4319fbeff2
This patch updates the commit message template provided in the manual. The new template emphasizes the importance of providing a description of the problem, the root cause, and the solution, and the fact that all this should be wrapped at 72 characters. Suggested-by: "Yann E. MORIN" <yann.morin.1998@free.fr> Signed-off-by: Thomas De Schampheleire <thomas.de.schampheleire@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Thomas Petazzoni <thomas.petazzoni@free-electrons.com>
318 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
318 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
// -*- mode:doc; -*-
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// vim: set syntax=asciidoc:
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Contributing to Buildroot
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=========================
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There are many ways in which you can contribute to Buildroot: analyzing
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and fixing bugs, analyzing and fixing package build failures detected by
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the autobuilders, testing and reviewing patches sent by other
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developers, working on the items in our TODO list and sending your own
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improvements to Buildroot or its manual. The following sections give a
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little more detail on each of these items.
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If you are interested in contributing to Buildroot, the first thing you
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should do is to subscribe to the Buildroot mailing list. This list is
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the main way of interacting with other Buildroot developers and to send
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contributions to. If you aren't subscribed yet, then refer to
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xref:mailing-list-subscribe[].
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If you are going to touch the code, it is highly recommended to use a
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git repository of Buildroot, rather than starting from an extracted
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source code tarball. Git is the easiest way to develop from and directly
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send your patches to the mailing list. Refer to xref:getting-buildroot[]
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for more information on obtaining a Buildroot git tree.
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Reproducing, analyzing and fixing bugs
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--------------------------------------
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A first way of contributing is to have a look at the open bug reports in
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the https://bugs.busybox.net/buglist.cgi?product=buildroot[Buildroot bug
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tracker]. As we strive to keep the bug count as small as possible, all
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help in reproducing, analyzing and fixing reported bugs is more than
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welcome. Don't hesitate to add a comment to bug reports reporting your
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findings, even if you don't yet see the full picture.
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Analyzing and fixing autobuild failures
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---------------------------------------
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The Buildroot autobuilders are a set of build machines that continuously
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run Buildroot builds based on random configurations. This is done for
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all architectures supported by Buildroot, with various toolchains, and
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with a random selection of packages. With the large commit activity on
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Buildroot, these autobuilders are a great help in detecting problems
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very early after commit.
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All build results are available at http://autobuild.buildroot.org[],
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statistics are at http://autobuild.buildroot.org/stats.php[]. Every day,
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an overview of all failed packages is sent to the mailing list.
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Detecting problems is great, but obviously these problems have to be
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fixed as well. Your contribution is very welcome here! There are
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basically two things that can be done:
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- Analyzing the problems. The daily summary mails do not contain details
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about the actual failures: in order to see what's going on you have to
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open the build log and check the last output. Having someone doing
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this for all packages in the mail is very useful for other developers,
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as they can make a quick initial analysis based on this output alone.
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- Fixing a problem. When fixing autobuild failures, you should follow
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these steps:
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. Check if you can reproduce the problem by building with the same
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configuration. You can do this manually, or use the
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http://git.buildroot.org/buildroot-test/tree/utils/br-reproduce-build[br-reproduce-build]
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script that will automatically clone a Buildroot git repository,
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checkout the correct revision, download and set the right
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configuration, and start the build.
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. Analyze the problem and create a fix.
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. Verify that the problem is really fixed by starting from a clean
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Buildroot tree and only applying your fix.
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. Send the fix to the Buildroot mailing list (see
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xref:submitting-patches[]). In case you created a patch against the
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package sources, you should also send the patch upstream so that the
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problem will be fixed in a later release, and the patch in Buildroot
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can be removed.
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In the commit message of a patch fixing an autobuild failure, add a
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reference to the build result directory, as follows:
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---------------------
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Fixes http://autobuild.buildroot.org/results/51000a9d4656afe9e0ea6f07b9f8ed374c2e4069
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---------------------
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Reviewing and testing patches
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-----------------------------
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With the amount of patches sent to the mailing list each day, the
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maintainer has a very hard job to judge which patches are ready to apply
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and which ones aren't. Contributors can greatly help here by reviewing
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and testing these patches.
