Extend the guidance to choose the base commit to build your work
on, and hint/nudge contributors to read others' changes.
* jc/doc-submitting-patches-choice-of-base:
SubmittingPatchs: clarify choice of base and testing
We encourage identifying what, among many topics on `next`, exact
topics a new work depends on, instead of building directly on
`next`. Let's clarify this in the documentation.
Developers should know what they are building on top of, and be
aware of which part of the system is currently being worked on.
Encouraging them to make trial merges to `next` and `seen`
themselves will incentivize them to read others' changes and
understand them, eventually helping the developers to coordinate
among themselves and reviewing each others' changes.
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
A superfluous ']' was added to the title of the GitHub CI section in
f003a91f5c (SubmittingPatches: replace discussion of Travis with GitHub
Actions, 2021-07-22). Remove it.
While at it, format the URL for a GitHub user's workflow runs of Git
between backticks, since if not Asciidoc formats only the first part,
"https://github.com/<Your", as a link, which is not very useful.
Signed-off-by: Philippe Blain <levraiphilippeblain@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Replace the discussion of Travis CI added in
0e5d028a7a (Documentation: add setup instructions for Travis CI,
2016-05-02) with something that covers the GitHub Actions added in
889cacb689 (ci: configure GitHub Actions for CI/PR, 2020-04-11).
The setup is trivial compared to using Travis, and it even works on
Windows (that "hopefully soon" comment was probably out-of-date on
Travis as well).
Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Move the section discussing the addition of a SOB trailer above the
section that discusses generating the patch itself. This makes sense
as we don't want someone to go through the process of "git
format-patch", only to realize late that they should have used "git
commit -s" or equivalent.
This is a move-only change, no lines here are being altered, only
moved around.
Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Update the documentation not to assume users are of certain gender
and adds to guidelines to do so.
* ds/gender-neutral-doc:
*: fix typos
comments: avoid using the gender of our users
doc: avoid using the gender of other people
Using gendered pronouns for an anonymous person applies a gender where
none is known and further excludes readers who do not use gendered
pronouns. Avoid such examples in the documentation by using "they" or
passive voice to avoid the need for a pronoun.
Inspired-by: Derrick Stolee <dstolee@microsoft.com>
Signed-off-by: Felipe Contreras <felipe.contreras@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <dstolee@microsoft.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
The same "do not capitalize the first word" rule is applied to both
our patch titles and error messages, but the existing description
was fuzzy in two aspects.
* For error messages, it was not said that this was only about the
first word that begins the sentence.
* For both, it was not clear when a capital letter there was not an
error. We avoid capitalizing the first word when the only reason
you would capitalize it is because it happens to be the first
word in the sentence. If a proper noun, which is usually spelled
in capital letters, happens to come at the beginning of the
sentence, it should be kept in capital letters.
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
The text says "if you can certify DCO then you add a Signed-off-by
trailer". But it does not say anything about people who cannot or
do not want to certify. A natural reading may be that if you do not
certify, you must not add the trailer, but it shouldn't hurt to be
overly explicit.
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Ted reported an old typo in the git-commit.txt and merge-options.txt.
Namely, the phrase "Signed-off-by line" was used without either a
definite nor indefinite article.
Upon examination, it seems that the documentation (including items in
Documentation/, but also option help strings) have been quite
inconsistent on usage when referring to `Signed-off-by`.
First, very few places used a definite or indefinite article with the
phrase "Signed-off-by line", but that was the initial typo that led
to this investigation. So, normalize using either an indefinite or
definite article consistently.
The original phrasing, in Commit 3f971fc425 (Documentation updates,
2005-08-14), is "Add Signed-off-by line". Commit 6f855371a5 (Add
--signoff, --check, and long option-names. 2005-12-09) switched to
using "Add `Signed-off-by:` line", but didn't normalize the former
commit to match. Later commits seem to have cut and pasted from one
or the other, which is likely how the usage became so inconsistent.
Junio stated on the git mailing list in
<xmqqy2k1dfoh.fsf@gitster.c.googlers.com> a preference to leave off
the colon. Thus, prefer `Signed-off-by` (with backticks) for the
documentation files and Signed-off-by (without backticks) for option
help strings.
