Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | Contributing To Busybox |
| 2 | ======================= |
| 3 | |
| 4 | This document describes what you need to do to contribute to Busybox, where |
| 5 | you can help, guidelines on testing, and how to submit a well-formed patch |
| 6 | that is more likely to be accepted. |
| 7 | |
Eric Andersen | 2423b12 | 2001-12-08 01:56:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 8 | The Busybox home page is at: http://busybox.net/ |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 9 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Pre-Contribution Checklist |
| 13 | -------------------------- |
| 14 | |
| 15 | So you want to contribute to Busybox, eh? Great, wonderful, glad you want to |
| 16 | help. However, before you dive in, headlong and hotfoot, there are some things |
| 17 | you need to do: |
| 18 | |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Checkout the Latest Code from CVS |
| 21 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 22 | |
| 23 | This is a necessary first step. Please do not try to work with the last |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 24 | released version, as there is a good chance that somebody has already fixed |
| 25 | the bug you found. Somebody might have even added the feature you had in mind. |
| 26 | Don't make your work obsolete before you start! |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 27 | |
| 28 | For information on how to check out Busybox from CVS, please look at the |
| 29 | following links: |
| 30 | |
Eric Andersen | 2423b12 | 2001-12-08 01:56:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 31 | http://busybox.net/cvs_anon.html |
| 32 | http://busybox.net/cvs_howto.html |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 33 | |
| 34 | |
| 35 | Read the Mailing List |
| 36 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 37 | |
| 38 | No one is required to read the entire archives of the mailing list, but you |
| 39 | should at least read up on what people have been talking about lately. If |
| 40 | you've recently discovered a problem, chances are somebody else has too. If |
| 41 | you're the first to discover a problem, post a message and let the rest of us |
| 42 | know. |
| 43 | |
| 44 | Archives can be found here: |
| 45 | |
Eric Andersen | 2423b12 | 2001-12-08 01:56:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 46 | http://busybox.net/lists/busybox/ |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 47 | |
Eric Andersen | 77d9268 | 2001-05-23 20:32:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 48 | If you have a serious interest in Busybox, i.e., you are using it day-to-day or |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 49 | as part of an embedded project, it would be a good idea to join the mailing |
| 50 | list. |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 51 | |
| 52 | A web-based sign-up form can be found here: |
| 53 | |
Eric Andersen | 2423b12 | 2001-12-08 01:56:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 54 | http://busybox.net/mailman/listinfo/busybox |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 55 | |
| 56 | |
| 57 | Coordinate with the Applet Maintainer |
| 58 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 59 | |
| 60 | Some (not all) of the applets in Busybox are "owned" by a maintainer who has |
| 61 | put significant effort into it and is probably more familiar with it than |
| 62 | others. To find the maintainer of an applet, look at the top of the .c file |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 63 | for a name following the word 'Copyright' or 'Written by' or 'Maintainer'. |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 64 | |
| 65 | Before plunging ahead, it's a good idea to send a message to the mailing list |
| 66 | that says: "Hey, I was thinking about adding the 'transmogrify' feature to the |
| 67 | 'foo' applet. Would this be useful? Is anyone else working on it?" You might |
| 68 | want to CC the maintainer (if any) with your question. |
| 69 | |
| 70 | |
| 71 | |
| 72 | Areas Where You Can Help |
| 73 | ------------------------ |
| 74 | |
| 75 | Busybox can always use improvement! If you're looking for ways to help, there |
Eric Andersen | 449f2bc | 2004-07-14 10:01:04 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 76 | are a variety of areas where you could help. |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 77 | |
| 78 | |
| 79 | What Busybox Doesn't Need |
| 80 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 81 | |
| 82 | Before listing the areas where you _can_ help, it's worthwhile to mention the |
| 83 | areas where you shouldn't bother. While Busybox strives to be the "Swiss Army |
| 84 | Knife" of embedded Linux, there are some applets that will not be accepted: |
| 85 | |
| 86 | - Any filesystem manipulation tools: Busybox is filesystem independent and |
| 87 | we do not want to start adding mkfs/fsck tools for every (or any) |
| 88 | filesystem under the sun. (fsck_minix.c and mkfs_minix.c are living on |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 89 | borrowed time.) There are far too many of these tools out there. Use |
