1My First Contribution to the Git Project 2======================================== 3 4== Summary 5 6This is a tutorial demonstrating the end-to-end workflow of creating a change to 7the Git tree, sending it for review, and making changes based on comments. 8 9=== Prerequisites 10 11This tutorial assumes you're already fairly familiar with using Git to manage 12source code. The Git workflow steps will largely remain unexplained. 13 14=== Related Reading 15 16This tutorial aims to summarize the following documents, but the reader may find 17useful additional context: 18 19- `Documentation/SubmittingPatches` 20- `Documentation/howto/new-command.txt` 21 22== Getting Started 23 24=== Clone the Git Repository 25 26Git is mirrored in a number of locations. Clone the repository from one of them; 27https://git-scm.com/downloads suggests one of the best places to clone from is 28the mirror on GitHub. 29 30---- 31$ git clone https://github.com/git/git git 32---- 33 34=== Identify Problem to Solve 35 36//// 37Use + to indicate fixed-width here; couldn't get ` to work nicely with the 38quotes around "Pony Saying 'Um, Hello'". 39//// 40In this tutorial, we will add a new command, +git psuh+, short for ``Pony Saying 41`Um, Hello''' - a feature which has gone unimplemented despite a high frequency 42of invocation during users' typical daily workflow. 43 44(We've seen some other effort in this space with the implementation of popular 45commands such as `sl`.) 46 47=== Set Up Your Workspace 48 49Let's start by making a development branch to work on our changes. Per 50`Documentation/SubmittingPatches`, since a brand new command is a new feature, 51it's fine to base your work on `master`. However, in the future for bugfixes, 52etc., you should check that document and base it on the appropriate branch. 53 54For the purposes of this document, we will base all our work on the `master` 55branch of the upstream project. Create the `psuh` branch you will use for 56development like so: 57 58---- 59$ git checkout -b psuh origin/master 60---- 61 62We'll make a number of commits here in order to demonstrate how to send a topic 63with multiple patches up for review simultaneously. 64 65== Code It Up! 66 67NOTE: A reference implementation can be found at 68https://github.com/nasamuffin/git/tree/psuh. 69 70=== Adding a New Command 71 72Lots of the subcommands are written as builtins, which means they are 73implemented in C and compiled into the main `git` executable. Implementing the 74very simple `psuh` command as a built-in will demonstrate the structure of the 75codebase, the internal API, and the process of working together as a contributor 76with the reviewers and maintainer to integrate this change into the system. 77 78Built-in subcommands are typically implemented in a function named "cmd_" 79followed by the name of the subcommand, in a source file named after the 80subcommand and contained within `builtin/`. So it makes sense to implement your 81command in `builtin/psuh.c`. Create that file, and within it, write the entry 82point for your command in a function matching the style and signature: 83 84---- 85int cmd_psuh(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix) 86---- 87 88We'll also need to add the declaration of psuh; open up `builtin.h`, find the 89declaration for `cmd_push`, and add a new line for `psuh` immediately before it, 90in order to keep the declarations sorted: 91 92---- 93int cmd_psuh(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix); 94---- 95 96Be sure to `#include "builtin.h"` in your `psuh.c`. 97 98Go ahead and add some throwaway printf to that function. This is a decent 99starting point as we can now add build rules and register the command. 100 101NOTE: Your throwaway text, as well as much of the text you will be adding over 102the course of this tutorial, is user-facing. That means it needs to be 103localizable. Take a look at `po/README` under "Marking strings for translation". 104Throughout the tutorial, we will mark strings for translation as necessary; you 105should also do so when writing your user-facing commands in the future. 106 107---- 108int cmd_psuh(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix) 109{ 110 printf(_("Pony saying hello goes here.\n")); 111 return 0; 112} 113---- 114 115Let's try to build it. Open `Makefile`, find where `builtin/push.o` is added 116to `BUILTIN_OBJS`, and add `builtin/psuh.o` in the same way next to it in 117alphabetical order. Once you've done so, move to the top-level directory and 118build simply with `make`. Also add the `DEVELOPER=1` variable to turn on 119some additional warnings: 120 121---- 122$ echo DEVELOPER=1 >config.mak 123$ make 124---- 125 126NOTE: When you are developing the Git project, it's preferred that you use the 127`DEVELOPER` flag; if there's some reason it doesn't work for you, you can turn 128it off, but it's a good idea to mention the problem to the mailing list. 129 130NOTE: The Git build is parallelizable. `-j#` is not included above but you can 131use it as you prefer, here and elsewhere. 