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author | dim <dim@FreeBSD.org> | 2012-08-15 19:34:23 +0000 |
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committer | dim <dim@FreeBSD.org> | 2012-08-15 19:34:23 +0000 |
commit | 721c201bd55ffb73cb2ba8d39e0570fa38c44e15 (patch) | |
tree | eacfc83d988e4b9d11114387ae7dc41243f2a363 /docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst | |
parent | 2b2816e083a455f7a656ae88b0fd059d1688bb36 (diff) | |
download | FreeBSD-src-721c201bd55ffb73cb2ba8d39e0570fa38c44e15.zip FreeBSD-src-721c201bd55ffb73cb2ba8d39e0570fa38c44e15.tar.gz |
Vendor import of llvm trunk r161861:
http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@161861
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diff --git a/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst b/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cda281a --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst @@ -0,0 +1,508 @@ +.. _developer_policy: + +===================== +LLVM Developer Policy +===================== + +.. contents:: + :local: + +Introduction +============ + +This document contains the LLVM Developer Policy which defines the project's +policy towards developers and their contributions. The intent of this policy is +to eliminate miscommunication, rework, and confusion that might arise from the +distributed nature of LLVM's development. By stating the policy in clear terms, +we hope each developer can know ahead of time what to expect when making LLVM +contributions. This policy covers all llvm.org subprojects, including Clang, +LLDB, libc++, etc. + +This policy is also designed to accomplish the following objectives: + +#. Attract both users and developers to the LLVM project. + +#. Make life as simple and easy for contributors as possible. + +#. Keep the top of Subversion trees as stable as possible. + +#. Establish awareness of the project's `copyright, license, and patent + policies`_ with contributors to the project. + +This policy is aimed at frequent contributors to LLVM. People interested in +contributing one-off patches can do so in an informal way by sending them to the +`llvm-commits mailing list +<http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvm-commits>`_ and engaging another +developer to see it through the process. + +Developer Policies +================== + +This section contains policies that pertain to frequent LLVM developers. We +always welcome `one-off patches`_ from people who do not routinely contribute to +LLVM, but we expect more from frequent contributors to keep the system as +efficient as possible for everyone. Frequent LLVM contributors are expected to +meet the following requirements in order for LLVM to maintain a high standard of +quality. + +Stay Informed +------------- + +Developers should stay informed by reading at least the "dev" mailing list for +the projects you are interested in, such as `llvmdev +<http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev>`_ for LLVM, `cfe-dev +<http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/cfe-dev>`_ for Clang, or `lldb-dev +<http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/lldb-dev>`_ for LLDB. If you are +doing anything more than just casual work on LLVM, it is suggested that you also +subscribe to the "commits" mailing list for the subproject you're interested in, +such as `llvm-commits +<http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvm-commits>`_, `cfe-commits +<http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/cfe-commits>`_, or `lldb-commits +<http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/lldb-commits>`_. Reading the +"commits" list and paying attention to changes being made by others is a good +way to see what other people are interested in and watching the flow of the +project as a whole. + +We recommend that active developers register an email account with `LLVM +Bugzilla <http://llvm.org/bugs/>`_ and preferably subscribe to the `llvm-bugs +<http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmbugs>`_ email list to keep track +of bugs and enhancements occurring in LLVM. We really appreciate people who are +proactive at catching incoming bugs in their components and dealing with them +promptly. + +.. _patch: +.. _one-off patches: + +Making a Patch +-------------- + +When making a patch for review, the goal is to make it as easy for the reviewer +to read it as possible. As such, we recommend that you: + +#. Make your patch against the Subversion trunk, not a branch, and not an old + version of LLVM. This makes it easy to apply the patch. For information on + how to check out SVN trunk, please see the `Getting Started + Guide <GettingStarted.html#checkout>`_. + +#. Similarly, patches should be submitted soon after they are generated. Old + patches may not apply correctly if the underlying code changes between the + time the patch was created and the time it is applied. + +#. Patches should be made with ``svn diff``, or similar. If you use a + different tool, make sure it uses the ``diff -u`` format and that it + doesn't contain clutter