| 90 | the upstream version. Not everything has to be part of Busybox. |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 91 | |
| 92 | - Any partitioning tools: Partitioning a device is typically done once and |
| 93 | only once, and tools which do this generally do not need to reside on the |
| 94 | target device (esp a flash device). If you need a partitioning tool, grab |
| 95 | one (such as fdisk, sfdisk, or cfdisk from util-linux) and use that, but |
| 96 | don't try to merge it into busybox. These are nasty and complex and we |
| 97 | don't want to maintain them. |
| 98 | |
| 99 | - Any disk, device, or media-specific tools: Use the -utils or -tools package |
| 100 | that was designed for your device; don't try to shoehorn them into Busybox. |
| 101 | |
| 102 | - Any architecture specific tools: Busybox is (or should be) architecture |
| 103 | independent. Do not send us tools that cannot be used across multiple |
| 104 | platforms / arches. |
| 105 | |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 106 | - Any daemons that are not essential to basic system operation. To date, only |
| 107 | syslogd and klogd meet this requirement. We do not need a web server, an |
| 108 | ftp daemon, a dhcp server, a mail transport agent or a dns resolver. If you |
| 109 | need one of those, you are welcome to ask the folks on the mailing list for |
| 110 | recommendations, but please don't bloat up Busybox with any of these. |
| 111 | |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 112 | |
| 113 | Bug Reporting |
| 114 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 115 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 116 | If you find bugs, please submit a detailed bug report to the busybox mailing |
| 117 | list at busybox@busybox.net. A well-written bug report should include a |
| 118 | transcript of a shell session that demonstrates the bad behavior and enables |
Eric Andersen | c7bda1c | 2004-03-15 08:29:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 119 | anyone else to duplicate the bug on their own machine. The following is such |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 120 | an example: |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 121 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 122 | To: busybox@busybox.net |
| 123 | From: diligent@testing.linux.org |
| 124 | Subject: /bin/date doesn't work |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 125 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 126 | Package: busybox |
| 127 | Version: 1.00 |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 128 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 129 | When I execute Busybox 'date' it produces unexpected results. |
| 130 | With GNU date I get the following output: |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 131 | |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 132 | $ date |
| 133 | Wed Mar 21 14:19:41 MST 2001 |
| 134 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 135 | But when I use BusyBox date I get this instead: |
| 136 | |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 137 | $ date |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 138 | llegal instruction |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 139 | |
Eric Andersen | c7bda1c | 2004-03-15 08:29:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 140 | I am using Debian unstable, kernel version 2.4.19-rmk1 on an Netwinder, |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 141 | and the latest uClibc from CVS. Thanks for the wonderful program! |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 142 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 143 | -Diligent |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 144 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 145 | Note the careful description and use of examples showing not only what BusyBox |
| 146 | does, but also a counter example showing what an equivalent GNU app does. Bug |
| 147 | reports lacking such detail may never be fixed... Thanks for understanding. |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 148 | |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 149 | |
| 150 | |
| 151 | Write Documentation |
| 152 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 153 | |
| 154 | Chances are, documentation in Busybox is either missing or needs improvement. |
| 155 | Either way, help is welcome. |
| 156 | |
| 157 | Work is being done to automatically generate documentation from sources, |
| 158 | especially from the usage.h file. If you want to correct the documentation, |
| 159 | please make changes to the pre-generation parts, rather than the generated |
| 160 | documentation. [More to come on this later...] |
| 161 | |
| 162 | It is preferred that modifications to documentation be submitted in patch |
| 163 | format (more on this below), but we're a little more lenient when it comes to |
| 164 | docs. You could, for example, just say "after the listing of the mount |
| 165 | options, the following example would be helpful..." |
| 166 | |
| 167 | |
| 168 | Consult Existing Sources |
| 169 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 170 | |
