1# Contributing to OpenZFS 2<p align="center"> 3 <img alt="OpenZFS Logo" 4 src="https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/_static/img/logo/480px-Open-ZFS-Secondary-Logo-Colour-halfsize.png"/> 5</p> 6 7*First of all, thank you for taking the time to contribute!* 8 9By using the following guidelines, you can help us make OpenZFS even better. 10 11## Table Of Contents 12[What should I know before I get 13started?](#what-should-i-know-before-i-get-started) 14 15 * [Get ZFS](#get-zfs) 16 * [Debug ZFS](#debug-zfs) 17 * [Where can I ask for help?](#where-can-I-ask-for-help) 18 19[How Can I Contribute?](#how-can-i-contribute) 20 21 * [Reporting Bugs](#reporting-bugs) 22 * [Suggesting Enhancements](#suggesting-enhancements) 23 * [Pull Requests](#pull-requests) 24 * [Testing](#testing) 25 26[Style Guides](#style-guides) 27 28 * [Coding Conventions](#coding-conventions) 29 * [Commit Message Formats](#commit-message-formats) 30 * [New Changes](#new-changes) 31 * [OpenZFS Patch Ports](#openzfs-patch-ports) 32 * [Coverity Defect Fixes](#coverity-defect-fixes) 33 * [Signed Off By](#signed-off-by) 34 35Helpful resources 36 37 * [OpenZFS Documentation](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/) 38 * [OpenZFS Developer Resources](http://open-zfs.org/wiki/Developer_resources) 39 * [Git and GitHub for beginners](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Developer%20Resources/Git%20and%20GitHub%20for%20beginners.html) 40 41## What should I know before I get started? 42 43### Get ZFS 44You can build zfs packages by following [these 45instructions](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Developer%20Resources/Building%20ZFS.html), 46or install stable packages from [your distribution's 47repository](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Getting%20Started/index.html). 48 49### Debug ZFS 50A variety of methods and tools are available to aid ZFS developers. 51It's strongly recommended that when developing a patch the `--enable-debug` 52configure option should be set. This will enable additional correctness 53checks and all the ASSERTs to help quickly catch potential issues. 54 55In addition, there are numerous utilities and debugging files which 56provide visibility into the inner workings of ZFS. The most useful 57of these tools are discussed in detail on the [Troubleshooting 58page](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Basic%20Concepts/Troubleshooting.html). 59 60### Where can I ask for help? 61The [zfs-discuss mailing 62list](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Project%20and%20Community/Mailing%20Lists.html) 63or IRC are the best places to ask for help. Please do not file 64support requests on the GitHub issue tracker. 65 66## How Can I Contribute? 67 68### Reporting Bugs 69*Please* contact us via the [zfs-discuss mailing 70list](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Project%20and%20Community/Mailing%20Lists.html) 71or IRC if you aren't certain that you are experiencing a bug. 72 73If you run into an issue, please search our [issue 74tracker](https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/issues) *first* to ensure the 75issue hasn't been reported before. Open a new issue only if you haven't 76found anything similar to your issue. 77 78You can open a new issue and search existing issues using the public [issue 79tracker](https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/issues). 80 81#### When opening a new issue, please include the following information at the top of the issue: 82* What distribution (with version) you are using. 83* The spl and zfs versions you are using, installation method (repository 84or manual compilation). 85* Describe the issue you are experiencing. 86* Describe how to reproduce the issue. 87* Including any warning/errors/backtraces from the system logs. 88 89When a new issue is opened, it is not uncommon for developers to request 90additional information. 91 92In general, the more detail you share about a problem the quicker a 93developer can resolve it. For example, providing a simple test case is always 94exceptionally helpful. 95 96Be prepared to work with the developers investigating your issue. Your 97assistance is crucial in providing a quick solution. They may ask for 98information like: 99 100* Your pool configuration as reported by `zdb` or `zpool status`. 101* Your hardware configuration, such as 102 * Number of CPUs. 103 * Amount of memory. 104 * Whether your system has ECC memory. 105 * Whether it is running under a VMM/Hypervisor. 106 * Kernel version. 107 * Values of the spl/zfs module parameters. 108* Stack traces which may be logged to `dmesg`. 109 110### Suggesting Enhancements 111OpenZFS is a widely deployed production filesystem which is under active 112development. The team's primary focus is on fixing known issues, improving 113performance, and adding compelling new features. 114 115You can view the list of proposed features 116by filtering the issue tracker by the ["Type: Feature" 117label](https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22Type%3A+Feature%22). 118If you have an idea for a feature first check this list. If your idea already 119appears then add a +1 to the top most comment, this helps us gauge interest 120in that feature. 121 122Otherwise, open a new issue and describe your proposed feature. Why is this 123feature needed? What problem does it solve? 124 125### Pull Requests 126 127#### General 128 129* All pull requests, except backports and releases, must be based on the current master branch 130and should apply without conflicts. 131* Please attempt to limit pull requests to a single commit which resolves 132one specific issue. 133* Make sure your commit messages are in the correct format. See the 134[Commit Message Formats](#commit-message-formats) section for more information. 135* When updating a pull request squash multiple commits by performing a 136[rebase](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-rebase) (squash). 137* For large pull requests consider structuring your changes as a stack of 138logically independent patches which build on each other. This makes large 139changes easier to review and approve which speeds up the merging process. 140* Try to keep pull requests simple. Simple code with comments is much easier 141to review and approve. 142* All proposed changes must be approved by an OpenZFS organization member. 143* If you have an idea you'd like to discuss or which requires additional testing, consider opening it as a draft pull request. 144Once everything is in good shape and the details have been worked out you can remove its draft status. 145Any required reviews can then be finalized and the pull request merged. 