mirror of
https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk-m
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608 lines
22 KiB
Markdown
608 lines
22 KiB
Markdown
# Contributing to VTK-m #
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This page documents how to develop VTK-m through [Git](http://git-scm.com).
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Git is an extremely powerful version control tool that supports many
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different "workflows" for individual development and collaboration. Here we
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document procedures used by the VTK-m development community. In the
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interest of simplicity and brevity we do *not* provide an explanation of
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why we use this approach.
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## Setup ##
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Before you begin, perform initial setup:
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1. Register [GitLab Access] to create an account and select a user name.
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2. [Fork VTK-m] into your user's namespace on GitLab.
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3. Use Git to create a local clone of the main VTK repository:
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$ git clone https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk-m.git
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$ cd vtk-m
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The main repository will be configured as your `origin` remote.
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4. Run the developer setup script to prepare your VTK-m work tree and
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create Git command aliases used below:
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$ ./Utilities/SetupForDevelopment.sh
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This will prompt for your GitLab user name and configure a remote
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called `gitlab` to refer to it.
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5. (Optional but highly recommended.)
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[Register with the VTK-m dashboard] on Kitware's CDash instance to
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better know how your code performs in regression tests. After
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registering and signing in, click on "All Dashboards" link in the upper
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left corner, scroll down and click "Subscribe to this project" on the
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right of VTK-m.
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6. (Optional but highly recommended.)
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[Sign up for the VTK-m mailing list] to communicate with other
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developers and users.
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[GitLab Access]: https://gitlab.kitware.com/users/sign_in
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[Fork VTK-m]: https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk-m/-/forks/new
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[Register with the VTK-m dashboard]: https://open.cdash.org/register.php
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[Sign up for the VTK-m mailing list]: http://vtk.org/mailman/listinfo/vtkm
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## Workflow ##
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VTK-m development uses a [branchy workflow] based on topic branches. Our
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collaboration workflow consists of three main steps:
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1. Local Development:
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* [Update](#update)
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* [Create a Topic](#create-a-topic)
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2. Code Review (requires [GitLab Access]):
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* [Share a Topic](#share-a-topic)
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* [Create a Merge Request](#create-a-merge-request)
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* [Review a Merge Request](#review-a-merge-request)
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* [Reformat a Topic](#reformat-a-topic)
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* [Revise a Topic](#revise-a-topic)
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3. Integrate Changes:
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* [Merge a Topic](#merge-a-topic) (requires permission in GitLab)
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[branchy workflow]: http://public.kitware.com/Wiki/Git/Workflow/Topic
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## Update ##
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1. Update your local `master` branch:
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$ git checkout master
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$ git pull
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2. Optionally push `master` to your fork in GitLab:
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$ git push gitlab master
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## Create a Topic ##
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All new work must be committed on topic branches. Name topics like you
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might name functions: concise but precise. A reader should have a general
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idea of the feature or fix to be developed given just the branch name.
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1. To start a new topic branch:
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$ git fetch origin
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2. For new development, start the topic from `origin/master`:
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$ git checkout -b my-topic origin/master
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3. Edit files and create commits (repeat as needed):
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$ edit file1 file2 file3
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$ git add file1 file2 file3
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$ git commit
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Caveats:
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* Data files must be placed under a folder explicitly named 'data'.
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This is required as VTK-m uses Git-LFS to efficiently support data
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files.
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4. If you are adding a new feature or making sigificant changes to API,
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make sure to add a entry to `docs/changelog`. This allows release
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notes to properly capture all relevant changes.
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### Guidelines for Commit Messages ###
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Remember to *motivate & summarize*. When writing commit messages. Get into
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the habit of creating messages that have enough information for any
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developer to read and glean relevant information such as:
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1. Is this change important and why?
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2. If addressing an issue, which issue(s)?
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3. If a new feature, why is it useful and/or necessary?
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4. Are there background references or documentation?
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A short description of what the issue being addressed and how will go a
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long way towards making the log more readable and the software more
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maintainable. VTK-m requires that your message start with a single subject
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line, followed by a blank line, followed by the message body which contains
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the more detailed explanatory text for the commit. You can consider a
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commit message to very similar to an email with the first line being the
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subject of an email and the rest of the text as the body.
