CONTRIBUTING

The project home is http://elfutils.org/

The current elfutils source code can be checked out with
git clone git://sourceware.org/git/elfutils.git

The developer mailinglist to send patches to is
elfutils-devel@sourceware.org.
https://sourceware.org/ml/elfutils-devel/

To subscribe send an email to elfutils-devel-subscribe@sourceware.org
Or use the form at https://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/elfutils-devel

Please supply patches using git format-patch or using git send-email.

Sign your work

To facilitate tracking of who did what, we've adopted a "sign-off"
procedure for patches based on the procedure used by the Linux kernel
project.

The sign-off is a simple line at the end of the explanation for the
patch, which certifies that you wrote it or otherwise have the right
to pass it on as a patch under an appropriate license. The rules are
pretty simple: if you can certify the below:

        Developer's Certificate of Origin

        By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:

	(a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me,
	    and I have the right to submit the contribution under each
	    license indicated in, or otherwise designated as being
	    applicable to, the file.

        (b) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
            person who certified (a), and I have not modified it.

        (c) I understand and agree that the project and the
            contribution are public and that a record of the
            contribution (including all personal information I submit
            with it, including my sign-off) is maintained indefinitely
            and may be redistributed.

then you just add a line saying

Signed-off-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.example.org>

using your real name (sorry, no pseudonyms or anonymous contributions.)

git commit --signoff will add such a Signed-off-by line at the end of
the commit log message for you.

The ideal patch contains a ChangeLog entry and a test case for the
bug fixed or feature added.

The testsuite (make check) is expected to have zero failing tests.
Do not knowingly add tests that FAIL. If there are architectures or
configurations where a tests is not supported make sure they are
skipped instead of failing. Adding "exit 77" in the test shell wrapper
indicates that a test was SKIPPED.

We do allow binaries in the testsuite for tests that only need to
read ELF or DWARF data and if generating the data in the testcase
itself is difficult or would be architecture specific.
The binaries should be bzip2 compressed. Add a note in the test
wrapper run-<testcase>.sh script how to regenerate the binary.

After sending your patch to the mailinglist one of the committers
to the project will review it, give feedback, and if perfect they
will commit it for you.

You can become a maintainer/committer yourself after you have provided
at least a handful of accepted patches and agree to the guidelines in
this document for creating, reviewing, accepting and committing patches.

To become a committer you need a sourceware account:
https://sourceware.org/cgi-bin/pdw/ps_form.cgi
Upload a SSH public key and have an existing maintainer sponsor you
for the elfutils group.

committers can push patches through:
ssh://<user>@sourceware.org/git/elfutils.git

The current webpages published at https://sourceware.org/elfutils/
can be checked out with:
git clone ssh://<user>@sourceware.org/git/elfutils-htdocs.git
Patches should also be posted to the mailinglist.

As a maintainer/committer you should still post patches as described
above. And ideally they are reviewed and approved as above. If no
other committer has reviewed or objected to your patch for a week
you may use your own judgement whether you ping your patch or push
it after "self-review". If you do, you should post a message to the
mailinglist that the patch has been pushed.

committers may also create git branches starting with <nickname>/...
patches on these branches are works in progress, so might not be perfect
yet, but should follow the above guidelines as much as possible and should
be aimed at integration into master. For merging a branch into master
the same process as above should be followed by posting the patches
to the list first.

committers/maintainers who repeatedly ignore the above guidelines,
are hostile or offensive towards other committers or contributors,
and don't correct their behavior after being asked by other committers
will be removed as maintainer/committer.