146 147#### Tests and Benchmarks 148* Every pull request is tested using a GitHub Actions workflow on multiple platforms by running the [zfs-tests.sh and zloop.sh]( 149https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Developer%20Resources/Building%20ZFS.html#running-zloop-sh-and-zfs-tests-sh) test suites. 150`.github/workflows/scripts/generate-ci-type.py` is used to determine whether the pull request is nonbehavior, i.e., not introducing behavior changes of any code, configuration or tests. If so, the CI will run on fewer platforms and only essential sanity tests will run. You can always override this by adding `ZFS-CI-Type` line to your commit message: 151 * If your last commit (or `HEAD` in git terms) contains a line `ZFS-CI-Type: quick`, quick mode is forced regardless of what files are changed. 152 * Otherwise, if any commit in a PR contains a line `ZFS-CI-Type: full`, full mode is forced. 153* To verify your changes conform to the [style guidelines]( 154https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md#style-guides 155), please run `make checkstyle` and resolve any warnings. 156* Code analysis is performed by [CodeQL](https://codeql.github.com/) for each pull request. 157* Test cases should be provided when appropriate. This includes making sure new features have adequate code coverage. 158* If your pull request improves performance, please include some benchmarks. 159* The pull request must pass all CI checks before being accepted. 160 161### Testing 162All help is appreciated! If you're in a position to run the latest code 163consider helping us by reporting any functional problems, performance 164regressions or other suspected issues. By running the latest code to a wide 165range of realistic workloads, configurations and architectures we're better 166able quickly identify and resolve potential issues. 167 168Users can also run the [ZFS Test 169Suite](https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/tree/master/tests) on their systems 170to verify ZFS is behaving as intended. 171 172## Style Guides 173 174### Repository Structure 175 176OpenZFS uses a standardised branching structure. 177- The "development and main branch", is the branch all development should be based on. 178- "Release branches" contain the latest released code for said version. 179- "Staging branches" contain selected commits prior to being released. 180 181**Branch Names:** 182- Development and Main branch: `master` 183- Release branches: `zfs-$VERSION-release` 184- Staging branches: `zfs-$VERSION-staging` 185 186`$VERSION` should be replaced with the `major.minor` version number. 187_(This is the version number without the `.patch` version at the end)_ 188 189### Coding Conventions 190We currently use [C Style and Coding Standards for 191SunOS](http://www.cis.upenn.edu/%7Elee/06cse480/data/cstyle.ms.pdf) as our 192coding convention. 193 194This repository has an `.editorconfig` file. If your editor [supports 195editorconfig](https://editorconfig.org/#download), it will 196automatically respect most of this project's whitespace preferences. 197 198Additionally, Git can help warn on whitespace problems as well: 199 200``` 201git config --local core.whitespace trailing-space,space-before-tab,indent-with-non-tab,-tab-in-indent 202``` 203 204### Commit Message Formats 205#### New Changes 206Commit messages for new changes must meet the following guidelines: 207* In 72 characters or less, provide a summary of the change as the 208first line in the commit message. 209* A body which provides a description of the change. If necessary, 210please summarize important information such as why the proposed 211approach was chosen or a brief description of the bug you are resolving. 212Each line of the body must be 72 characters or less. 213* The last line must be a `Signed-off-by:` tag. See the 214[Signed Off By](#signed-off-by) section for more information. 215 216An example commit message for new changes is provided below. 217 218``` 219This line is a brief summary of your change 220 221Please provide at least a couple sentences describing the 222change. If necessary, please summarize decisions such as 223why the proposed approach was chosen or what bug you are 224attempting to solve. 225 226Signed-off-by: Contributor <contributor@email.com> 227``` 228 229#### Coverity Defect Fixes 230If you are submitting a fix to a 231[Coverity defect](https://scan.coverity.com/projects/zfsonlinux-zfs), 232the commit message should meet the following guidelines: 233* Provides a subject line in the format of 234`Fix coverity defects: CID dddd, dddd...` where `dddd` represents 235each CID fixed by the commit. 236* Provides a body which lists each Coverity defect and how it was corrected. 237* The last line must be a `Signed-off-by:` tag. See the 238[Signed Off By](#signed-off-by) section for more information. 239 240An example Coverity defect fix commit message is provided below. 241``` 242Fix coverity defects: CID 12345, 67890 243 244CID 12345: Logically dead code (DEADCODE) 245 246Removed the if(var != 0) block because the condition could never be 247satisfied. 248 249CID 67890: Resource Leak (RESOURCE_LEAK) 250 251Ensure free is called after allocating memory in function(). 252 253Signed-off-by: Contributor <contributor@email.com> 254``` 255 256#### Signed Off By 257A line tagged as `Signed-off-by:` must contain the developer's 258name followed by their email. This is the developer's certification 259that they have the right to submit the patch for inclusion into 260the code base and indicates agreement to the [Developer's Certificate 261of Origin](https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/submitting-patches.html#sign-your-work-the-developer-s-certificate-of-origin). 262Code without a proper signoff cannot be merged. 263 264Git can append the `Signed-off-by` line to your commit messages. Simply 265provide the `-s` or `--signoff` option when performing a `git commit`. 266For more information about writing commit messages, visit [How to Write 267a Git Commit Message](https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/). 268 269#### Co-authored By 270If someone else had part in your pull request, please add the following to the commit: 271`Co-authored-by: Name <gitregistered@email.address>` 272This is useful if their authorship was lost during squashing, rebasing, etc., 273but may be used in any situation where there are co-authors. 274 275The email address used here should be the same as on the GitHub profile of said user. 276If said user does not have their email address public, please use the following instead: 277`Co-authored-by: Name <[username]@users.noreply.github.com>` 278