which makes it hard to read. + +#. If you are modifying generated files, such as the top-level ``configure`` + script, please separate out those changes into a separate patch from the rest + of your changes. + +When sending a patch to a mailing list, it is a good idea to send it as an +*attachment* to the message, not embedded into the text of the message. This +ensures that your mailer will not mangle the patch when it sends it (e.g. by +making whitespace changes or by wrapping lines). + +*For Thunderbird users:* Before submitting a patch, please open *Preferences > +Advanced > General > Config Editor*, find the key +``mail.content_disposition_type``, and set its value to ``1``. Without this +setting, Thunderbird sends your attachment using ``Content-Disposition: inline`` +rather than ``Content-Disposition: attachment``. Apple Mail gamely displays such +a file inline, making it difficult to work with for reviewers using that +program. + +.. _code review: + +Code Reviews +------------ + +LLVM has a code review policy. Code review is one way to increase the quality of +software. We generally follow these policies: + +#. All developers are required to have significant changes reviewed before they + are committed to the repository. + +#. Code reviews are conducted by email, usually on the llvm-commits list. + +#. Code can be reviewed either before it is committed or after. We expect major + changes to be reviewed before being committed, but smaller changes (or + changes where the developer owns the component) can be reviewed after commit. + +#. The developer responsible for a code change is also responsible for making + all necessary review-related changes. + +#. Code review can be an iterative process, which continues until the patch is + ready to be committed. + +Developers should participate in code reviews as both reviewers and +reviewees. If someone is kind enough to review your code, you should return the +favor for someone else. Note that anyone is welcome to review and give feedback +on a patch, but only people with Subversion write access can approve it. + +Code Owners +----------- + +The LLVM Project relies on two features of its process to maintain rapid +development in addition to the high quality of its source base: the combination +of code review plus post-commit review for trusted maintainers. Having both is +a great way for the project to take advantage of the fact that most people do +the right thing most of the time, and only commit patches without pre-commit +review when they are confident they are right. + +The trick to this is that the project has to guarantee that all patches that are +committed are reviewed after they go in: you don't want everyone to assume +someone else will review it, allowing the patch to go unreviewed. To solve this +problem, we have a notion of an 'owner' for a piece of the code. The sole +responsibility of a code owner is to ensure that a commit to their area of the +code is appropriately reviewed, either by themself or by someone else. The list +of current code owners can be found in the file +`CODE_OWNERS.TXT <http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/llvm/trunk/CODE_OWNERS.TXT?view=markup>`_ +in the root of the LLVM source tree. + +Note that code ownership is completely different than reviewers: anyone can +review a piece of code, and we welcome code review from anyone who is +interested. Code owners are the "last line of defense" to guarantee that all +patches that are committed are actually reviewed. + +Being a code owner is a somewhat unglamorous position, but it is incredibly +important for the ongoing success of the project. Because people get busy, +interests change, and unexpected things happen, code ownership is purely opt-in, +and anyone can choose to resign their "title" at any time. For now, we do not +have an official policy on how one gets elected to be a code owner. + +.. _include a testcase: + +Test Cases +---------- + +Developers are required to create test cases for any bugs fixed and any new +features added. Some tips for getting your testcase approved: + +* All feature and regression test cases are added to the ``llvm/test`` + directory. The appropriate sub-directory should be selected (see the `Testing + Guide <TestingGuide.html>`_ for details). + +* Test cases should be written in `LLVM assembly language <LangRef.html>`_ + unless the feature or regression being tested requires another language + (e.g. the bug being fixed or feature being implemented is in the llvm-gcc C++ + front-end, in which case it must be written in C++). + +* Test cases, especially for regressions, should be reduced as much as possible, + by `bugpoint <Bugpoint.html>`_ or manually. It is unacceptable to place an + entire failing program into ``llvm/test`` as this creates a *time-to-test* + burden on all developers. Please keep them short. + +Note that llvm/test and clang/test are designed for regression and small feature +tests only. More extensive test cases (e.g., entire applications, benchmarks, +etc) should be added to the ``llvm-test`` test suite. The llvm-test