| 171 | For a quick listing of "needs work" spots in the sources, cd into the Busybox |
| 172 | directory and run the following: |
| 173 | |
Glenn L McGrath | 4636aa9 | 2003-10-29 03:40:47 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 174 | for i in TODO FIXME XXX; do find -name '*.[ch]'|xargs grep $i; done |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 175 | |
| 176 | This will show all of the trouble spots or 'questionable' code. Pick a spot, |
| 177 | any spot, these are all invitations for you to contribute. |
| 178 | |
| 179 | |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 180 | Add a New Applet |
| 181 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 182 | |
| 183 | If you want to add a new applet to Busybox, we'd love to see it. However, |
| 184 | before you write any code, please ask beforehand on the mailing list something |
| 185 | like "Do you think applet 'foo' would be useful in Busybox?" or "Would you |
| 186 | guys accept applet 'foo' into Busybox if I were to write it?" If the answer is |
| 187 | "no" by the folks on the mailing list, then you've saved yourself some time. |
| 188 | Conversely, you could get some positive responses from folks who might be |
| 189 | interested in helping you implement it, or can recommend the best approach. |
| 190 | Perhaps most importantly, this is your way of calling "dibs" on something and |
| 191 | avoiding duplication of effort. |
| 192 | |
| 193 | Also, before you write a line of code, please read the 'new-applet-HOWTO.txt' |
| 194 | file in the docs/ directory. |
| 195 | |
| 196 | |
| 197 | Janitorial Work |
| 198 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 199 | |
| 200 | These are dirty jobs, but somebody's gotta do 'em. |
| 201 | |
Glenn L McGrath | 4636aa9 | 2003-10-29 03:40:47 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 202 | - Converting applets to use getopt() for option processing. Type 'find -name |
| 203 | '*.c'|grep -L getopt' to get a listing of the applets that currently don't |
| 204 | use getopt. If a .c file processes no options, it should have a line that |
Mark Whitley | 9ead689 | 2001-03-03 00:44:55 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 205 | reads: /* no options, no getopt */ somewhere in the file. |
| 206 | |
Mark Whitley | 6c563bc | 2001-03-06 23:16:13 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 207 | - Replace any "naked" calls to malloc, calloc, realloc, str[n]dup, fopen with |
Glenn L McGrath | 4636aa9 | 2003-10-29 03:40:47 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 208 | the x* equivalents found in libbb/xfuncs.c. |
Mark Whitley | 6c563bc | 2001-03-06 23:16:13 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 209 | |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 210 | - Security audits: |
Glenn L McGrath | 4636aa9 | 2003-10-29 03:40:47 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 211 | http://www.securityfocus.com/popups/forums/secprog/intro.shtml |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 212 | |
| 213 | - Synthetic code removal: http://www.perl.com/pub/2000/06/commify.html - This |
| 214 | is very Perl-specific, but the advice given in here applies equally well to |
| 215 | C. |
| 216 | |
Eric Andersen | 449f2bc | 2004-07-14 10:01:04 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 217 | - C library function use audits: Verifying that functions are being used |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 218 | properly (called with the right args), replacing unsafe library functions |
| 219 | with safer versions, making sure return codes are being checked, etc. |
| 220 | |
| 221 | - Where appropriate, replace preprocessor defined macros and values with |
| 222 | compile-time equivalents. |
| 223 | |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 224 | - Style guide compliance. See: docs/style-guide.txt |
| 225 | |
| 226 | - Add testcases to tests/testcases. |
| 227 | |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 228 | - Makefile improvements: |
| 229 | http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp/rmch/recu-make-cons-harm.html |
| 230 | (I think the recursive problems are pretty much taken care of at this point, non?) |
| 231 | |
| 232 | - "Ten Commandments" compliance: (this is a "maybe", certainly not as |
| 233 | important as any of the previous items.) |
Eric Andersen | c7bda1c | 2004-03-15 08:29:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 234 | http://www.lysator.liu.se/c/ten-commandments.html |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 235 | |
| 236 | Other useful links: |
| 237 | |
| 238 | - the comp.lang.c FAQ: http://web.onetelnet.ch/~twolf/tw/c/index.html#Sources |
| 239 | |
| 240 | |
| 241 | |
| 242 | Submitting Patches To Busybox |
| 243 | ----------------------------- |
| 244 | |
| 245 | Here are some guidelines on how to submit a patch to Busybox. |
| 246 | |
| 247 | |
| 248 | Making A Patch |
| 249 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 250 | |
| 251 | If you've got anonymous CVS access set up, making a patch is simple. Just make |
| 252 | sure you're in the busybox/ directory and type 'cvs diff -bwu > mychanges.patch'. |
