1 ================================================================
4 * This file attempts to describe the rules to use when hacking
7 ================================================================
10 * The correct response to most actual bugs is to write a new test case
11 which demonstrates the bug. Then fix the bug, re-run the test suite,
12 and check everything in.
14 * If you incorporate a change from somebody on the net:
15 First, if it is a large change, you must make sure they have signed the
16 appropriate paperwork.
17 Second, be sure to add their name and email address to THANKS
19 * If a change fixes a test, mention the test in the commit message.
20 If a change fixes a bug registered in the Automake debbugs tracker,
21 mention the bug number in the commit message.
23 * If somebody reports a new bug, mention his name in the commit message
24 and in the test case you write. Put him into THANKS.
26 * When documenting a non-trivial idiom or example in the manual, be
27 sure to add a test case for it, and to reference such test case from
28 a proper Texinfo comment.
30 * Some files in the automake package are not owned by automake; these
31 files are listed in the $(FETCHFILES) variable in Makefile.am. They
32 should never be edited here. Almost all of them can be updated from
33 respective upstreams with "make fetch" (this should be done especially
34 before releases). The only exception is the 'lib/COPYING' (from FSF),
35 which should be updated by hand whenever the GPL gets updated (which
36 shouldn't happen that often anyway :-)
38 * Changes other than bug fixes must be mentioned in NEWS. Important
39 bug fixes should be mentioned in NEWS, too.
41 ================================================================
44 * We've adopted the convention that internal AC_SUBSTs should be
45 named with a leading 'am__', and internally generated targets
46 should be named with a leading 'am--'. This convention, although
47 in place from at least February 2001, isn't yet universally used.
48 But all new code should use it.
50 We used to use '_am_' as the prefix for an internal AC_SUBST.
51 However, it turns out that NEWS-OS 4.2R complains if a Makefile
52 variable begins with the underscore character. Yay for them.
53 I changed the target naming convention just to be safe.
55 ================================================================
58 * Always use $(...) and not ${...}
60 * Use ':', not 'true'. Use 'exit 1', not 'false'.
62 * Use '##' comments liberally. Comment anything even remotely
65 * Never use basename or dirname. Instead use sed.
67 * Do not use 'cd' within back-quotes, use '$(am__cd)' instead.
68 Otherwise the directory name may be printed, depending on CDPATH.
69 More generally, do not ever use plain 'cd' together with a relative
70 directory that does not start with a dot, or you might end up in one
73 * For install and uninstall rules, if a loop is required, it should be
74 silent. Then the body of the loop itself should print each
75 "important" command it runs. The printed commands should be preceded
78 * Ensure install rules do not create any installation directory where
79 nothing is to be actually installed. See automake bug#11030.
81 ================================================================
82 = Editing automake.in and aclocal.in
84 * Indent using GNU style. For historical reasons, the perl code
85 contains portions indented using Larry Wall's style (perl-mode's
86 default), and other portions using the GNU style (cperl-mode's
87 default). Write new code using GNU style.
89 * Don't use & for function calls, unless required.
90 The use of & prevents prototypes from being checked.
91 Just as above, don't change massively all the code to strip the
92 &, just convert the old code as you work on it, and write new
95 ================================================================
98 * To regenerate dependent files created by aclocal and automake,
99 use the 'bootstrap' script. It uses the code from the source
100 tree, so the resulting files (aclocal.m4 and Makefile.in) should
101 be the same as you would get if you install this version of
102 automake and use it to generate those files. Be sure to have the
103 latest stable version of Autoconf installed and available early
106 * The git tree currently carries a number of branches: master for the
107 current development, and release branches named branch-X.Y. The maint
108 branch serves as common ground for both master and the active release
109 branches. Changes intended for both should be applied to maint, which
110 should then be merged to release branches and master, of course after
111 suitable testing. It is advisable to merge only after a set of related
112 commits have been applied.
114 * Example work flow for patches to maint:
116 # 1. Checkout the "maint" branch:
119 # 2. Apply the patch(es) with "git am" (or create them with $EDITOR):
121 # 2a. Run required tests, if any ...
123 # 3. Merge maint into branch-1.11:
124 git checkout branch-1.11
126 # 3a. Run required tests, if any ...
128 # 4. Redo steps 3 and 3a for master:
133 # 5. Push the maint and master branches:
134 git push --dry-run origin maint branch-1.11 master
135 # if all seems ok, then actually push:
136 git push origin maint branch-1.11 master
138 * When fixing a bug (especially a long-standing one), it may be useful
139 to commit the fix to a new temporary branch based off the commit that
140 introduced the bug. Then this "bugfix branch" can be merged into all
141 the active branches descending from the buggy commit. This offers a
142 simple way to fix the bug consistently and effectively.
144 * There may be a number of longer-lived feature branches for new developments.
145 They should be based off of a common ancestor of all active branches to
146 which the feature should or might be merged later. The next branch may
147 serve as common ground for feature merging and testing, should they not
148 be ready for master yet.
150 * For merges from branches other than maint, prefer 'git merge --log' over
151 plain 'git merge', so that a later 'git log' gives an indication of which
152 actual patches were merged even when they don't appear early in the list.
