Contribution Policy

= Lustre Check-in Policy =

Submitting Patches for Review
To have your changes accepted into a mainline Lustre branch, you must have your code reviewed and approved. The following steps will speed up your review and increase the likelihood of success:

1. Read, complete, and return the form found at http://www.lustre.org/contribute.html We can't accept your contributions without it.

2. Generate a patch with the "-upN" flags to diff or cvs diff. Please don't send other kinds of patches unless your reviewer requests them.

3. Find or file a bug for your issue at http://bugzilla.lustre.org/. Read the Bugzilla user guide for more information.

4. Attach your patch as an Attachment (not a comment):
 * Provide the patch as an Attachment, and select the Patch box.
 * Edit the new attachment. Under "Flags" select "Review" and the question mark.
 * Enter the email address of the person who should review. If you haven't been collaborating with someone, and don't know who should review your work, try [mailto:bugs@clusterfs.com bugs@clusterfs.com]
 * Submit the attachment update.

5. One or more reviewers will submit comments regarding your patch. Iterate until you receive approval on the patch or the bug is closed.

6. Once you have approval, commit the patch (or ask for it to be committed for you, if you don't have CVS access). Note the bug number and reviewer in the commit message, along with a concise description of the change.

This applies even if you have write access to the CVS tree -- if you don't follow these steps, expect your changes to be backed out of the tree without warning. We have to be strict, or the chaos becomes unbearable.

Branches
Our current policy is that anyone may create and maintain a private branch in CVS. We ask, however, that you observe the best practices outlined in this document. It will save you a lot of effort, I promise.


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