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Style guidelines for commit messages are as follows:
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1. Separate subject from body with a blank line
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2. Limit the subject line to 78 characters
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3. Capitalize the subject line
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4. Use the imperative mood in the subject line e.g. "Refactor foo" or
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"Fix Issue #12322", instead of "Refactoring foo", or "Fixing issue
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#12322".
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5. Wrap the body at 80 characters
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6. Use the body to explain `what` and `why` and if applicable a brief
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`how`.
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## Share a Topic ##
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When a topic is ready for review and possible inclusion, share it by
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pushing to a fork of your repository in GitLab. Be sure you have registered
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and signed in for [GitLab Access] and created your fork by visiting the
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main [VTK-m GitLab] repository page and using the "Fork" button in the
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upper right.
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[VTK-m GitLab]: https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk-m
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1. Checkout the topic if it is not your current branch:
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$ git checkout my-topic
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2. Push commits in your topic branch to your fork in GitLab:
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$ git gitlab-push
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Notes:
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* If you are revising a previously pushed topic and have rewritten
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the topic history, add `-f` or `--force` to overwrite the
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destination.
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* The `gitlab-push` script also pushes the `master` branch to your
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fork in GitLab to keep it in sync with the upstream `master`.
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The output will include a link to the topic branch in your fork in
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GitLab and a link to a page for creating a Merge Request.
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## Create a Merge Request ##
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When you [pushed your topic branch](#share-a-topic), it will provide you
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with a url of the form
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https://gitlab.kitware.com/<username>/vtk-m/-/merge_requests/new
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You can copy/paste that into your web browser to create a new merge
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request. Alternately, you can visit your fork in GitLab, browse to the
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"**Merge Requests**" link on the left, and use the "**New Merge Request**"
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button in the upper right.
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Once at the create merge request page, follow these steps. Many of these
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will be filled out for you.
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1. In the "**Source branch**" box select the `<username>/vtk-m` repository
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and the `my-topic` branch.
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2. In the "**Target branch**" box select the `vtk/vtk-m` repository and
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the `master` branch. It should be the default.
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3. Use the "**Compare branches**" button to proceed to the next page and
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fill out the merge request creation form.
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4. In the "**Title**" field provide a one-line summary of the entire
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topic. This will become the title of the Merge Request.
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Example Merge Request Title:
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Add OpenMP Device Adapter
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5. In the "**Description**" field provide a high-level description of the
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change the topic makes and any relevant information about how to try
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it.
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* Use `@username` syntax to draw attention of specific developers.
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This syntax may be used anywhere outside literal text and code
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blocks. Or, wait until the [next step](#review-a-merge-request)
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and add comments to draw attention of developers.
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* Optionally use a fenced code block with type `message` to specify
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text to be included in the generated merge commit message when the
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topic is [merged](#merge-a-topic).
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Example Merge Request Description:
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This branch adds a new device adapter that uses new OpenMP 4+ features
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including Task groups to better handle unbalanced and irregular domains
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```message
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Add a OpenMP 4+ task-based device adapter.
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```
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Cc: @user1 @user2
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6. The "**Assign to**", "**Milestone**", and "**Labels**" fields may be
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left blank.
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7. Enable the "**Allow commits from members who can merge to the target branch.**" option,
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so that reviewers can modify the merge request. This allows reviewers to change
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minor style issues without overwhelming the author with change requests.
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7. Use the "**Submit merge request**" button to create the merge request
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and visit its page.
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### Guidelines for Merge Requests ###
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Remember to *motivate & summarize*. When creating a merge request, consider
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the reviewers and future perusers of the software. Provide enough
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information to motivate the merge request such as:
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1. Is this merge request important and why?
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2. If addressing an issue, which issue(s)?
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3. If a new feature, why is it useful and/or necessary?
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4. Are there background references or documentation?
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Also provide a summary statement expressing what you did and if there is a
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choice in implementation or design pattern, the rationale for choosing a
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certain path. Notable software or data features should be mentioned as
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well.