suite is +for coverage (correctness, performance, etc) testing, not feature or regression +testing. + +Quality +------- + +The minimum quality standards that any change must satisfy before being +committed to the main development branch are: + +#. Code must adhere to the `LLVM Coding Standards <CodingStandards.html>`_. + +#. Code must compile cleanly (no errors, no warnings) on at least one platform. + +#. Bug fixes and new features should `include a testcase`_ so we know if the + fix/feature ever regresses in the future. + +#. Code must pass the ``llvm/test`` test suite. + +#. The code must not cause regressions on a reasonable subset of llvm-test, + where "reasonable" depends on the contributor's judgement and the scope of + the change (more invasive changes require more testing). A reasonable subset + might be something like "``llvm-test/MultiSource/Benchmarks``". + +Additionally, the committer is responsible for addressing any problems found in +the future that the change is responsible for. For example: + +* The code should compile cleanly on all supported platforms. + +* The changes should not cause any correctness regressions in the ``llvm-test`` + suite and must not cause any major performance regressions. + +* The change set should not cause performance or correctness regressions for the + LLVM tools. + +* The changes should not cause performance or correctness regressions in code + compiled by LLVM on all applicable targets. + +* You are expected to address any `Bugzilla bugs <http://llvm.org/bugs/>`_ that + result from your change. + +We prefer for this to be handled before submission but understand that it isn't +possible to test all of this for every submission. Our build bots and nightly +testing infrastructure normally finds these problems. A good rule of thumb is +to check the nightly testers for regressions the day after your change. Build +bots will directly email you if a group of commits that included yours caused a +failure. You are expected to check the build bot messages to see if they are +your fault and, if so, fix the breakage. + +Commits that violate these quality standards (e.g. are very broken) may be +reverted. This is necessary when the change blocks other developers from making +progress. The developer is welcome to re-commit the change after the problem has +been fixed. + +Obtaining Commit Access +----------------------- + +We grant commit access to contributors with a track record of submitting high +quality patches. If you would like commit access, please send an email to +`Chris <mailto:sabre@nondot.org>`_ with the following information: + +#. The user name you want to commit with, e.g. "hacker". + +#. The full name and email address you want message to llvm-commits to come + from, e.g. "J. Random Hacker <hacker@yoyodyne.com>". + +#. A "password hash" of the password you want to use, e.g. "``2ACR96qjUqsyM``". + Note that you don't ever tell us what your password is, you just give it to + us in an encrypted form. To get this, run "``htpasswd``" (a utility that + comes with apache) in crypt mode (often enabled with "``-d``"), or find a web + page that will do it for you. + +Once you've been granted commit access, you should be able to check out an LLVM +tree with an SVN URL of "https://username@llvm.org/..." instead of the normal +anonymous URL of "http://llvm.org/...". The first time you commit you'll have +to type in your password. Note that you may get a warning from SVN about an +untrusted key, you can ignore this. To verify that your commit access works, +please do a test commit (e.g. change a comment or add a blank line). Your first +commit to a repository may require the autogenerated email to be approved by a +mailing list. This is normal, and will be done when the mailing list owner has +time. + +If you have recently been granted commit access, these policies apply: + +#. You are granted *commit-after-approval* to all parts of LLVM. To get + approval, submit a `patch`_ to `llvm-commits + <http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvm-commits>`_. When approved + you may commit it yourself.</li> + +#. You are allowed to commit patches without approval which you think are + obvious. This is clearly a subjective decision --- we simply expect you to + use good judgement. Examples include: fixing build breakage, reverting + obviously broken patches, documentation/comment changes, any other minor + changes. + +#. You are allowed to commit patches without approval to those portions of LLVM + that you have contributed or maintain (i.e., have been assigned + responsibility for), with the proviso that such commits must not break the + build. This is a "trust but verify" policy and commits of this nature are + reviewed after they are committed. + +#. Multiple violations of these policies or a single egregious violation may + cause commit access to be revoked. + +In any case, your changes are still subject to `code review`_ (either before or +after they are committed, depending on the nature of the change). You are +encouraged to review other peoples' patches as well, but