From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:32:55 -0800
Subject: Addendum to "MaintNotes"
-Abstract: Imagine that git development is racing along as usual, when our friendly
+Abstract: Imagine that Git development is racing along as usual, when our friendly
neighborhood maintainer is struck down by a wayward bus. Out of the
hordes of suckers (loyal developers), you have been tricked (chosen) to
step up as the new maintainer. This howto will show you "how to" do it.
Activities
----------
-The maintainer's git time is spent on three activities.
+The maintainer's Git time is spent on three activities.
- Communication (45%)
from the maintainer" message, which is periodically posted to
this mailing list after each feature release is made.
- - Feature releases are numbered as vX.Y.Z and are meant to
+ - Feature releases are numbered as vX.Y.0 and are meant to
contain bugfixes and enhancements in any area, including
functionality, performance and usability, without regression.
- One release cycle for a feature release is expected to last for
eight to ten weeks.
- - Maintenance releases are numbered as vX.Y.Z.W and are meant
- to contain only bugfixes for the corresponding vX.Y.Z feature
- release and earlier maintenance releases vX.Y.Z.V (V < W).
+ - Maintenance releases are numbered as vX.Y.Z and are meant
+ to contain only bugfixes for the corresponding vX.Y.0 feature
+ release and earlier maintenance releases vX.Y.W (W < Z).
- 'master' branch is used to prepare for the next feature
release. In other words, at some point, the tip of 'master'
- branch is tagged with vX.Y.Z.
+ branch is tagged with vX.Y.0.
- 'maint' branch is used to prepare for the next maintenance
- release. After the feature release vX.Y.Z is made, the tip
+ release. After the feature release vX.Y.0 is made, the tip
of 'maint' branch is set to that release, and bugfixes will
accumulate on the branch, and at some point, the tip of the
- branch is tagged with vX.Y.Z.1, vX.Y.Z.2, and so on.
+ branch is tagged with vX.Y.1, vX.Y.2, and so on.
- 'next' branch is used to publish changes (both enhancements
and fixes) that (1) have worthwhile goal, (2) are in a fairly
users are encouraged to test it so that regressions and bugs
are found before new topics are merged to 'master'.
+Note that before v1.9.0 release, the version numbers used to be
+structured slightly differently. vX.Y.Z were feature releases while
+vX.Y.Z.W were maintenance releases for vX.Y.Z.
+
A Typical Git Day
-----------------
-A typical git day for the maintainer implements the above policy
+A typical Git day for the maintainer implements the above policy
by doing the following:
- Scan mailing list. Respond with review comments, suggestions
- Anything unobvious that is applicable to 'master' (in other
words, does not depend on anything that is still in 'next'
and not in 'master') is applied to a new topic branch that
- is forked from the tip of 'master'. This includes both
+ is forked from the tip of 'master' (or the last feature release,
+ which is a bit older than 'master'). This includes both
enhancements and unobvious fixes to 'master'. A topic
branch is named as ai/topic where "ai" is two-letter string
named after author's initial and "topic" is a descriptive name
of the topic (in other words, "what's the series is about").
- An unobvious fix meant for 'maint' is applied to a new
- topic branch that is forked from the tip of 'maint'. The
- topic is named as ai/maint-topic.
+ topic branch that is forked from the tip of 'maint' (or the
+ oldest and still relevant maintenance branch). The
+ topic may be named as ai/maint-topic.
- Changes that pertain to an existing topic are applied to
the branch, but:
- Replacement patches to an existing topic are accepted only
for commits not in 'next'.
- The above except the "replacement" are all done with:
+ The initial round is done with:
$ git checkout ai/topic ;# or "git checkout -b ai/topic master"
$ git am -sc3 mailbox
- while patch replacement is often done by:
+ and replacing an existing topic with subsequent round is done with:
+
+ $ git checkout master...ai/topic ;# try to reapply to the same base
+ $ git am -sc3 mailbox
+
+ to prepare the new round on a detached HEAD, and then
- $ git format-patch ai/topic~$n..ai/topic ;# export existing
+ $ git range-diff @{-1}...
+ $ git diff @{-1}
- then replace some parts with the new patch, and reapplying:
+ to double check what changed since the last round, and finally
- $ git checkout ai/topic
- $ git reset --hard ai/topic~$n
- $ git am -sc3 -s 000*.txt
+ $ git checkout -B @{-1}
+
+ to conclude (the last step is why a topic already in 'next' is
+ not replaced but updated incrementally).
+
+ Whether it is the initial round or a subsequent round, the topic
+ may not build even in isolation, or may break the build when
+ merged to integration branches due to bugs. There may already
+ be obvious and trivial improvements suggested on the list. The
+ maintainer often adds an extra commit, with "SQUASH???" in its
+ title, to fix things up, before publishing the integration
+ branches to make it usable by other developers for testing.
+ These changes are what the maintainer is not 100% committed to
+ (trivial typofixes etc. are often squashed directly into the
+ patches that need fixing, without being applied as a separate
+ "SQUASH???" commit), so that they can be removed easily as needed.
- The full test suite is always run for 'maint' and 'master'
- after patch application; for topic branches the tests are run
- as time permits.
- Merge maint to master as needed:
be included in the next feature release. Being in the
'master' branch typically is.
+ * Due to the nature of "SQUASH???" fix-ups, if the original author
+ agrees with the suggested changes, it is OK to squash them to
+ appropriate patches in the next round (when the suggested change
+ is small enough, the author should not even bother with
+ "Helped-by"). It is also OK to drop them from the next round
+ when the original author does not agree with the suggestion, but
+ the author is expected to say why somewhere in the discussion.
+
Appendix
--------
projects / platform / upstream / git.git / blobdiff