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/geomoose/blob/master/AUTHORS.rst with the following format:

• Userid: the id that will appear in the Git commit logs for this person.
• 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.rst 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.rst.

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 master. This also applies to pre-release stable branches once they have been branched off of master.
• 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 http://www.geomoose.org/developer/standards.html
• 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.

Legal

Committers are the front line gatekeepers to keep the code base clear of improperly contributed code. It is important to the GeoMOOSE users, developers and the OSGeo foundation to avoid contributing any code to the project without it being clearly licensed under the project license.

Generally speaking the key issues are that those providing code to be included in the repository understand that the code will be released under the GeoMOOSE License, and that the person providing the code has the right to contribute the code. For the committer themselves understanding about the license is clear. For other contributors, the committer should verify the understanding unless the committer is very comfortable that the contributor understands the license (for instance frequent contributors).

If the contribution was developed on behalf of an employer (on work time, as part of a work project, etc) then it is important that an appropriate representative of the employer understand that the code will be contributed under the GeoMOOSE License. The arrangement should be cleared with an authorized supervisor/manager, etc.

The code should be developed by the contributor, or the code should be from a source which can be rightfully contributed such as from the public domain, or from an open source project under a compatible license.

All unusual situations need to be discussed and/or documented.

Committers should adhere to the following guidelines, and may be personally legally liable for improperly contributing code to the source repository:

• Make sure the contributor (and possibly employer) is aware of the contribution terms.
• Code coming from a source other than the contributor (such as adapted from another project) should be clearly marked as to the original source, copyright holders, license terms and so forth. This information can be in the file headers, but should also be added to the project licensing file if not exactly matching normal project licensing (geomoose/LICENSE).
• Existing copyright headers and license text should never be stripped from a file. If a copyright holder wishes to give up copyright they must do so in writing to the Project Steering Committee before copyright messages are removed. If license terms are changed it has to be by agreement (written in email is ok) of the copyright holders.
• When substantial contributions are added to a file (such as substantial pull requests) the author/contributor should be added to the list of copyright holders for the file.
• If there is uncertainty about whether a change it proper to contribute to the code base, please seek more information from the project steering committee, or the foundation legal counsel.

Voting History

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