you aren't required +to. + +.. _discuss the change/gather consensus: + +Making a Major Change +--------------------- + +When a developer begins a major new project with the aim of contributing it back +to LLVM, s/he should inform the community with an email to the `llvmdev +<http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev>`_ email list, to the extent +possible. The reason for this is to: + +#. keep the community informed about future changes to LLVM, + +#. avoid duplication of effort by preventing multiple parties working on the + same thing and not knowing about it, and + +#. ensure that any technical issues around the proposed work are discussed and + resolved before any significant work is done. + +The design of LLVM is carefully controlled to ensure that all the pieces fit +together well and are as consistent as possible. If you plan to make a major +change to the way LLVM works or want to add a major new extension, it is a good +idea to get consensus with the development community before you start working on +it. + +Once the design of the new feature is finalized, the work itself should be done +as a series of `incremental changes`_, not as a long-term development branch. + +.. _incremental changes: + +Incremental Development +----------------------- + +In the LLVM project, we do all significant changes as a series of incremental +patches. We have a strong dislike for huge changes or long-term development +branches. Long-term development branches have a number of drawbacks: + +#. Branches must have mainline merged into them periodically. If the branch + development and mainline development occur in the same pieces of code, + resolving merge conflicts can take a lot of time. + +#. Other people in the community tend to ignore work on branches. + +#. Huge changes (produced when a branch is merged back onto mainline) are + extremely difficult to `code review`_. + +#. Branches are not routinely tested by our nightly tester infrastructure. + +#. Changes developed as monolithic large changes often don't work until the + entire set of changes is done. Breaking it down into a set of smaller + changes increases the odds that any of the work will be committed to the main + repository. + +To address these problems, LLVM uses an incremental development style and we +require contributors to follow this practice when making a large/invasive +change. Some tips: + +* Large/invasive changes usually have a number of secondary changes that are + required before the big change can be made (e.g. API cleanup, etc). These + sorts of changes can often be done before the major change is done, + independently of that work. + +* The remaining inter-related work should be decomposed into unrelated sets of + changes if possible. Once this is done, define the first increment and get + consensus on what the end goal of the change is. + +* Each change in the set can be stand alone (e.g. to fix a bug), or part of a + planned series of changes that works towards the development goal. + +* Each change should be kept as small as possible. This simplifies your work + (into a logical progression), simplifies code review and reduces the chance + that you will get negative feedback on the change. Small increments also + facilitate the maintenance of a high quality code base. + +* Often, an independent precursor to a big change is to add a new API and slowly + migrate clients to use the new API. Each change to use the new API is often + "obvious" and can be committed without review. Once the new API is in place + and used, it is much easier to replace the underlying implementation of the + API. This implementation change is logically separate from the API + change. + +If you are interested in making a large change, and this scares you, please make +sure to first `discuss the change/gather consensus`_ then ask about the best way +to go about making the change. + +Attribution of Changes +---------------------- + +We believe in correct attribution of contributions to their contributors. +However, we do not want the source code to be littered with random attributions +"this code written by J. Random Hacker" (this is noisy and distracting). In +practice, the revision control system keeps a perfect history of who changed +what, and the CREDITS.txt file describes higher-level contributions. If you +commit a patch for someone else, please say "patch contributed by J. Random +Hacker!" in the commit message. + +Overall, please do not add contributor names to the source code. + +.. _copyright, license, and patent policies: + +Copyright, License, and Patents +=============================== + +.. note:: + + This section deals with legal matters but does not provide legal advice. We + are not lawyers --- please seek legal counsel from an attorney. + +This section addresses the issues of copyright, license and patents for the LLVM +project. The copyright for the code is held by the individual contributors of +the code and the terms of its license to LLVM users and developers is the +`University of Illinois/NCSA Open Source License +<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/UoI-NCSA.php>`_ (with portions dual licensed +under the `MIT License <http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php>`_, +see below). As contributor to the LLVM project, you agree to allow any +contributions to the project to licensed under these terms. + +Copyright +--------- + +The LLVM project does not require copyright assignments, which means that the +copyright for the code in the project is held by its respective contributors who +have each agreed to release their contributed code under the terms of the `LLVM +License`_. + +An implication of this is that the LLVM license is unlikely to ever change: +changing it would require tracking down all the contributors to LLVM and getting +them to agree that a license change is acceptable for their contribution. Since +there are no plans to change the license, this is not a cause for concern. + +As a contributor to the project, this means that you (or your company) retain +ownership of the code you contribute, that it cannot be used in a way that +contradicts the license (which is a liberal BSD-style license), and that the +license for your contributions won't change without your approval in the +future. + +.. _LLVM License: + +License +------- + +We intend to keep LLVM perpetually open source and to use a liberal open source +license. **As a contributor to the project, you agree that any contributions be +licensed under the terms of the corresponding subproject.** All of the code in +LLVM is available under the `University of Illinois/NCSA Open Source License +<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/UoI-NCSA.php>`_, which boils down to +this: + +* You can freely distribute LLVM. +* You must retain the copyright notice if you redistribute LLVM. +* Binaries derived from LLVM must reproduce the copyright notice (e.g. in an + included readme file). +* You can't use our names to promote your LLVM derived products. +* There's no warranty on LLVM at all. + +We believe this fosters the widest adoption of LLVM because it **allows +commercial products to be derived from LLVM** with few restrictions and without +a requirement for making any derived works also open source (i.e. LLVM's +license is not a "copyleft" license like the GPL). We suggest that you read the +`License <http://www.opensource.org/licenses/UoI-NCSA.php>`_ if further +clarification is needed. + +In addition to the UIUC license, the runtime library components of LLVM +(**compiler_rt, libc++, and libclc**) are also licensed under the `MIT License +<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php>`_, which does not contain +the binary redistribution clause. As a user of these runtime libraries, it +means that you can choose to use the code under either license (and thus don't +need the binary redistribution clause), and as a contributor to the code that +you agree that any contributions to these libraries be licensed under both +licenses. We feel that this is important for runtime libraries, because they +are implicitly linked into applications and therefore should not subject those +applications to the binary redistribution clause. This also means that it is ok +to move code from (e.g.) libc++ to the LLVM core without concern, but that code +cannot be moved from the LLVM core to libc++ without the copyright owner's +permission. + +Note that the LLVM Project does distribute llvm-gcc and dragonegg, **which are +GPL.** This means that anything "linked" into llvm-gcc must itself be compatible +with the GPL, and must be releasable under the terms of the GPL. This implies +that **any code linked into llvm-gcc and distributed to others may be subject to +the viral aspects of the GPL** (for example, a proprietary code generator linked +into llvm-gcc must be made available under the GPL). This is not a problem for +code already distributed under a more liberal license (like the UIUC license), +and GPL-containing subprojects are kept in separate SVN repositories whose +LICENSE.txt files specifically indicate that they contain GPL code. + +We have no plans to change the license of LLVM. If you have questions or +comments about the license, please contact the `LLVM Developer's Mailing +List <mailto:llvmdev@cs.uiuc.edu>`_. + +Patents +------- + +To the best of our knowledge, LLVM does not infringe on any patents (we have +actually removed code from LLVM in the past that was found to infringe). Having +code in LLVM that infringes on patents would violate an important goal of the +project by making it hard or impossible to reuse the code for arbitrary purposes +(including commercial use). + +When contributing code, we expect contributors to notify us of any potential for +patent-related trouble with their changes (including from third parties). If +you or your employer own the rights to a patent and would like to contribute +code to LLVM that relies on it, we require that the copyright owner sign an +agreement that allows any other user of LLVM to freely use your patent. Please +contact the `oversight group <mailto:llvm-oversight@cs.uiuc.edu>`_ for more +details. |