132 133Great, now your new command builds happily on its own. But nobody invokes it. 134Let's change that. 135 136The list of commands lives in `git.c`. We can register a new command by adding 137a `cmd_struct` to the `commands[]` array. `struct cmd_struct` takes a string 138with the command name, a function pointer to the command implementation, and a 139setup option flag. For now, let's keep mimicking `push`. Find the line where 140`cmd_push` is registered, copy it, and modify it for `cmd_psuh`, placing the new 141line in alphabetical order. 142 143The options are documented in `builtin.h` under "Adding a new built-in." Since 144we hope to print some data about the user's current workspace context later, 145we need a Git directory, so choose `RUN_SETUP` as your only option. 146 147Go ahead and build again. You should see a clean build, so let's kick the tires 148and see if it works. There's a binary you can use to test with in the 149`bin-wrappers` directory. 150 151---- 152$ ./bin-wrappers/git psuh 153---- 154 155Check it out! You've got a command! Nice work! Let's commit this. 156 157---- 158$ git add Makefile builtin.h builtin/psuh.c git.c 159$ git commit -s 160---- 161 162You will be presented with your editor in order to write a commit message. Start 163the commit with a 50-column or less subject line, including the name of the 164component you're working on, followed by a blank line (always required) and then 165the body of your commit message, which should provide the bulk of the context. 166Remember to be explicit and provide the "Why" of your change, especially if it 167couldn't easily be understood from your diff. When editing your commit message, 168don't remove the Signed-off-by line which was added by `-s` above. 169 170---- 171psuh: add a built-in by popular demand 172 173Internal metrics indicate this is a command many users expect to be 174present. So here's an implementation to help drive customer 175satisfaction and engagement: a pony which doubtfully greets the user, 176or, a Pony Saying "Um, Hello" (PSUH). 177 178This commit message is intentionally formatted to 72 columns per line, 179starts with a single line as "commit message subject" that is written as 180if to command the codebase to do something (add this, teach a command 181that). The body of the message is designed to add information about the 182commit that is not readily deduced from reading the associated diff, 183such as answering the question "why?". 184 185Signed-off-by: A U Thor <author@example.com> 186---- 187 188Go ahead and inspect your new commit with `git show`. "psuh:" indicates you 189have modified mainly the `psuh` command. The subject line gives readers an idea 190of what you've changed. The sign-off line (`-s`) indicates that you agree to 191the Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1 (see the 192`Documentation/SubmittingPatches` +++[[dco]]+++ header). 193 194For the remainder of the tutorial, the subject line only will be listed for the 195sake of brevity. However, fully-fleshed example commit messages are available 196on the reference implementation linked at the top of this document. 197 198=== Implementation 199 200It's probably useful to do at least something besides printing out a string. 201Let's start by having a look at everything we get. 202 203Modify your `cmd_psuh` implementation to dump the args you're passed: 204 205---- 206 int i; 207 208 ... 209 210 printf(Q_("Your args (there is %d):\n", 211 "Your args (there are %d):\n", 212 argc), 213 argc); 214 for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) 215 printf("%d: %s\n", i, argv[i]); 216 217 printf(_("Your current working directory:\n<top-level>%s%s\n"), 218 prefix ? "/" : "", prefix ? prefix : ""); 219 220---- 221 222Build and try it. As you may expect, there's pretty much just whatever we give 223on the command line, including the name of our command. (If `prefix` is empty 224for you, try `cd Documentation/ && ../bin-wrappers/git psuh`). That's not so 225helpful. So what other context can we get? 226 227Add a line to `#include "config.h"`. Then, add the following bits to the 228function body: 229 230---- 231 const char *cfg_name; 232 233... 234 235 git_config(git_default_config, NULL) 236 if (git_config_get_string_const("user.name", &cfg_name) > 0) 237 printf(_("No name is found in config\n")); 238 else 239 printf(_("Your name: %s\n"), cfg_name); 240---- 241 242`git_config()` will grab the configuration from config files known to Git and 243apply standard precedence rules. `git_config_get_string_const()` will look up 244a specific key ("user.name") and give you the value. There are a number of 245single-key lookup functions like this one; you can see them all (and more info 246about how to use `git_config()`) in `Documentation/technical/api-config.txt`. 247 248You should see that the name printed matches the one you see when you run: 249 250---- 251$ git config --get user.name 252---- 253 254Great! Now we know how to check for values in the Git config. Let's commit this 255too, so we don't lose our progress. 256 257---- 258$ git add builtin/psuh.c 259$ git commit -sm "psuh: show parameters & config opts" 260---- 261 262NOTE: Again, the above is for sake of brevity in this tutorial. In a real change 263you should not use `-m` but instead use the editor to write a meaningful 264message. 