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In the review process, do not hesitate to respond to patch submissions
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for remarks, suggestions or anything that will help everyone to
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understand the patches and make them better. Please use internet
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style replies in plain text emails when responding to patch
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submissions.
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To indicate approval of a patch, there are three formal tags that keep
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track of this approval. To add your tag to a patch, reply to it with the
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approval tag below the original author's Signed-off-by line. These tags
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will be picked up automatically by patchwork (see
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ref:apply-patches-patchwork[]) and will be part of the commit log when
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the patch is accepted.
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Tested-by:: Indicates that the patch has been tested successfully.
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You are encouraged to specify what kind of testing you performed
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(compile-test on architecture X and Y, runtime test on target A,
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...). This additional information helps other testers and the
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maintainer.
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Reviewed-by:: Indicates that you code-reviewed the patch and did your
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best in spotting problems, but you are not sufficiently familiar with
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the area touched to provide an Acked-by tag. This means that there
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may be remaining problems in the patch that would be spotted by
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someone with more experience in that area. Should such problems be
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detected, your Reviewed-by tag remains appropriate and you cannot
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be blamed.
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Acked-by:: Indicates that you code-reviewed the patch and you are
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familiar enough with the area touched to feel that the patch can be
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committed as-is (no additional changes required). In case it later
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turns out that something is wrong with the patch, your Acked-by could
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be considered inappropriate. The difference between Acked-by and
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Reviewed-by is thus mainly that you are prepared to take the blame on
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Acked patches, but not on Reviewed ones.
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If you reviewed a patch and have comments on it, you should simply reply
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to the patch stating these comments, without providing a Reviewed-by or
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Acked-by tag. These tags should only be provided if you judge the patch
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to be good as it is.
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It is important to note that neither Reviewed-by nor Acked-by imply
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that testing has been performed. To indicate that you both reviewed and
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tested the patch, provide two separate tags (Reviewed/Acked-by and
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Tested-by).
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Note also that _any developer_ can provide Tested/Reviewed/Acked-by
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tags, without exception, and we encourage everyone to do this. Buildroot
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does not have a defined group of _core_ developers, it just so happens
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that some developers are more active than others. The maintainer will
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value tags according to the track record of their submitter. Tags
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provided by a regular contributor will naturally be trusted more than
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tags provided by a newcomer. As you provide tags more regularly, your
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'trustworthiness' (in the eyes of the maintainer) will go up, but _any_
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tag provided is valuable.
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Buildroot's Patchwork website can be used to pull in patches for testing
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purposes. Please see xref:apply-patches-patchwork[] for more
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information on using Buildroot's Patchwork website to apply patches.
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Work on items from the TODO list
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--------------------------------
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If you want to contribute to Buildroot but don't know where to start,
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and you don't like any of the above topics, you can always work on items
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from the http://elinux.org/Buildroot#Todo_list[Buildroot TODO list].
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Don't hesitate to discuss an item first on the mailing list or on IRC.
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Do edit the wiki to indicate when you start working on an item, so we
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avoid duplicate efforts.
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[[submitting-patches]]
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Submitting patches
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------------------
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[NOTE]
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_Please, do not attach patches to bugs, send them to the mailing list
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instead_.
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If you made some changes to Buildroot and you would like to contribute
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them to the Buildroot project, proceed as follows. Starting from the
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changes committed in your local git view, _rebase_ your development
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branch on top of the upstream tree before generating a patch set. To do
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so, run:
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---------------------
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$ git fetch --all --tags
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$ git rebase origin/master
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---------------------
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Now, you are ready to generate then submit your patch set.
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To generate it, run:
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---------------------
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$ git format-patch -M -n -s -o outgoing origin/master
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---------------------
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This will generate patch files in the +outgoing+ subdirectory,
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automatically adding the +Signed-off-by+ line.
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Once patch files are generated, you can review/edit the commit message
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before submitting them, using your favorite text editor.
