How to Contribute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contacts: Release Committee: Hrvoje Jasak (h.jasak@wikki.co.uk) SourceForge Accounts: Bernhard Gschaider (Bernhard.Gschaider@ice-sf.at) git Repository: Henrik Rusche (h.rusche@wikki.co.uk) Martin Beaudoin (beaudoin.martin@ireq.ca) 1. SourceForge Access ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To make contributions to the -extend project, you should first obtain an account at SourceForge.net. (SourceForge will suggest a username of firstnamelastname, but a username of firstname_lastname may be a better choice.) After you obtain your account at SourceForge, you will still need to be granted specific access to the -extend project. Make a request to the "SourceForge Accounts" contact at the top of this document for access to the project. 2. Access to the git Repository ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For a read-only copy of the repository, use the following command: + git clone git://openfoam-extend.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/openfoam-extend/OpenFOAM-1.6-ext To obtain a copy of the repository with write access, use the following command: + git clone ssh://username@openfoam-extend.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/openfoam-extend/OpenFOAM-1.6-ext Also see: http://openfoam-extend.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=openfoam-extend 3. git Commit Policies and Workflow (Introduction) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A formal procedure for contributions has been established for the project with regard to branching and commits in the git repository. The workflow proposed by Hrvoje Jasak and Henrik Rusche for contributing to the git repository is described in the following two documents: http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/ http://www.itk.org/Wiki/Git/Workflow/Topic Both of the two articles listed above should be considered mandatory reading material for those planning to make contributions to the repository. Please do not hesitate to ask one of the "git Repository" contacts at the top of this document if you are not sure about specific operation relative to the git repository. 4. git Commit Policies and Workflow (User Perspective) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The document listed in Section 3 above from nvie.com provides an excellent conceptual description of the policies that will be used for the -extend repository. More detailed instructions for users who wish to make contributions are spelled out in this section. Before making any commits to the git repository, be sure to configure git with your username and e-mail address, which helps to ensure that you receive proper credit in the git repository for work you contribute. The author's name and e-mail address can be provided to git using commands such as these: + git config --global user.name "John Doe" + git config --global user.email john.doe@xxx.com Afterwards, the provided information will be contained in a file named .gitconfig in the user's home directory. All contributions to the project repository will be contained in a new feature branch created by the contributor. The recommended way of creating branches is to create one branch for each new specific fix or feature using a command such as this: + git checkout -b my-feature-branch Feature branches should be named after the fix or feature that they contain, *not* named after the author. There may be more than one author, after all, and this information is recorded in the commit anyway. As an example, a bug fix to the mesquite package should be committed to a branch named "hotfix/mesquite". Carefully organized commits and branches, clear commit messages, and well-chosen branch names will make it easier for the release committee to review and merge each contribution. When you have a feature branch that is ready to be merged, push it to the server using a command such as this: + git push origin my-feature-branch Next, notify the "Release Committee" point-of-contact listed at the top of this document that the feature branch has been pushed to the server and is ready to be merged. A release committee member will review your contribution, merge your branch, and then delete the branch from the server, as it is no longer needed once it has been merged. 5. git Commit Policies and Workflow (Committee Perspective) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The -extend project "release committee" (initially comprised of Hrv Jasak) will be solely responsible for merging user contributions into the master branch. User contributions will be contained in feature branches, with a new feature branch for each new fix or feature, as described in Section 4 above. The feature branches provided by users will be merged by the release committee into an integration branch called "nextRelease", and then both the local and remote copy of the feature branch will be deleted. The merge will be performed using a "git merge --no-ff" command, which forces the creation of a merge commit even in the case where the merge could be accomplished by fast-forward. Note that the automated test loop will be run off of this integration branch. When the next release is ready, the release committee will merge the integration branch into the master branch, again using a "git merge --no-ff" command. Consistent with the proposed workflow, the master branch will only contain releases and hotfixes. Note that hotfixes should be branched off of the master branch and should be merged twice - once into the integration branch and once into the master branch - in order to guarantee that a merge of the integration branch into the master branch can be accomplished by a fast-forward. 6. Specific Usage Instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In case you find out that something that should be a hotfix ended up in your local feature branch, follow the steps below to ensure that the hotfix is properly committed to the integration and master branches: a. Single out the SHA-1 of the commit that contains the hotfix (e.g. 13e5d2f) b. Rebase the hotfix commit onto the master branch; e.g. + (Can we provide an example of the git commands to do this? Is it literally a rebase command or a cherry-pick?) c. Create a new hotfix branch; e.g. + git checkout -b hotfix/my-hotfix-topic d. Contact the "Release Committee" point-of-contact at the top of this document and request that the hotfix be merged into the integration and master branches. 7. Other Suggested Topics ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author attribution: What is the policy/format for author credits and copyrights in new contributions provided by users to the -extend project?