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A well written merge request will motivate your reviewers, and bring them
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up to speed faster. Future software developers will be able to understand
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the reasons why something was done, and possibly avoid chasing down dead
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ends, Although it may take you a little more time to write a good merge
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request, you’ll likely see payback in faster reviews and better understood
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and maintainable software.
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## Review a Merge Request ##
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Add comments mentioning specific developers using `@username` syntax to
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draw their attention and have the topic reviewed. After typing `@` and some
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text, GitLab will offer completions for developers whose real names or user
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names match.
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Comments use [GitLab Flavored Markdown] for formatting. See GitLab
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documentation on [Special GitLab References] to add links to things like
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merge requests and commits in other repositories.
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[GitLab Flavored Markdown]: https://gitlab.kitware.com/help/markdown/markdown
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[Special GitLab References]: https://gitlab.kitware.com/help/markdown/markdown#special-gitlab-references
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### Reviews ###
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Reviewers may add comments providing feedback or to acknowledge their
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approval. All comments use the [GitLab Flavored Markdown][], any line of a
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comment may be exactly one of the following votes followed by nothing but
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whitespace before the end of the line:
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* `-1` or :-1: (`:-1:`) means "The change is not ready for integration."
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* `+1` or :+1: (`:+1:`) means "The change is ready for integration."
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These are used to inform the author that a merge srequest has been approved
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for [merging](#merge-a-topic).
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#### Fetching Changes ####
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One may fetch the changes associated with a merge request by using the `git
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fetch` command line shown at the top of the Merge Request page. It is of
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the form:
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$ git fetch https://gitlab.kitware.com/$username/vtk-m.git $branch
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This updates the local `FETCH_HEAD` to refer to the branch.
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There are a few options for checking out the changes in a work tree:
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* One may checkout the branch:
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$ git checkout FETCH_HEAD -b $branch
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or checkout the commit without creating a local branch:
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$ git checkout FETCH_HEAD
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* Or, one may cherry-pick the commits to minimize rebuild time:
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$ git cherry-pick ..FETCH_HEAD
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### Robot Reviews ###
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The "Kitware Robot" automatically performs basic checks on the commits and
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adds a comment acknowledging or rejecting the topic. This will be repeated
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automatically whenever the topic is updated. A re-check may be explicitly
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requested by adding a comment with a single *trailing* line:
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Do: check
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A topic cannot be [merged](#merge-a-topic) until the automatic review
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succeeds.
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### Testing ###
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Each time a merge request is created or updated automated testing
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is automatically triggered, and shows up under the pipeline tab.
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Developers can track the status of the pipeline for a merge
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request by using the Pipeline tab on a merge request or by
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clicking on stage icons as shown below:
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![alt text](docs/build_stage.png "Pipeline")
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When trying to diagnose why a build or tests stage has failed it
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generally is easier to look at the pruned information reported
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on [VTK-m's CDash Dashboard](https://open.cdash.org/index.php?project=VTKM).
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To make it easier to see only the results for a given merge request
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you can click the `cdash` link under the external stage ( rightmost pipeline stage icon )
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![alt text](docs/external_stage.png "CDash Link")
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In addition to the gitlab pipelines the buildbot user (@buildbot) will respond
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with a comment linking to the CDash results when it schedules builds.
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The builds for VTK-m that show up as part of the `external` stage of the
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gitlab pipeline are driven via buildbot, and have a different workflow.
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When you need to do things such as retry a build, you must issue commands
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via comments of the following form. The buildbot user (@buildbot) will
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respond signify that the command has been executed
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Do: test
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The `Do: test` command accepts the following arguments:
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* `--oneshot`
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only build the *current* hash of the branch; updates will not be
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built using this command
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* `--stop`
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clear the list of commands for the merge request
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* `--superbuild`
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build the superbuilds related to the project
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* `--clear`
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clear previous commands before adding this command
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* `--regex-include <arg>` or `-i <arg>`
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only build on builders matching `<arg>` (a Python regular
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expression)
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* `--regex-exclude <arg>` or `-e <arg>`
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excludes builds on builders matching `<arg>` (a Python regular
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expression)
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Multiple `Do: test` commands may be given in separate comments. Buildbot
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may skip tests for older branch updates that have not started before a test
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for a new update is requested.