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Lastly, send/submit your patch set to the Buildroot mailing list:
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---------------------
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$ git send-email --to buildroot@buildroot.org outgoing/*
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---------------------
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Note that +git+ should be configured to use your mail account.
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To configure +git+, see +man git-send-email+ or google it.
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If you do not use +git send-email+, make sure posted *patches are not
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line-wrapped*, otherwise they cannot easily be applied. In such a case,
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fix your e-mail client, or better yet, learn to use +git send-email+.
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Cover letter
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~~~~~~~~~~~~
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If you want to present the whole patch set in a separate mail, add
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+--cover-letter+ to the +git format-patch+ command (see +man
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git-format-patch+ for further information). This will generate a
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template for an introduction e-mail to your patch series.
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A 'cover letter' may be useful to introduce the changes you propose
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in the following cases:
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* large number of commits in the series;
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* deep impact of the changes in the rest of the project;
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* RFC footnote:[RFC: (Request for comments) change proposal];
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* whenever you feel it will help presenting your work, your choices,
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the review process, etc.
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Patch revision changelog
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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When improvements are requested, the new revision of each commit
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should include a changelog of the modifications between each
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submission. Note that when your patch series is introduced by a cover
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letter, an overall changelog may be added to the cover letter in
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addition to the changelog in the individual commits.
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When added to the individual commits, this changelog is added when
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editing the commit message. Below the +Signed-off-by+ section, add
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+---+ and your changelog.
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Although the changelog will be visible for the reviewers in the mail
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thread, as well as in http://patchwork.buildroot.org[patchwork], +git+
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will automatically ignores lines below +---+ when the patch will be
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merged. This is the intended behavior: the changelog is not meant to
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be preserved forever in the +git+ history of the project.
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Hereafter the recommended layout:
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---------------
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Patch title: short explanation, max 72 chars
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A paragraph that explains the problem, and how it manifests itself. If
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the problem is complex, it is OK to add more paragraphs. All paragraphs
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should be wrapped at 72 characters.
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A paragraph that explains the root cause of the problem. Again, more
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than on paragraph is OK.
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Finally, one or more paragraphs that explain how the problem is solved.
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Don't hesitate to explain complex solutions in detail.
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Signed-off-by: John DOE <john.doe@example.net>
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---
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Changes v2 -> v3:
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- foo bar (suggested by Jane)
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- bar buz
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Changes v1 -> v2:
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- alpha bravo (suggested by John)
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- charly delta
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---------------
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Any patch revision should include the version number. The version number
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is simply composed of the letter +v+ followed by an +integer+ greater or
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equal to two (i.e. "PATCH v2", "PATCH v3" ...).
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This can be easily handled with +git format-patch+ by using the option
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+--subject-prefix+:
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---------------------
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$ git format-patch --subject-prefix "PATCH v4" \
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-M -o outgoing origin/master
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---------------------
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[[reporting-bugs]]
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Reporting issues/bugs or getting help
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-------------------------------------
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Before reporting any issue, please check
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xref:mailing-list-subscribe[the mailing list archive] in case someone has
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already reported and fixed a similar problem.
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However you choose to report bugs or get help, either by
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xref:bugtracker[opening a bug] or by
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xref:mailing-list-subscribe[sending a mail to the mailing list], there are
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a number of details to provide in order to help people reproduce and
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find a solution to the issue.
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Try to think as if you were trying to help someone else; in
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that case, what would you need?
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Here is a short list of details to provide in such case:
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* host machine (OS/release)
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* version of Buildroot
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* target for which the build fails
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* package(s) for which the build fails
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* the command that fails and its output
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* any information you think that may be relevant
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Additionally, you should add the +.config+ file (or if you know how, a
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+defconfig+).
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If some of these details are too large, do not hesitate to use a
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pastebin service. Note that not all available pastebin services will
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preserve Unix-style line terminators when downloading raw pastes.
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Following pastebin services are known to work correctly:
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- https://gist.github.com/
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- http://code.bulix.org/
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