265 266Still, it'd be nice to know what the user's working context is like. Let's see 267if we can print the name of the user's current branch. We can mimic the 268`git status` implementation; the printer is located in `wt-status.c` and we can 269see that the branch is held in a `struct wt_status`. 270 271`wt_status_print()` gets invoked by `cmd_status()` in `builtin/commit.c`. 272Looking at that implementation we see the status config being populated like so: 273 274---- 275status_init_config(&s, git_status_config); 276---- 277 278But as we drill down, we can find that `status_init_config()` wraps a call 279to `git_config()`. Let's modify the code we wrote in the previous commit. 280 281Be sure to include the header to allow you to use `struct wt_status`: 282---- 283#include "wt-status.h" 284---- 285 286Then modify your `cmd_psuh` implementation to declare your `struct wt_status`, 287prepare it, and print its contents: 288 289---- 290 struct wt_status status; 291 292... 293 294 wt_status_prepare(the_repository, &status); 295 git_config(git_default_config, &status); 296 297... 298 299 printf(_("Your current branch: %s\n"), status.branch); 300---- 301 302Run it again. Check it out - here's the (verbose) name of your current branch! 303 304Let's commit this as well. 305 306---- 307$ git commit -sm "psuh: print the current branch" 308---- 309 310Now let's see if we can get some info about a specific commit. 311 312Luckily, there are some helpers for us here. `commit.h` has a function called 313`lookup_commit_reference_by_name` to which we can simply provide a hardcoded 314string; `pretty.h` has an extremely handy `pp_commit_easy()` call which doesn't 315require a full format object to be passed. 316 317Add the following includes: 318 319---- 320#include "commit.h" 321#include "pretty.h" 322---- 323 324Then, add the following lines within your implementation of `cmd_psuh()` near 325the declarations and the logic, respectively. 326 327---- 328 struct commit *c = NULL; 329 struct strbuf commitline = STRBUF_INIT; 330 331... 332 333 c = lookup_commit_reference_by_name("origin/master"); 334 335 if (c != NULL) { 336 pp_commit_easy(CMIT_FMT_ONELINE, c, &commitline); 337 printf(_("Current commit: %s\n"), commitline.buf); 338 } 339---- 340 341The `struct strbuf` provides some safety belts to your basic `char*`, one of 342which is a length member to prevent buffer overruns. It needs to be initialized 343nicely with `STRBUF_INIT`. Keep it in mind when you need to pass around `char*`. 344 345`lookup_commit_reference_by_name` resolves the name you pass it, so you can play 346with the value there and see what kind of things you can come up with. 347 348`pp_commit_easy` is a convenience wrapper in `pretty.h` that takes a single 349format enum shorthand, rather than an entire format struct. It then 350pretty-prints the commit according to that shorthand. These are similar to the 351formats available with `--pretty=FOO` in many Git commands. 352 353Build it and run, and if you're using the same name in the example, you should 354see the subject line of the most recent commit in `origin/master` that you know 355about. Neat! Let's commit that as well. 356 357---- 358$ git commit -sm "psuh: display the top of origin/master" 359---- 360 361=== Adding Documentation 362 363Awesome! You've got a fantastic new command that you're ready to share with the 364community. But hang on just a minute - this isn't very user-friendly. Run the 365following: 366 367---- 368$ ./bin-wrappers/git help psuh 369---- 370 371Your new command is undocumented! Let's fix that. 372 373Take a look at `Documentation/git-*.txt`. These are the manpages for the 374subcommands that Git knows about. You can open these up and take a look to get 375acquainted with the format, but then go ahead and make a new file 376`Documentation/git-psuh.txt`. Like with most of the documentation in the Git 377project, help pages are written with AsciiDoc (see CodingGuidelines, "Writing 378Documentation" section). Use the following template to fill out your own 379manpage: 380 381// Surprisingly difficult to embed AsciiDoc source within AsciiDoc. 382[listing] 383.... 384git-psuh(1) 385=========== 386 387NAME 388---- 389git-psuh - Delight users' typo with a shy horse 390 391 392SYNOPSIS 393-------- 394[verse] 395'git-psuh' 396 397DESCRIPTION 398----------- 399... 400 401OPTIONS[[OPTIONS]] 402------------------ 403... 404 405OUTPUT 406------ 407... 408 409 410GIT 411--- 412Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite 413.... 414 415The most important pieces of this to note are the file header, underlined by =, 416the NAME section, and the SYNOPSIS, which would normally contain the grammar if 417your command took arguments. Try to use well-established manpage headers so your 418documentation is consistent with other Git and UNIX manpages; this makes life 419easier for your user, who can skip to the section they know contains the 420information they need. 421 422Now that you've written your manpage, you'll need to build it explicitly. We 423convert your AsciiDoc to troff which is man-readable like so: 424 425---- 426$ make all doc 427$ man Documentation/git-psuh.1 428---- 429 430or 431 432---- 433$ make -C Documentation/ git-psuh.1 434$ man Documentation/git-psuh.1 435---- 436 437NOTE: You may need to install the package `asciidoc` to get this to work. 438 439While this isn't as satisfying as running through `git help`, you can at least 440check that your help page looks right. 