From cab9237d954ebf91b85f0388c35c47cd56674f10 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Robert Helgesson Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2017 22:26:30 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Add initial CONTRIBUTING file --- CONTRIBUTING.md | 127 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 127 insertions(+) create mode 100644 CONTRIBUTING.md diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..feda8dedb --- /dev/null +++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md @@ -0,0 +1,127 @@ +Contributing +============ + +Thanks for wanting to contribute to Home Manager! These are some +guidelines to make the process as smooth as possible for both you and +the Home Manager developers. + +If you are only looking to report a problem then it is sufficient to +read through the following section on reporting issues. If you instead +want to directly contribute improvements and additions then please +have a look at everything here. + +Reporting an issue +------------------ + +If you notice a problem with Home Manager and want to report it then +have a look among the already [open issues][], if you find one +matching yours then feel free to comment on it to add any additional +information you may have. + +If no matching issue exists then go to the [new issue][] page and +write a description of your problem. Include as much information as +you can, ideally also include relevant excerpts from your Home Manager +configuration. + +Contributing code +----------------- + +If you want to contribute code to improve Home Manager then please +follow these guidelines. + +### Fork and create a pull request ### + +If you have not previously forked Home Manager then you need to do +that first. Have a look at GitHub's "[Fork A Repo][]" for instructions +on how to do this. + +Once you have a fork of Home Manager you should create a branch +starting at the most recent `master`. Give your branch a reasonably +descriptive name. Perform your changes on this branch and when you are +happy with the result push the branch to GitHub and +[create a pull request][]. + +### Commits ### + +The commits in your pull request should be reasonably self-contained, +that is, each commit should make sense in isolation. In particular, +you will be asked to amend any commit that introduces syntax errors or +similar problems even if they are fixed in a later commit. + +The commit messages should follow the format + + {component}: {description} + + {long description} + +where `{component}` refers to the code component (or module) your +change affects, `{description}` is a brief description of your change, +and `{long description}` is an optional clarifying description. Note, +`{description}` should start with a lower case letter. As a rare +exception, if there is no clear component, or your change affects many +components, then the `{component}` part is optional. + +When adding a new module, say `foo.nix`, we use the fixed commit +format `foo: add module`. You can, of course, still include a long +description if you wish. + +In addition to the above commit message guidelines, try to follow the +[seven rules][] as much as possible. + +### News ### + +Home Manager includes a system for presenting news to the user. When +making a change you, therefore, have the option to also include an +associated news entry. In general, a news entry should only be added +for truly noteworthy news. For example, a bug fix or new option does +generally not need a news entry. + +If you do have a change worthy of a news entry then please add one in +[`news.nix`][] but you should follow some basic guidelines: + +- The entry timestamp should be in ISO-8601 format having "+00:00" as + time zone. For example, "2017-09-13T17:10:14+00:00". A suitable + timestamp can be produced by the command + + date --iso-8601=second --universal + +- The entry condition should be as specific as possible. For example, + if you are changing or deprecating a specific option then you could + restrict the news to those users who actually use this option. + +- Wrap the news message so that it will fit in the typical terminal, + that is, at most 80 characters wide. Ideally a bit less. + +- Unlike commit messages, news will be read without any connection to + the Home Manager source code. It is therefore important to make the + message understandable in isolation and to those who do not have + knowledge of the Home Manager internals. To this end it should be + written in more descriptive, prose like way. + +- If you refer to an option then write its full attribute path. That + is, instead of writing + + > The option 'foo' has been deprecated, please use 'bar' instead. + + it should read + + > The option 'services.myservice.foo' has been deprecated, please + > use 'services.myservice.bar' instead. + +- A new module, say `foo.nix`, should always include a news entry + (without any condition) that has a message along the lines of + + > A new service is available: 'services.foo'. + + or + + > A new program configuration is available: 'program.foo'. + + depending on the type of module. + +[open issues]: https://github.com/rycee/home-manager/issues +[new issue]: https://github.com/rycee/home-manager/issues/new +[Fork A Repo]: https://help.github.com/articles/fork-a-repo/ +[create a pull request]: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-pull-request/ +[seven rules]: https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/#seven-rules +[`news.nix`]: https://github.com/rycee/home-manager/blob/master/modules/misc/news.nix