. These slow down the integration
98process and are a distraction. `git diff` will highlight them in red, as will
99the Files Changed tab in the pull request.
100
101For C programs, see [style(9)](https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=style&sektion=9)
102for details. You can use [Clang format](https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ClangFormat.html)
103with the top level .clang-format file if you are unsure. The
104[git clang-format](https://github.com/llvm-mirror/clang/blob/master/tools/clang-format/git-clang-format)
105command can help minimize churn by only formatting the areas nearby the changes. While
106not perfect, using these tools will maximize your chances of not having style
107comments on your pull requests.
108
109For Makefiles changes, see
110[style.Makefile(5)](https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=style.Makefile&sektion=5)
111for details. FreeBSD's base system uses the in-tree make, not GNU Make, so
112[make(1)](https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=make&sektion=1) is another useful
113resource.
114
115The project uses mdoc for all its man pages. Changes should pass `mandoc -Tlint` and igor (install the latter with `pkg install igor`).
116Please be sure to observe the one-sentence-per-line rule so manual pages properly render. Any semantic changes to the manual pages should bump the date.
117[style.mdoc(5)](https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=style.mdoc&sektion=5) has the all details.
118
119For [Lua](https://www.lua.org), please see
120[style.lua(9)](https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=style.lua&sektion=9)
121for details. Lua is used for the boot loader and a few scripts in the base system.
122
123For shell scripts, avoid using bash. The system shell (/bin/sh) is preferred.
124Shell scripts in the base system cannot use bash or bash extensions
125not present in FreeBSD's [shell](https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sh&sektion=1).
126
127## Signed-off-by
128
129Other projects use Signed-off-by to create a paper trail for contributions they
130receive. The Developer Certificate of Origin is an attestation that the person
131making the contribution can do it under the current license of the file. Other
132projects that have 'delegated' hierarchies also use it when maintainers
133integrate these patches and submit them upstream.
134
135Right now, pull requests on GitHub are an experimental feature. We strongly
136suggest that people add this line. It creates a paper trail for infrequent
137contributors. Also, developers that are landing a pull request will use a
138Signed-off-by line to set the author for the commit.
139
140These lines are easy to add with `git commit -s`.
141
142## Submitting as part of class work
143
144If you are a professor or teacher that wishes to have your students submit fixes
145as part of their class work, please contact imp@FreeBSD.org before the semester
146to ensure we allocate the proper resources to process them quickly. We'll give
147you more details when you contact us and thanks for including FreeBSD in your
148class work. It also helps us keep track.
149
150## FreeBSD's Upstreams
151
152Anything that's in the directory `contrib`, `crypto`, `sys/contrib`,
153`sys/crypto/` or `sys/cddl` likely has an upstream we pull from. Please do a
154`git log --merges` in any subdirectory of these you are submitting patches for
155to find out the last time we merged from upstream. If it is in the last 5 years,
156upstream is "active" and you should submit your patches there and let the last
157few people to commit to this file (especially merge commits) know. If it's been
158more than 5 years, upstream is likely inactive so please submit the patch. We
159can sort out if it should go into FreeBSD or upstream.
160