Additionally, Junio argued that "trailer" is now the standard term to
refer to `Signed-off-by`, saying that "becomes plenty clear that we
are not talking about any random line in the log message". As such,
prefer "trailer" over "line" anywhere the former word fits.
However, leave alone those few places in documentation that use
Signed-off-by to refer to the process (rather than the specific
trailer), or in places where mail headers are generally discussed in
comparison with Signed-off-by.
Reported-by: "Theodore Y. Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>
Signed-off-by: Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@sfconservancy.org>
Acked-by: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
The description on sign-off and DCO was written back in the days
where there was only a choice between "use sign-off and it means the
contributor agrees to the Linux-kernel style DCO" and "not using
sign-off at all will make your patch unusable". These days, we are
trying to clarify that the exact meaning of a sign-off varies
project to project.
Let's be more explicit when presenting what _our_ rules are. It is
of secondary importance that it originally came from the kernel
project, so move the description as a historical note at the end,
while cautioning that what a sign-off means to us may be different from
what it means to other projects contributors may have been used to.
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Reviewed-by: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>
Reviewed-by: Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@sfconservancy.org>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
The documentation and some tests have been adjusted for the recent
renaming of "pu" branch to "seen".
* js/pu-to-seen:
tests: reference `seen` wherever `pu` was referenced
docs: adjust the technical overview for the rename `pu` -> `seen`
docs: adjust for the recent rename of `pu` to `seen`
As of "What's cooking in git.git (Jun 2020, #04; Mon, 22)", there is no
longer any `pu` branch, but a `seen` branch.
While we technically do not even need to update the manual pages, it
makes sense to update them because they clearly talk about branches in
git.git.
Please note that in two instances, this patch not only updates the
branch name, but also the description "(proposed updates)".
Where appropriate, quotes have been added for readability.
Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
While the MyFirstContribution guide exists and has received some use and
positive reviews, it is still not as discoverable as it could be. Add a
reference to it from the GitHub pull request template, where many
brand-new contributors may look. Also add a reference to it in
SubmittingPatches, which is the central source of guidance for patch
contribution.
Signed-off-by: Emily Shaffer <emilyshaffer@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Philippe Blain <levraiphilippeblain@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
"git log" family learned "--pretty=reference" that gives the name
of a commit in the format that is often used to refer to it in log
messages.
* dl/pretty-reference:
SubmittingPatches: use `--pretty=reference`
pretty: implement 'reference' format
pretty: add struct cmt_fmt_map::default_date_mode_type
pretty: provide short date format
t4205: cover `git log --reflog -z` blindspot
pretty.c: inline initalize format_context
revision: make get_revision_mark() return const pointer
completion: complete `tformat:` pretty format
SubmittingPatches: remove dq from commit reference
pretty-formats.txt: use generic terms for hash
SubmittingPatches: use generic terms for hash
Since Git was taught the `--pretty=reference` option, it is no longer
necessary to manually specify the format string to get the commit
reference. Teach users to use the new option while keeping the old
invocation around in case they have an older version of Git.
Signed-off-by: Denton Liu <liu.denton@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Quoting SZEDER Gábor[1],
SubmittingPatches is simply wrong: our de-facto standard format for
referencing other commits does not enclose the subject in a pair of
double-quotes:
$ git log v2.24.0 |grep -E '[0-9a-f]{7} \("' |wc -l
785
$ git log v2.24.0 |grep -E '[0-9a-f]{7} \([^"]' |wc -l
2276
Those double-quotes don't add any value to the references, but they
result in weird looking references for 1083 of our commits whose
subject lines happen to end with double-quotes, e.g.:
f23a465132 ("hashmap_get{,_from_hash} return "struct hashmap_entry *"", 2019-10-06)
and without those unnecessary pair of double-quotes we would have
~3000 more commits whose summary would fit on a single line.
Remove references to the enclosing double-quotes from SubmittingPatches
since our de-facto standard for referencing commits does not actually
use them.
