64 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
64 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
# How to contribute
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Note: contributing implies licensing those contributions
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under the terms of [COPYING](../COPYING), which is an MIT-like license.
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## Opening issues
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* Make sure you have a [GitHub account](https://github.com/signup/free)
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* Make sure there is no open issue on the topic
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* [Submit a new issue](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/new/choose) by choosing the kind of topic and fill out the template
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## Submitting changes
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* Format the commit messages in the following way:
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```
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(pkg-name | nixos/<module>): (from -> to | init at version | refactor | etc)
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(Motivation for change. Additional information.)
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```
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For consistency, there should not be a period at the end of the commit message's summary line (the first line of the commit message).
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Examples:
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* nginx: init at 2.0.1
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* firefox: 54.0.1 -> 55.0
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* nixos/hydra: add bazBaz option
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Dual baz behavior is needed to do foo.
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* nixos/nginx: refactor config generation
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The old config generation system used impure shell scripts and could break in specific circumstances (see #1234).
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* `meta.description` should:
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* Be capitalized.
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* Not start with the package name.
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* Not have a period at the end.
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* `meta.license` must be set and fit the upstream license.
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* If there is no upstream license, `meta.license` should default to `stdenv.lib.licenses.unfree`.
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* `meta.maintainers` must be set.
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See the nixpkgs manual for more details on [standard meta-attributes](https://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/#sec-standard-meta-attributes) and on how to [submit changes to nixpkgs](https://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/#chap-submitting-changes).
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## Writing good commit messages
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In addition to writing properly formatted commit messages, it's important to include relevant information so other developers can later understand *why* a change was made. While this information usually can be found by digging code, mailing list/Discourse archives, pull request discussions or upstream changes, it may require a lot of work.
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For package version upgrades and such a one-line commit message is usually sufficient.
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## Backporting changes
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Follow these steps to backport a change into a release branch in compliance with the [commit policy](https://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/#submitting-changes-stable-release-branches).
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1. Take note of the commits in which the change was introduced into `master` branch.
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2. Check out the target _release branch_, e.g. `release-20.03`. Do not use a _channel branch_ like `nixos-20.03` or `nixpkgs-20.03`.
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3. Create a branch for your change, e.g. `git checkout -b backport`.
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4. When the reason to backport is not obvious from the original commit message, use `git cherry-pick -xe <original commit>` and add a reason. Otherwise use `git cherry-pick -x <original commit>`. That's fine for minor version updates that only include security and bug fixes, commits that fixes an otherwise broken package or similar.
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5. Push to GitHub and open a backport pull request. Make sure to select the release branch (e.g. `release-20.03`) as the target branch of the pull request, and link to the pull request in which the original change was comitted to `master`. The pull request title should be the commit title with the release version as prefix, e.g. `[20.03]`.
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## Reviewing contributions
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See the nixpkgs manual for more details on how to [Review contributions](https://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/#chap-reviewing-contributions).
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