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Build names always follow this pattern:
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SHA-build#-[os-libtype-buildtype+feature1+feature2]-topic
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* SHA: The shortened 8-digit SHA identifying the git commit being tested
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* build: `build####` with `####` replaced by a unique number for the build
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* os: one of `windows`, `osx`, or `linux`
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* libtype: `shared` or `static`
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* buildtype: `release` or `debug`
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* feature: alphabetical list of features enabled for the build
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* topic: the git topic branch being tested
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## Reformat a Topic ##
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The "Kitware Robot" automatically performs basic code formatting on the
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commits and adds a comment acknowledging or rejecting a merge request based
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on the format. You may request "Kitware Robot" to automatically reformat
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the remote copy of your branch by issuing the following command in a merge
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request page comment:
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Do: reformat
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This reformatting of the topic rewrites the commits to fix the formatting
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errors, and causes the version on the developers machine to differ from
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version on the gitlab server. To resolve this issue you must update the
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local version to match the reformatted one on the server if you wish to
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extend or revise the topic.
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1. Checkout the topic if it is not your current branch:
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$ git checkout my-topic
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2. Get the new version from gitlab
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$ git gitlab-sync -f
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If you do not wish to have the "Kitware Robot" automatically reformat your
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branch you can do so manually by running [clang-format] manually on each
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commit of your branch. This must be done by [revising each
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commit](#revise-a-topic) not as new commits onto the end of the branch.
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[clang-format]: https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ClangFormat.html
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## Revise a Topic ##
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Revising a topic is a special way to modify the commits within a topic.
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Normally during a review of a merge request a developer will resolve issues
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brought up during review by adding more commits to the topic. While this is
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sufficient for most issues, some issues can only be resolved by rewriting
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the history of the topic.
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### Starting Revisions ###
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Regardless of what revisions need to be made, you first must make sure that
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your topic is the current branch. To make your topic branch current:
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$ git checkout my-topic
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(As always, you can get the current branch with the `git status` command.)
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A common need for revisions is to update your topic branch to the latest
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version of VTK-m. Even if you a revising your topic branch for some other
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reason, also updating to the latest master is usually not a bad idea. To
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update to the latest commit in master, you need to make sure that the
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latest commit is in your local repository. To do that run
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$ git pull-master
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### Make Local Revisions ###
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The easiest way to make changes to the commits on your topic branch is to
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rebase it to the master branch:
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$ git rebase -i master
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When you run this command, git will open your text editor with a list of
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all the commits that will be changed. The first word of each lines
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indicates a command for that commit. By default, all commits are `pick`ed,
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which means that they will be simply passed without change.
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If you need to revise the commit message of one of the commits, then
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replace `pick` with `reword` (or just `r`). When the rebase starts, a new
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editor will be provided to let you change the commit message.
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If you need to make changes to files within a commit, then replace `pick`
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with `edit` (or just `e`). When the rebase gets to this commit, it will
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pause to let you make changes to the files.
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If you need to merge commits together, use the `squash` (or `s`) command.
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The rebase will give you a change to edit the commit message of the merged
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commit.
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Once you exit your editor, the rebase will begin. If you have requested to
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edit any commits or if git detects a conflict while applying a commit, it
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will stop running so that you can make changes. Make the changes you need,
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use `git add` to stage those changes, and then use
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$ git rebase --continue
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to have git continue the rebase process. You can always run `git status` to
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get help about what to do next.
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### Push to GitLab ###
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To push commits in your topic branch to your fork in GitLab:
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$ git gitlab-push -f
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Note: You need have the `-f` or `--force` to overwrite the destination as
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you are revising a previously pushed topic and have rewritten the topic
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history.