[1]: cf. <20191114011048.GS4348@szeder.dev>
Signed-off-by: Denton Liu <liu.denton@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Since Git is planning on upgrading from SHA-1 to be more hash-agnostic,
replace specific references to SHA-1 with more generic terminology.
Signed-off-by: Denton Liu <liu.denton@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Applying CodingGuidelines about monospace on pathnames and URLs.
See Documentation/CodingGuidelines.txt for more information.
Signed-off-by: Corentin BOMPARD <corentin.bompard@etu.univ-lyon1.fr>
Signed-off-by: Nathan BERBEZIER <nathan.berbezier@etu.univ-lyon1.fr>
Signed-off-by: Pablo CHABANNE <pablo.chabanne@etu.univ-lyon1.fr>
Signed-off-by: Matthieu MOY <matthieu.moy@univ-lyon1.fr>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
We already advise people to make sure their documentation
formats correctly. Let's point them at the doc-diff script,
which can help with that.
Let's also put a brief note in the script about its purpose,
since that otherwise can only be found in the original
commit message. Along with the existing -h/usage text,
that's hopefully enough for developers to make use of it.
Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Signed-off-by: Ville Skyttä <ville.skytta@iki.fi>
Reviewed-by: Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Add a mention of the security mailing list to the README, and to
Documentation/SubmittingPatches.. 2caa7b8d27 ("git manpage: note
git-security@googlegroups.com", 2018-03-08) already added it to the
man page, but for developers either the README, or the documentation
on how to contribute (SubmittingPatches) may be the first place to
look.
Use the same wording as we already have on the git-scm.com website and
in the man page for the README, while the wording is adjusted in
SubmittingPatches to match the surrounding document better.
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gummerer <t.gummerer@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Use names instead of numbers for the AsciiDoc attributes that are used
for the footnotes. We will add more footnotes in subsequent commits,
and attributes should ideally all be unique. Having named attributes
will help ensure uniqueness, and we won't have to re-number the
attributes if we add a footnote earlier in the document.
In addition it also clarifies that the attribute name/number is not
related to the number the footnote will get in the output.
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gummerer <t.gummerer@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Instead of just mentioning 'git blame' and 'git shortlog', which make it
quite hard for new contributors to pick out the appropriate list of
people to cc on their patch series, mention the 'git contacts' utility,
which makes it much easier to get a reasonable list of contacts for a
change.
This should help new contributors pick out a reasonable cc list by
simply using a single command.
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gummerer <t.gummerer@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
049e64aa50 ("Documentation: convert SubmittingPatches to AsciiDoc",
2017-11-12) changed the `git blame` and `git shortlog` examples given in
the section on sending your patches.
In order to italicize the `$path` argument the commands are enclosed in
plus characters as opposed to backticks. The difference between the
quoting methods is that backtick enclosed text is not subject to further
expansion. This formatting makes reading SubmittingPatches in a git
clone a little more difficult. In addition to the underscores around
`$path` the `--` chars in `git shortlog --no-merges` must be replaced
with `{litdd}`.
Use backticks to quote these commands. The italicized `$path` is lost
from the html version but the commands can be read (and copied) more
easily by users reading the text version. These readers are more likely
to use the commands while submitting patches. Make it easier for them.
Signed-off-by: Todd Zullinger <tmz@pobox.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Doc update around use of "format-patch --subject-prefix" etc.
* ad/submitting-patches-title-decoration:
doc/SubmittingPatches: correct subject guidance
The SubmittingPatches document is often cited by outside parties as an
example of good practices to follow, including logical, independent
commits; patch sign-offs; and sending patches to a mailing list.
Currently, people who want to cite a particular section tend to either
refer to it by name and let the interested party search through the
document to find it, or link to a given line number on GitHub and hope
the file doesn't change.
Instead, convert the document to AsciiDoc. Build it as part of the
technical documentation, since it is likely of interest to the same
group of people. Provide stable links to the sections which outside
parties are likely to want to link to. Make some minor structural
changes to organize it so that it can be formatted sanely.
Since the makefile needs a .txt extension in order to build with the
rest of the documentation, simply copy the file. Ignore the temporary
file so it doesn't get checked in accidentally, and remove it as part of
the clean process. Do this instead of renaming the file so that people
who have already linked to the documentation (who we're trying to help)
don't find their links broken. Avoid symlinking since Windows will not
like that.
