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.sh' 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 Automake git tree currently carries two basic branches: 'master' for
107 the current development, and 'maint' for maintenance and bug fixes. The
108 maint branch should be kept regularly merged into the master branch.
109 It is advisable to merge only after a set of related commits have been
110 applied, to avoid introducing too much noise in the history.
112 * There may be a number of longer-lived feature branches for new
113 developments. They should be based off of a common ancestor of all
114 active branches to which the feature should or might be merged later.
115 In the future, we might introduce a special branch named 'next' that
116 may serve as common ground for feature merging and testing, should
117 they not yet be ready for master.
119 * After a major release is done, the master branch is to be merged into
120 the maint branch, and then a "new" master branch created stemming
121 from the resulting commit.
123 * When fixing a bug (especially a long-standing one), it may be useful
124 to commit the fix to a new temporary branch based off the commit that
125 introduced the bug. Then this "bugfix branch" can be merged into all
126 the active branches descending from the buggy commit. This offers a
127 simple way to fix the bug consistently and effectively.
129 * When merging, prefer 'git merge --log' over plain 'git merge', so that
130 a later 'git log' gives an indication of which actual patches were
131 merged even when they don't appear early in the list.
133 * master and release branches should not be rewound, i.e., should always
134 fast-forward, except maybe for privacy issues. The maint branch should not
135 be rewound except maybe after retiring a release branch or a new stable
136 release. For next, and for feature branches, the announcement for the
137 branch should document rewinding policy.
139 ============================================================================
140 = Writing a good commit message
142 * Here is the general format that Automake's commit messages are expected
143 to follow. See the further points below for clarifications and minor
146 topic: brief description (this is the "summary line")
148 <reference to relevant bugs, if any>
150 Here goes a more detailed explanation of why the commit is needed,
151 and a general overview of what it does, and how. This section
152 should almost always be provided, possibly only with the expection
153 of obvious fixes or very trivial changes.
155 And if the detailed explanation is quite long or detailed, you can
156 want to break it in more paragraphs.
158 Then you can add references to relevant mailing list discussions
159 (if any), with proper links. But don't take this as an excuse for
160 writing incomplete commit messages! The "distilled" conclusions
161 reached in such discussions should have been placed in the
164 Finally, here you can thank people that motivated or helped the
165 change. So, thanks to John Doe for bringing up the issue, and to
166 J. Random Hacker for providing suggestions and testing the patch.
168 <detailed list of touched files>
170 * The <detailed list of touched files> should usually be provided (but
171 for short or trivial changes), and should follow the GNU guidelines
172 for ChangeLog entries (described explicitly in the GNU Coding
173 Standards); it might be something of this sort:
175 * some/file (func1): Improved frobnication.
176 (func2): Adjusted accordingly.
177 * another/file (foo, bar): Likewise.
178 * tests/foo.tap: New test.
179 * tests/Makefile.am (TESTS): Add it.
181 * If your commit fixes an automake bug registered in the tracker (say
182 numbered 1234), you should put the following line after the summary
185 This change fixes automake bug#1234.
187 * If your commit is just related to the given bug report, but does not
188 fix it, you might want to add a line like this instead:
190 This change is related to automake bug#1234.
192 * When referring to older commits, use 'git describe' output as pointer.
193 But also try to identify the given commit by date and/or summary line
194 if possible. Examples:
196 Since yesterday's commit, v1.11-2019-g4d2bf42, ...
198 ... removed in commit 'v1.11-1674-g02e9072' of 01-01-2012,
199 "dist: ditch support for lzma"...
201 ============================================================================
204 * Use "make check" and "make maintainer-check" liberally.
206 * Make sure each test file is executable.
208 * Export the 'keep_testdirs' environment variable to "yes" to keep
209 test directories for successful tests also.
211 * Use perl coverage information to ensure your new code is thoroughly
212 tested by your new tests.
214 * See file 't/README' for more information.
216 ============================================================================
219 * The steps outlined here are meant to be followed for alpha and stable
220 releases as well. Where differences are expected, they will be
221 explicitly described.
223 * Fetch new versions of the files that are maintained by the FSF by
224 running "make fetch". In case any file in the automake repository
225 has been updated, commit and re-run the testsuite.
227 * Ensure that the copyright notices of the distributed files is up to
228 date. The maintainer-only target "update-copyright" can help with
231 * Check NEWS; in particular, ensure that all the relevant differences
232 with the last release are actually reported.
234 * Update the version number in configure.ac.
235 (The idea is that every other alpha number will be a net release.
236 The repository will always have its own "odd" number so we can easily
237 distinguish net and repo versions.)
241 make bootstrap && make check && make distcheck
243 It is also advised to run "git clean -fdx" before invoking the
244 bootstrap, to ensure a really clean rebuild. However, it must
245 be done carefully, because that command will remove *all* the
246 files that are not tracked by git!
248 * Run "make git-tag-release".
249 This will run the maintainer checks, verify that the local git
250 repository and working tree are clean and up-to-date, and create
251 a proper signed git tag for the release (based on the contents
254 * Run "make git-upload-release".
255 This will first verify that you are releasing from a tagged version
256 and that the local git repository and working tree are clean and
257 up-to-date, and will then run "make dist" to create the tarballs,
258 and invoke the 'gnupload' script sign and upload them to the correct
259 locations. In case you need to sign with a non-default key, you can
260 use "make GNUPLOADFLAGS='--user KEY' git-upload-release".
262 * For stable releases you'll have to update the manuals at www.gnu.org.
264 - Generate manuals (with the help of the standard gendocs.sh script):
268 The ready-to-be-uploaded manuals (in several formats) will be left
269 in the 'doc/web-manuals' directory.
271 - Commit the updated manuals to web CVS:
273 make web-manual-update
275 If your local username is different from your username at Savannah,
276 you'll have to override the 'CVS_USER' make variable accordingly;
279 make web-manual-update CVS_USER=slattarini
281 - Check for link errors, fix them, recheck until convergence:
282 <http://validator.w3.org/checklink>
284 * Create an announcement message with "make announcement". Edit the
285 generated 'announcement' file appropriately, in particularly filling
286 in by hand any "TODO" left in there.
288 * Update version number in configure.ac to next alpha number.
289 Re-run ./bootstrap.sh and commit.
291 * Don't forget to "git push" your changes so they appear in the public
294 * Send the announcement generated in the earlier steps at least to
295 <autotools-announce@gnu.org> and <automake@gnu.org>. If the release
296 is a stable one, the announcement must also go to <info-gnu@gnu.org>;
297 if it is an alpha or beta release, announcement should be sent also
298 to <platform-testers@gnu.org>, to maximize the possibility of early
299 testing on exotic or proprietary systems. Finally, copy an abridged
300 version of the announcement into the NEWS feed at:
301 <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/automake>.
302 Be sure to link a version to the complete announcement (from
303 the version you sent to the automake list, as get archived on
304 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake/>).
308 Copyright (C) 2003-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
310 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
311 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
312 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
315 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
316 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
317 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
318 GNU General Public License for more details.
320 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
321 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.