COMMITTER(7) BSD Miscellaneous Information Manual COMMITTER(7)NAMEcommitter — instructions and rules for DragonFly committers
SETTING UP GIT
See development(7) on how to pull a fresh copy of the DragonFly git(1)
repository.
Committers have to push to crater.dragonflybsd.org via ssh(1). If the
system is set up to pull from a DragonFly mirror, a remote entry will
have to be set up:
git remote add crater \
ssh://crater.dragonflybsd.org/repository/git/dragonfly.git
Your ~/.gitconfig should contain at least:
[user]
name = Your Name
email = <login>@dragonflybsd.org
Alternatively, see the user.name and user.email variables in
git-config(1).
SSH DSA KEYS
The git repository machine is crater.dragonflybsd.org, and the DragonFly
developer machine is leaf.dragonflybsd.org. We create an account for you
on both machines and install your public SSH key to give you access.
Your crater account is set up for repository access only. It can only
operate as a git slave and cannot be logged into. That is,
crater.dragonflybsd.org is only used as part of git push operations.
Your leaf account is a general developer account. Any DragonFly devel‐
oper can have a leaf account, whether a committer or not. It can be use‐
ful as a developer rendezvous, however. For example, people upload ker‐
nel cores to leaf so other developers can look at them. You log into
your leaf account with:
ssh you@leaf.dragonflybsd.org
The rules for account use are in leaf's MOTD. It is very important that
you never install a password or create a SSH key pair on leaf to use to
access other machines. Because non-committers can have leaf accounts,
leaf is not considered a secure machine.
TESTING COMMIT ACCESS
There is a directory called /usr/src/test/test. To test your commit
access, try making a modification and committing a file in this direc‐
tory. Try to push the commit to crater afterwards.
cd /usr/src/test/test
(edit something)
git commit file_you_edited
git push crater
COMMITTING REAL WORK
Make modifications as needed. For example, edit files. Files and direc‐
tories can just be added locally. They are stored in your local copy of
the repository and then synchronized with crater's repository when you
git push. When adding new files make git aware of them like this:
git add filename
git commit filename
To actually push your changes to the repository on crater, use:
git push crater
To merge bug fixes to other branches (MFC), use git cherry-pick:
git checkout -b rel2_2 crater/DragonFly_RELEASE_2_2
git cherry-pick <commit>
git push crater rel2_2:DragonFly_RELEASE_2_2
Do not set the default remote tag to origin. It is set to crater by
default. This reduces instances where accidental commits or repository
operations are made on the master repository.
STRUCTURE OF COMMIT MESSAGES
As many git(1) tools display the first line of a commit message as a sum‐
mary, structure your commit messages like this, if possible:
One line summary of your change (less than 50 characters).
Maybe more text here describing your changes in detail (including
issue tracker IDs etc).
To customize the commit template for DragonFly, use:
git config --add commit.template /usr/src/tools/gittemplate
DISCUSSING COMMITTABLE WORK BEFOREHAND
Discussion prior to committing usually occurs on the kernel@, submit@, or
bugs@ mailing lists and depends on the work involved. Simple and obvious
work such as documentation edits or additions doesn't really need a heads
up.
Simple and obvious bug fixes don't need a heads up either, other than to
say that you will (or just have) committed the fix, so you don't race
other committers trying to do the same thing. Usually the developer most
active in a discussion about a bug commits the fix, but it isn't consid‐
ered a big deal.
More complex issues are usually discussed on the lists first. Non-triv‐
ial but straight forward bug fixes usually go through a testing period,
where you say something like: “Here is a patch to driver BLAH that fixes
A, B, and C, please test it. If there are no objections I will commit it
next Tuesday.” (usually a week, or more depending on the complexity of
the patch).
New drivers or utilities are usually discussed. Committers will often
commit new work without hooking it into the buildworld or buildkernel in‐
frastructure in order to be able to continue development on it in piece‐
meal without having to worry about it breaking buildworld or buildkernel,
and then they hook it in as a last step after they've stabilized it.
Examples of this include new versions of GCC, updates to vendor packages
such as bind, sendmail, etc.
SOURCE OWNERSHIP
Areas within the repository do not “belong” to any committer. Often sit‐
uations will arise where one developer commits work and another developer
finds an issue with it that needs to be corrected.
All committed work becomes community property. No developer has a “lock”
on any part of the source tree. However, if a developer is actively
working on a portion of the source tree and you find a bug or other
issue, courtesy dictates that you post to kernel@ and/or email the devel‐
oper.
This means that, generally, if you do not see a commit to an area of the
source tree in the last few weeks, it isn't considered active and you
don't really need to confer with the developer that made the commit,
though you should still post to the kernel@ mailing list and, of course,
confer with developers when their expertise is needed.
One exception to this rule is documentation. If any developer commits
new work, the documentation guys have free reign to go in and correct
mdoc(7) errors. This is really a convenience as most developers are not
mdoc(7) gurus and it's a waste of time for the doc guys to post to
kernel@ for all the little corrections they make.
CONFLICTS
On the occasion that a major code conflict occurs, for example if two
people are doing major work in the same area of the source tree and for‐
got to collaborate with each other, the project leader will be responsi‐
ble for resolving the conflict. Again, the repository is considered com‐
munity property and it must be acceptable for any developer to be able to
work on any area of the tree that he or she has an interest in.
MAJOR ARCHITECTURAL CHANGES
This is generally Matt Dillon's area of expertise. All major architec‐
tural changes must be discussed on the kernel@ mailing list and he
retains veto power.
This isn't usually an issue with any work. At best if something doesn't
look right architecturally he'll chip in with adjustments to make it fit
in. Nothing ever really gets vetoed.
SEE ALSOgit(1) (pkgsrc/devel/scmgit), development(7)BSD March 26, 2009 BSD