This allows us to render the document as part of the website for the
benefit of others who wish to link to it as well as providing a more
nicely formatted display for our community and potential contributors.
Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
The examples and common practice for adding markers such as "RFC" or
"v2" to the subject of patch emails is to have them within the same
brackets as the "PATCH" text, not after the closing bracket. Further,
the practice of `git format-patch` and the like, as well as what appears
to be the more common pratice on the mailing list, is to use "[RFC
PATCH]", not "[PATCH/RFC]".
Update the SubmittingPatches article to match and to reference the
`format-patch` helper arguments, and also make some minor text
clarifications in the area.
Signed-off-by: Adam Dinwoodie <adam@dinwoodie.org>
Helped-by: Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
-use US English spelling
-minor wording change for better readability
Helped-by: Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>
Signed-off-by: René Genz <liebundartig@freenet.de>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Amend the section which describes how to get a commit summary to show
how do to that with "git show", currently the documentation only shows
how to do that with gitk.
Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Amend the section which describes how the first line of the subject
should look like to say that the ":" in "area: " shouldn't be treated
like a full stop for the purposes of letter casing.
Change the two subject examples to make this new paragraph clearer,
i.e. "unstar" is not a common word, and "git-cherry-pick.txt" is a
much longer string than "githooks.txt". Pick two recent commits from
git.git that fit better for the description.
Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
The documentation for submission discourages pgp-signing, but demands
a proper sign-off by contributors. However, when skimming the headings,
the wording of the section for sign-off could mistakenly be understood
as concerning pgp-signing. Thus, new contributors could oversee the
necessary sign-off.
This commit improves the wording such that the section about sign-off
cannot be misunderstood as pgp-signing. In addition, the paragraph about
pgp-signing is changed such that it avoids the impression that
pgp-signing could be relevant at later stages of the submission.
Signed-off-by: Cornelius Weig <cornelius.weig@tngtech.com>
Helped-by: Philip Oakley <philipoakley@iee.org>
Helped-by: Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Update the suggestion in 175d38ca ("SubmittingPatches: document how
to reference previous commits", 2016-07-28) on the format to refer
to a commit to match what gitk has been giving since last year with
its "Copy commit summary" command; also mention this as one of the
ways to obtain a commit reference in this format.
Signed-off-by: Beat Bolli <dev+git@drbeat.li>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
To reference previous commits people used to put just the
abbreviated SHA-1 into commit messages. This is what has evolved as
a more stable format for referencing commits. So lets document it
for everyone to look-up when needed.
Signed-off-by: Heiko Voigt <hvoigt@hvoigt.net>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Also change UK english "behaviour" to US english "behavior".
Signed-off-by: Lars Schneider <larsxschneider@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Recommend format-patch and send-email for those who want to submit
patches to this project.
* jc/submitting-patches-mention-send-email:
SubmittingPatches: encourage users to use format-patch and send-email
In step "(4) Sending your patches", we instruct users to do an
inline patch, avoid breaking whitespaces, avoid attachments, use
[PATCH v2] for second round, etc., all of which format-patch and
send-email combo know how to do well.
The need was identified by, and the text is based on the work by
Cody Taylor.
Suggested-by: Cody Taylor <cody.taylor@maternityneighborhood.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
While here, also change grammatically poor "three dash lines" to
"three-dash line".
Suggested-by: Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com>
Signed-off-by: Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
The Developers Certificate of Origin has a mixture of tabs and white
spaces which is annoying to view if your editor explicitly views white
space characters.
Signed-off-by: Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
There are general guidelines for writing good tests in t/README
but neither SubmittingPatches nor CodingGuidelines refers to it,
which makes the document easy to be missed.
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
In an earlier part there is:
"re-send it with "To:" set to the maintainer [*1*] and "cc:" the list [*2*]"
for the final submission, but later we see
"Send it to the list and cc the maintainer."
Fix the later one to match the previous.
Signed-off-by: Slavomir Vlcek <svlc@inventati.org>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