441 442You can also check that the documentation coverage is good (that is, the project 443sees that your command has been implemented as well as documented) by running 444`make check-docs` from the top-level. 445 446Go ahead and commit your new documentation change. 447 448=== Adding Usage Text 449 450Try and run `./bin-wrappers/git psuh -h`. Your command should crash at the end. 451That's because `-h` is a special case which your command should handle by 452printing usage. 453 454Take a look at `Documentation/technical/api-parse-options.txt`. This is a handy 455tool for pulling out options you need to be able to handle, and it takes a 456usage string. 457 458In order to use it, we'll need to prepare a NULL-terminated usage string and a 459`builtin_psuh_options` array. Add a line to `#include "parse-options.h"`. 460 461At global scope, add your usage: 462 463---- 464static const char * const psuh_usage[] = { 465 N_("git psuh"), 466 NULL, 467}; 468---- 469 470Then, within your `cmd_psuh()` implementation, we can declare and populate our 471`option` struct. Ours is pretty boring but you can add more to it if you want to 472explore `parse_options()` in more detail: 473 474---- 475 struct option options[] = { 476 OPT_END() 477 }; 478---- 479 480Finally, before you print your args and prefix, add the call to 481`parse-options()`: 482 483---- 484 argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, options, psuh_usage, 0); 485---- 486 487This call will modify your `argv` parameter. It will strip the options you 488specified in `options` from `argv` and the locations pointed to from `options` 489entries will be updated. Be sure to replace your `argc` with the result from 490`parse_options()`, or you will be confused if you try to parse `argv` later. 491 492It's worth noting the special argument `--`. As you may be aware, many Unix 493commands use `--` to indicate "end of named parameters" - all parameters after 494the `--` are interpreted merely as positional arguments. (This can be handy if 495you want to pass as a parameter something which would usually be interpreted as 496a flag.) `parse_options()` will terminate parsing when it reaches `--` and give 497you the rest of the options afterwards, untouched. 498 499Build again. Now, when you run with `-h`, you should see your usage printed and 500your command terminated before anything else interesting happens. Great! 501 502Go ahead and commit this one, too. 503 504== Testing 505 506It's important to test your code - even for a little toy command like this one. 507Moreover, your patch won't be accepted into the Git tree without tests. Your 508tests should: 509 510* Illustrate the current behavior of the feature 511* Prove the current behavior matches the expected behavior 512* Ensure the externally-visible behavior isn't broken in later changes 513 514So let's write some tests. 515 516Related reading: `t/README` 517 518=== Overview of Testing Structure 519 520The tests in Git live in `t/` and are named with a 4-digit decimal number using 521the schema shown in the Naming Tests section of `t/README`. 522 523=== Writing Your Test 524 525Since this a toy command, let's go ahead and name the test with t9999. However, 526as many of the family/subcmd combinations are full, best practice seems to be 527to find a command close enough to the one you've added and share its naming 528space. 529 530Create a new file `t/t9999-psuh-tutorial.sh`. Begin with the header as so (see 531"Writing Tests" and "Source 'test-lib.sh'" in `t/README`): 532 533---- 534#!/bin/sh 535 536test_description='git-psuh test 537 538This test runs git-psuh and makes sure it does not crash.' 539 540. ./test-lib.sh 541---- 542 543Tests are framed inside of a `test_expect_success` in order to output TAP 544formatted results. Let's make sure that `git psuh` doesn't exit poorly and does 545mention the right animal somewhere: 546 547---- 548test_expect_success 'runs correctly with no args and good output' ' 549 git psuh >actual && 550 test_i18ngrep Pony actual 551' 552---- 553 554Indicate that you've run everything you wanted by adding the following at the 555bottom of your script: 556 557---- 558test_done 559---- 560 561Make sure you mark your test script executable: 562 563---- 564$ chmod +x t/t9999-psuh-tutorial.sh 565---- 566 567You can get an idea of whether you created your new test script successfully 568by running `make -C t test-lint`, which will check for things like test number 569uniqueness, executable bit, and so on. 570 571=== Running Locally 572 573Let's try and run locally: 574 575---- 576$ make 577$ cd t/ && prove t9999-psuh-tutorial.sh 578---- 579 580You can run the full test suite and ensure `git-psuh` didn't break anything: 581 582---- 583$ cd t/ 584$ prove -j$(nproc) --shuffle t[0-9]*.sh 585---- 586 587NOTE: You can also do this with `make test` or use any testing harness which can 588speak TAP. `prove` can run concurrently. `shuffle` randomizes the order the 589tests are run in, which makes them resilient against unwanted inter-test 590dependencies. `prove` also makes the output nicer. 