Code Submission Guidelines

StarlingX follows the OpenStack developer contribution guidelines. This guide contains StarlingX-specific tasks and guidelines.

Code reviews

• Use Gerrit for StarlingX code reviews

• Follow the OpenStack Git Commit Good Practice for Git Commit Messages

• Add the core reviewers for the affected sub-project to the review, as well as any other interested reviewers

  • The core reviewers are listed in each sub-project repository. Refer to the list of sub-project repos

  • In order for code to get merged, two core reviewers must give the review +2. A final Workflow +1 from one core reviewer will allow the code to merge. Typically, the final W+1 is done by the second core reviewer.

  • If a core reviewer sets a -2, the code cannot be merged until that reviewer removes their -2.

  • Authors should not review their own code and, therefore, should not +2 or W+ their code submissions

    • If an exception is needed (ex: emergency fix for a broken build), the author should send an email to the mailing list to let the community know or contact the core reviewers on IRC.

Code review process

• Any contributor can review commits by any other contributor, optionally adding comments and/or setting approvals of -1/0/+1. For regular contributors, these are considered opinion only, though the core reviewers will generally take them into account.

• Reviewers should set “-1” to indicate there are things which must be fixed before the review should be approved. If a reviewer sets -1, they must leave one or more comments indicating specific issues.

• If line-specific issues are raised by a reviewer, it is expected that the committer leaves line-specific comments indicating that it has been addressed (this could be a simple as replying with “Done”), or if not, why not. General comments applying to the whole review should be replied to in the general comments.

• Reviewers may prefix comments with “nit:”. This indicates a fix that would be nice but would not block merging the commit. If a new revision is needed to fix any non-nit issues, it is expected that any nits should be fixed at that time.

• For more details, refer the OpenStack code review process, documented in the OpenStack Developer Guide

Link reviews to story or bug

• For traceability, always link your code change to a story or bug. The story/bug will give reviewers context for the code changes. This will also be used to help determine the relative priority of the code changes.

• Gerrit will update the status of the story/bug automatically once the code is merged.

• Linking to StoryBoard Stories: Specify the story and task ID in the commit message as follows:

  • Story: $story_id

  • Task: $task_id

  • Example: https://review.openstack.org/#/c/590083/

• Linking to Launchpad Bugs: Specify the Bug ID in the commit message as follows:

  • Closes-Bug: $bug_id – use ‘Closes-Bug’ if the commit is intended to fully fix and close the bug being referenced.

  • Partial-Bug: $bug_id – use ‘Partial-Bug’ if the commit is only a partial fix and more work is needed.

  • Related-Bug: $bug_id – use ‘Related-Bug’ if the commit is merely related to the referenced bug.

  • If a fix requires multiple commits, use “Partial-Bug” with only the final commit using “Closes-Bug”

  • Example: https://review.openstack.org/596305

Pre-review and pre-submission testing

• For the majority of cases, it is expected that the author completes their testing before posting a review.

• Make sure the new code compiles and builds successfully.

• For each package being modified, update the TIS_PATCH_VER variable in the centos/build_srpm.data. This ensures that packages are versioned correctly and the latest version will be used. If up-versioning a package, then reset TIS_PATCH_VER to 0.

• Check build dependencies of a new or modified package using build-pkgs --dep-test <pkg> (see details below).

• Run tox tests (flake8, py27, etc) successfully. These can all be run manually prior to launching a review.

• Update existing automated unit tests and add new ones when applicable.

• Verify basic functional testing on a live system to ensure the new code gets executed and functions correctly.

• If needed, consult with the core reviewers or send questions to the mailing list regarding required/recommended testing.

• Add the details of the testing performed as a comment in the review so that the core reviewers are aware of it. It will save time if they don’t have to ask for this information and wait for it to be added.

Check build dependencies

When you upversion a package or make significant changes to its build scripts (spec files, make files, auto-config, etc.), you must test the build dependencies of the modified package.

First, complete a full build using build-pkgs.

Next, use build-pkgs --dep-test <pkg> to test the build dependencies.

You may think that if your package passes a full build (build-pkgs), that all dependencies have been checked, however, this is not the case. When doing a full build, the build environment is not wiped clean between packages. This means that the environment might (or might not) have a tool or library required by your package, which is not listed as a BuildRequires in its spec file. Your package may build successfully one time, but might not build the next time, depending on which packages were scheduled to build in the same environment before your package.

The --dep-test option rebuilds one specific package in a clean environment and provides an effective test of the BuildRequires for that package.

Early review and feedback

• In specific cases, changes can be posted for early review prior to testing (ex: need early feedback on detailed design/coding approach)

• Such changes should be marked as WIP in the commit message and given a Workflow -1 immediately by the author

• The author should also include a comment in the review explaining the purpose of the review and why the testing is deferred.

• Reviewing code early and often helps catch design and coding errors sooner and shows us following the Four Opens.

Cherry-picking

• All code changes must be pushed to master first and then cherry-picked to the appropriate release branch as needed

• Exception: Feature branches used during development

Patch rebase

• During patch re-base, there is a chance that patches can be applied by treating the patch line numbers as approximate, rather than a strict requirement, just so long as the before/after context seems to be correct. They require fuzzing during the patch apply, and an .orig file will be created as the consequence of applying patches that are not clean.

• In StarlingX, we will not accept fuzzing patches. All patches are required to be re-based cleanly so that no fuzzing and no .orig files are generated.