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## Merge a Topic ##
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After a topic has been reviewed and approved in a GitLab Merge Request,
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authorized developers may add a comment with a single *trailing* line:
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Do: merge
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to ask that the change be merged into the upstream repository. By
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convention, only merge if you have received `+1` . Do not request a merge
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if any `-1` review comments have not been resolved.
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### Merge Success ###
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If the merge succeeds the topic will appear in the upstream repository
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`master` branch and the Merge Request will be closed automatically.
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### Merge Failure ###
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If the merge fails (likely due to a conflict), a comment will be added
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describing the failure. In the case of a conflict, fetch the latest
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upstream history and rebase on it:
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||
$ git fetch origin
|
||
$ git rebase origin/master
|
||
|
||
Return to the [above step](#share-a-topic) to share the revised topic.
|
||
|
||
## Fixing Problems ##
|
||
|
||
There are a lot of instructions in this document, and if you are not
|
||
familiar with contributing to VTK-m, you may get your repository in a bad
|
||
state that will cause problems with the other instructions. This section
|
||
attempts to capture common problems contributors have and the fixes for
|
||
them.
|
||
|
||
### Wrong origin Remote ###
|
||
|
||
The VTK-m contribution workflow assumes that your `origin` remote is
|
||
attached to the main VTK-m GitLab repository. If it is not, that will cause
|
||
problems with updating your repository. To check which remote repository
|
||
origin refers to, run
|
||
|
||
$ git remote -v
|
||
|
||
It will give you a list of remotes and their URLs that you have configured.
|
||
If you have a line like
|
||
|
||
origin https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk-m.git (fetch)
|
||
|
||
or
|
||
|
||
origin git@gitlab.kitware.com:vtk/vtk-m.git (fetch)
|
||
|
||
then everything is OK. If it is anything else (for example, it has your
|
||
GitLab username in it), then you have a problem. Fortunately, you can fix
|
||
it by simply changing the remote's URL:
|
||
|
||
$ git remote set-url origin https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk-m.git
|
||
|
||
If you had to change the `origin` remote, you should also rerun
|
||
`Utilities/SetupForDevelopment.sh` to make sure the other remotes are set
|
||
up correctly.
|
||
|
||
### master Not Tracking origin ###
|
||
|
||
The instructions in this document assume that your `master` branch is
|
||
tracking the remote `master` branch at `origin` (which, as specified above,
|
||
should be the main VTK-m repository). This should be set up if you
|
||
correctly cloned the main VTK-m repository, but can get accidentally
|
||
changed.
|
||
|
||
To check which remote branch `master` is tracking, call
|
||
|
||
$ git rev-parse --abbrev-ref --symbolic-full-name master@{upstream}
|
||
|
||
Git should respond with `origin/master`. If it responds with anything else,
|
||
you need to reset the tracking:
|
||
|
||
$ git branch -u origin/master master
|
||
|
||
### Local Edits on the master Branch ###
|
||
|
||
The first step in the [contributing workflow](#workflow) is that you
|
||
[create a topic branch](#create-a-topic) on which to make changes. You are
|
||
not supposed to add your commits directly to `master`. However, it is easy
|
||
to forget to create the topic branch.
|
||
|
||
To find out if you have local commits on your master branch, check its
|
||
status:
|
||
|
||
$ git checkout master
|
||
$ git status
|
||
|
||
If status responds that your branch is up to date or that your branch is
|
||
_behind_ the `origin/master` remote branch, then everything is fine. (If
|
||
your branch is behind you might want to update it with `git pull`.)
|
||
|
||
If the status responds that your branch and `origin/master` have diverged
|
||
or that your branch is _ahead_ of `origin/master`, then you have local
|
||
commits on the master branch. Those local commits need to move to a topic
|
||
branch.
|
||
|
||
1. Create a topic branch:
|
||
|
||
$ git branch my-topic
|
||
|
||
Of course, replace `my-topic` with something that better describes your
|
||
changes.
|
||
|
||
2. Reset the local master branch to the remote master branch:
|
||
|
||
$ git reset --hard origin/master
|
||
|
||
3. Check out the topic branch to continue working on it:
|
||
|
||
$ git checkout my-topic
|