| 253 | You can send the resulting .patch file to the mailing list with a description |
| 254 | of what it does. (But not before you test it! See the next section for some |
| 255 | guidelines.) It is preferred that patches be sent as attachments, but it is |
| 256 | not required. |
| 257 | |
| 258 | Also, feel free to help test other people's patches and reply to them with |
| 259 | comments. You can apply a patch by saving it into your busybox/ directory and |
| 260 | typing 'patch < mychanges.patch'. Then you can recompile, see if it runs, test |
| 261 | if it works as advertised, and post your findings to the mailing list. |
| 262 | |
| 263 | NOTE: Please do not include extraneous or irrelevant changes in your patches. |
| 264 | Please do not try to "bundle" two patches together into one. Make single, |
| 265 | discreet changes on a per-patch basis. Sometimes you need to make a patch that |
| 266 | touches code in many places, but these kind of patches are rare and should be |
| 267 | coordinated with a maintainer. |
| 268 | |
| 269 | |
| 270 | Testing Guidelines |
| 271 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 272 | |
| 273 | It's considered good form to test your new feature before you submit a patch |
| 274 | to the mailing list, and especially before you commit a change to CVS. Here |
| 275 | are some guidelines on how to test your changes. |
| 276 | |
| 277 | - Always test Busybox applets against GNU counterparts and make sure the |
| 278 | behavior / output is identical between the two. |
| 279 | |
| 280 | - Try several different permutations and combinations of the features you're |
Eric Andersen | 77d9268 | 2001-05-23 20:32:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 281 | adding (i.e., different combinations of command-line switches) and make sure |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 282 | they all work; make sure one feature does not interfere with another. |
| 283 | |
| 284 | - Make sure you test compiling against the source both with the feature |
| 285 | turned on and turned off in Config.h and make sure Busybox compiles cleanly |
| 286 | both ways. |
| 287 | |
| 288 | - Run the multibuild.pl script in the tests directory and make sure |
| 289 | everything checks out OK. (Do this from within the busybox/ directory by |
| 290 | typing: 'tests/multibuild.pl'.) |
| 291 | |
| 292 | |
| 293 | Making Sure Your Patch Doesn't Get Lost |
| 294 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 295 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 296 | If you don't want your patch to be lost or forgotten, send it to the busybox |
| 297 | mailing list with a subject line something like this: |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 298 | |
| 299 | [PATCH] - Adds "transmogrify" feature to "foo" |
| 300 | |
| 301 | In the body, you should have a pseudo-header that looks like the following: |
| 302 | |
| 303 | Package: busybox |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 304 | Version: v1.01pre (or whatever the current version is) |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 305 | Severity: wishlist |
| 306 | |
| 307 | The remainder of the body should read along these lines: |
| 308 | |
| 309 | This patch adds the "transmogrify" feature to the "foo" applet. I have |
| 310 | tested this on [arch] system(s) and it works. I have tested it against the |
| 311 | GNU counterparts and the outputs are identical. I have run the scripts in |
| 312 | the 'tests' directory and nothing breaks. |
| 313 | |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 314 | |
| 315 | |
| 316 | Improving Your Chances of Patch Acceptance |
| 317 | ------------------------------------------ |
| 318 | |
| 319 | Even after you send a brilliant patch to the mailing list, sometimes it can go |
| 320 | unnoticed, un-replied-to, and sometimes (sigh) even lost. This is an |
| 321 | unfortunate fact of life, but there are steps you can take to help your patch |
| 322 | get noticed and convince a maintainer that it should be added: |
| 323 | |
| 324 | |
| 325 | Be Succinct |
| 326 | ~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 327 | |
| 328 | A patch that includes small, isolated, obvious changes is more likely to be |
| 329 | accepted than a patch that touches code in lots of different places or makes |
| 330 | sweeping, dubious changes. |
| 331 | |
| 332 | |
| 333 | Back It Up |
| 334 | ~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 335 | |
| 336 | Hard facts on why your patch is better than the existing code will go a long |
| 337 | way toward convincing maintainers that your patch should be included. |
| 338 | Specifically, patches are more likely to be accepted if they are provably more |
| 339 | correct, smaller, faster, simpler, or more maintainable than the existing |
| 340 | code. |
| 341 | |
| 342 | Conversely, any patch that is supported with nothing more than "I think this |
| 343 | would be cool" or "this patch is good because I say it is and I've got a Phd |
| 344 | in Computer Science" will likely be ignored. |
| 345 | |
| 346 | |
| 347 | Follow The Style Guide |
| 348 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 349 | |
| 350 | It's considered good form to abide by the established coding style used in a |
