RFC 4: GeoMoose Commit Management

Date

2013-05-28

Author

Bob Basques, Jim Klassen ( Heavy inspiration, and borrowing from MapServer RFC 7.2)

Contact

bob DOT basques at ci DOT stpaul DOT mn DOT us

Contact

klassen DOT js at gmail DOT com

Status

Adopted

Last Updated

2013-07-25

Purpose

To formalize Git push access, and specify guidelines for Git committers. More information on working with Git in GeoMoose can be found at https://github.com/mapserver/mapserver/wiki/WorkingWithGit.

Election to Git Push Access

Permission for Git push access shall be provided to new developers only if accepted by the GeoMoose Project Steering Committee. A proposal should be written to the PSC for new committers and voted on normally. It is not necessary to write an RFC document for these votes; email to geomoose-users is sufficient.

Removal of Git commit access should be handled by the same process.

The new committer should have demonstrated commitment to GeoMoose and knowledge of the GeoMoose source code and processes to the committee’s satisfaction, usually by reporting issues, submitting pull requests, and/or actively participating in the various GeoMoose forums.

The new committer should also be prepared to support any new feature or changes that he/she commits to the GeoMoose source tree in future releases, or to find someone to which to delegate responsibility for them if he/she stops being available to support the portions of code that he/she is responsible for. In the event no delegate is found to support the code, it will be subject to removal pending discussion by the PSC. Each feature that falls into this situation will be handled on a case by case basis.

All committers should also be a member of geomoose-users mailing list so they can stay informed on policies, technical developments and release preparation.

Committer Tracking

A list of all project committers will be managed in https://github.com/geomoose/gm3/blob/main/AUTHORS with the following format:

  • Full name: the user’s actual name.

  • Email address: A current email address at which the committer can be reached. It may be altered in normal ways to make it harder to auto-harvest.

  • A brief indication of areas of responsibility.

Git Administrator

Members of the Project Steering Committee will be designated as Git Administrators. That person will be responsible for giving Git commit access to folks, updating the AUTHORS file, and other Git related management.

Initially, Dan Little and Jim Klassen will be the Git Administrators, changes will be handled by regular PSC processes and recorded in AUTHORS.

Git Commit Practices

The following are considered good Git commit practices for the GeoMoose project:

  • Use meaningful descriptions for Git commit log entries. Commit messages should follow Git commit conventions, i.e. a short one-line summary, followed by a blank line and a paragraph giving more detail.

  • Add a GitHub issue reference like “(#1232)” as part of the commit message when possible.

  • Never commit new features to a stable branch; only critical fixes. New features can only go in the main development branch. This also applies to pre-release stable branches once they have been branched off of the main branch.

  • Discuss significant changes on the geomoose-users list before you make them. Larger changes require an RFC approved by the PSC.

  • Ensure that all commits do not break any existing tests (or that the test suite be updated with expected results if required).

  • Ensure that the committed code is in accordance with GeoMoose’s coding conventions as per the GeoMoose 3 Style Guide.

  • Ensure all source code in Git is in Unix text format as opposed to DOS text mode.

  • Use GitHub pull requests rather than directly committing to the branches as a practical way of testing proposed changes before inclusion.

Voting History

Adopted on 6/27/2013 with PSC +1 votes from Eli Adam, Bob Basques, Brian Fischer, Brent Fraser, Jim Klassen.

Updates

2021-02-05: Update links for GeoMoose 3