154 * master and release branches should not be rewound, i.e., should always
155 fast-forward, except maybe for privacy issues. The maint branch should not
156 be rewound except maybe after retiring a release branch or a new stable
157 release. For next, and for feature branches, the announcement for the
158 branch should document rewinding policy.
160 ================================================================
161 = Writing a good commit message
163 * Here is the general format that Automake's commit messages are expected
164 to follow. See the further points below for clarifications and minor
167 topic: brief description (this is the "summary line")
169 <reference to relevant bugs, if any>
171 Here goes a more detailed explanation of why the commit is needed,
172 and a general overview of what it does, and how. This section is
173 optional, but you are expected to provide it more often than not.
175 And if the detailed explanation is quite long or detailed, you can
176 want to break it in more paragraphs.
178 Then you can add references to relevant mailing list discussions
179 (if any), with proper links. But don't take this as an excuse for
180 writing incomplete commit messages! The "distilled" conclusions
181 reached in such discussions should have been placed in the
184 Finally, here you can thank people that motivated or helped the
185 change. So, thanks to John Doe for bringing up the issue, and to
186 J. Random Hacker for providing suggestions and testing the patch.
188 <detailed list of touched files>
190 * The <detailed list of touched files> is mandatory but for the most
191 trivial changes, and should follows the GNU guidelines for ChangeLog
192 entries (described explicitly in the GNU Coding Standards); it might
193 be something of this sort:
195 * some/file (func1): Improved frobnication.
196 (func2): Adjusted accordingly.
197 * another/file (foo, bar): Likewise.
198 * tests/foo.tap: New test.
199 * tests/Makefile.am (TESTS): Add it.
201 * If your commit fixes an automake bug registered in the tracker (say
202 numbered 1234), you should put the following line after the summary
205 This change fixes automake bug#1234.
207 * If your commit is just related to the given bug report, but does not
208 fix it, you might want to add a line like this instead:
210 This change is related to automake bug#1234.
212 * When referring to older commits, use 'git describe' output as pointer.
213 But also try to identify the given commit by date and/or summary line
214 if possible. Examples:
216 Since yesterday's commit, v1.11-2019-g4d2bf42, ...
218 ... removed in commit 'v1.11-1674-g02e9072' of 01-01-2012,
219 "dist: ditch support for lzma"...
221 ================================================================
224 * Use "make check" and "make maintainer-check" liberally.
226 * Make sure each test file is executable.
228 * Export the 'keep_testdirs' environment variable to "yes" to keep
229 test directories for successful tests also.
231 * Use perl coverage information to ensure your new code is thoroughly
232 tested by your new tests.
234 * See file 'tests/README' for more information.
236 ================================================================
239 * The steps outlined here are meant to be followed for alpha and stable
240 releases as well. Where differences are expected, they will be
241 explicitly described.
243 * Fetch new versions of the files that are maintained by the FSF.
244 Commit. Unfortunately you need an FSF account to do this.
245 (You can also use "make fetch", but that is still woefully incomplete.)
249 * Update the version number in configure.ac.
250 (The idea is that every other alpha number will be a net release.
251 The repository will always have its own "odd" number so we can easily
252 distinguish net and repo versions.)
255 ./bootstrap && ./configure && make && make check && make distcheck
257 * Run "make git-tag-release".
258 This will run the maintainer checks, check that the NEWS file is
259 up-to-date, check that the local git repository and working tree
260 are clean and up-to-date, and create a proper signed git tag for
261 the release (based on the contents of $(VERSION)).
263 * Run "make git-upload-release".
264 This will first verify that you are releasing from a tagged version
265 and that the local git repository and working tree are clean and
266 up-to-date, and will then run "make dist" to create the tarballs,
267 and invoke the 'gnupload' script sign and upload them to the correct
268 locations. In case you need to sign with a non-default key, you can
269 use "make GNUPLOADFLAGS='--user KEY' git-upload-release".
271 * Update version number in configure.ac to next alpha number.
272 Re-run ./bootstrap and commit.
274 * Don't forget to "git push" your changes so they appear in the public
277 * For stable releases, update the manuals at www.gnu.org:
280 wget "http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/~checkout~/texinfo/texinfo/util/gendocs.sh"
281 wget "http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/~checkout~/texinfo/texinfo/util/gendocs_template"
282 sh ./gendocs.sh --email bug-automake@gnu.org automake "GNU Automake"
283 - copy manuals recursively to web cvs,
285 - Check for link errors, fix them, recheck until convergence:
286 <http://validator.w3.org/checklink>
288 * Send the announcement at least to <autotools-announce@gnu.org> and
289 <automake@gnu.org>. If the release is a stable one, the announcement
290 must also go to <info-gnu@gnu.org>; if it is an alpha or beta release,
291 announcement should be sent also to <platform-testers@gnu.org>, to
292 maximize the possibility of early testing on exotic or proprietary
293 systems. Finally, copy the announcement into the NEWS feed at
294 <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/automake>.
298 Copyright (C) 2003-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
300 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
301 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
302 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
305 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
306 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
307 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
308 GNU General Public License for more details.
310 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
311 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.