| 351 | project; Busybox is no exception. We have gone so far as to delineate the |
| 352 | "elements of Busybox style" in the file docs/style-guide.txt. Please follow |
| 353 | them. |
| 354 | |
| 355 | |
| 356 | Work With Someone Else |
| 357 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 358 | |
| 359 | Working on a patch in isolation is less effective than working with someone |
| 360 | else for a variety of reasons. If another Busybox user is interested in what |
| 361 | you're doing, then it's two (or more) voices instead of one that can petition |
| 362 | for inclusion of the patch. You'll also have more people that can test your |
| 363 | changes, or even offer suggestions on better approaches you could take. |
| 364 | |
| 365 | Getting other folks interested follows as a natural course if you've received |
| 366 | responses from queries to applet maintainer or positive responses from folks |
| 367 | on the mailing list. |
| 368 | |
| 369 | We've made strident efforts to put a useful "collaboration" infrastructure in |
| 370 | place in the form of mailing lists, the bug tracking system, and CVS. Please |
| 371 | use these resources. |
| 372 | |
| 373 | |
Mark Whitley | 5b8939b | 2001-03-27 21:20:05 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 374 | Send Patches to the Bug Tracking System |
| 375 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 376 | |
| 377 | This was mentioned above in the "Making Sure Your Patch Doesn't Get Lost" |
| 378 | section, but it is worth mentioning again. A patch sent to the mailing list |
| 379 | might be unnoticed and forgotten. A patch sent to the bug tracking system will |
| 380 | be stored and closely connected to the bug it fixes. |
| 381 | |
| 382 | |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 383 | Be Polite |
| 384 | ~~~~~~~~~ |
| 385 | |
| 386 | The old saying "You'll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar" |
| 387 | applies when submitting patches to the mailing list for approval. The way you |
| 388 | present your patch is sometimes just as important as the actual patch itself |
| 389 | (if not more so). Being rude to the maintainers is not an effective way to |
| 390 | convince them that your patch should be included; it will likely have the |
| 391 | opposite effect. |
| 392 | |
| 393 | |
| 394 | |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 395 | Committing Changes to CVS |
| 396 | ------------------------- |
| 397 | |
| 398 | If you submit several patches that demonstrate that you are a skilled and wise |
| 399 | coder, you may be invited to become a committer, thus enabling you to commit |
| 400 | changes directly to CVS. This is nice because you don't have to wait for |
| 401 | someone else to commit your change for you, you can just do it yourself. |
| 402 | |
| 403 | But note that this is a priviledge that comes with some responsibilities. You |
| 404 | should test your changes before you commit them. You should also talk to an |
| 405 | applet maintainer before you make any kind of sweeping changes to somebody |
| 406 | else's code. Big changes should still go to the mailing list first. Remember, |
| 407 | being wise, polite, and discreet is more important than being clever. |
| 408 | |
| 409 | |
| 410 | When To Commit |
| 411 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 412 | |
| 413 | Generally, you should feel free to commit a change if: |
| 414 | |
| 415 | - Your changes are small and don't touch many files |
| 416 | - You are fixing a bug |
| 417 | - Somebody has told you that it's okay |
| 418 | - It's obviously the Right Thing |
| 419 | |
| 420 | The more of the above are true, the better it is to just commit a change |
| 421 | directly to CVS. |
| 422 | |
| 423 | |
| 424 | When Not To Commit |
| 425 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 426 | |
| 427 | Even if you have commit rights, you should probably still post a patch to the |
| 428 | mailing list if: |
| 429 | |
| 430 | - Your changes are broad and touch many different files |
| 431 | - You are adding a feature |
Eric Andersen | 77d9268 | 2001-05-23 20:32:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 432 | - Your changes are speculative or experimental (i.e., trying a new algorithm) |
Mark Whitley | 0b4d73a | 2001-03-22 22:59:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 433 | - You are not the maintainer and your changes make the maintainer cringe |
| 434 | |
| 435 | The more of the above are true, the better it is to post a patch to the |
| 436 | mailing list instead of committing. |
| 437 | |
| 438 | |
| 439 | |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 440 | Final Words |
| 441 | ----------- |
| 442 | |
| 443 | If all of this seems complicated, don't panic, it's really not that tough. If |
| 444 | you're having difficulty following some of the steps outlined in this |
| 445 | document don't worry, the folks on the Busybox mailing list are a fairly |
| 446 | good-natured bunch and will work with you to help get your patches into shape |
| 447 | or help you make contributions. |
| 448 | |
Mark Whitley | 3b565cd | 2001-03-02 19:14:25 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 449 | |