591 592Go ahead and commit this change, as well. 593 594== Getting Ready to Share 595 596You may have noticed already that the Git project performs its code reviews via 597emailed patches, which are then applied by the maintainer when they are ready 598and approved by the community. The Git project does not accept patches from 599pull requests, and the patches emailed for review need to be formatted a 600specific way. At this point the tutorial diverges, in order to demonstrate two 601different methods of formatting your patchset and getting it reviewed. 602 603The first method to be covered is GitGitGadget, which is useful for those 604already familiar with GitHub's common pull request workflow. This method 605requires a GitHub account. 606 607The second method to be covered is `git send-email`, which can give slightly 608more fine-grained control over the emails to be sent. This method requires some 609setup which can change depending on your system and will not be covered in this 610tutorial. 611 612Regardless of which method you choose, your engagement with reviewers will be 613the same; the review process will be covered after the sections on GitGitGadget 614and `git send-email`. 615 616== Sending Patches via GitGitGadget 617 618One option for sending patches is to follow a typical pull request workflow and 619send your patches out via GitGitGadget. GitGitGadget is a tool created by 620Johannes Schindelin to make life as a Git contributor easier for those used to 621the GitHub PR workflow. It allows contributors to open pull requests against its 622mirror of the Git project, and does some magic to turn the PR into a set of 623emails and send them out for you. It also runs the Git continuous integration 624suite for you. It's documented at http://gitgitgadget.github.io. 625 626=== Forking `git/git` on GitHub 627 628Before you can send your patch off to be reviewed using GitGitGadget, you will 629need to fork the Git project and upload your changes. First thing - make sure 630you have a GitHub account. 631 632Head to the https://github.com/git/git[GitHub mirror] and look for the Fork 633button. Place your fork wherever you deem appropriate and create it. 634 635=== Uploading to Your Own Fork 636 637To upload your branch to your own fork, you'll need to add the new fork as a 638remote. You can use `git remote -v` to show the remotes you have added already. 639From your new fork's page on GitHub, you can press "Clone or download" to get 640the URL; then you need to run the following to add, replacing your own URL and 641remote name for the examples provided: 642 643---- 644$ git remote add remotename git@github.com:remotename/git.git 645---- 646 647or to use the HTTPS URL: 648 649---- 650$ git remote add remotename https://github.com/remotename/git/.git 651---- 652 653Run `git remote -v` again and you should see the new remote showing up. 654`git fetch remotename` (with the real name of your remote replaced) in order to 655get ready to push. 656 657Next, double-check that you've been doing all your development in a new branch 658by running `git branch`. If you didn't, now is a good time to move your new 659commits to their own branch. 660 661As mentioned briefly at the beginning of this document, we are basing our work 662on `master`, so go ahead and update as shown below, or using your preferred 663workflow. 664 665---- 666$ git checkout master 667$ git pull -r 668$ git rebase master psuh 669---- 670 671Finally, you're ready to push your new topic branch! (Due to our branch and 672command name choices, be careful when you type the command below.) 673 674---- 675$ git push remotename psuh 676---- 677 678Now you should be able to go and check out your newly created branch on GitHub. 679 680=== Sending a PR to GitGitGadget 681 682In order to have your code tested and formatted for review, you need to start by 683opening a Pull Request against `gitgitgadget/git`. Head to 684https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git and open a PR either with the "New pull 685request" button or the convenient "Compare & pull request" button that may 686appear with the name of your newly pushed branch. 687 688Review the PR's title and description, as it's used by GitGitGadget as the cover 689letter for your change. When you're happy, submit your pull request. 690 691=== Running CI and Getting Ready to Send 692 693If it's your first time using GitGitGadget (which is likely, as you're using 694this tutorial) then someone will need to give you permission to use the tool. 695As mentioned in the GitGitGadget documentation, you just need someone who 696already uses it to comment on your PR with `/allow <username>`. GitGitGadget 697will automatically run your PRs through the CI even without the permission given 698but you will not be able to `/submit` your changes until someone allows you to 699use the tool. 700 701If the CI fails, you can update your changes with `git rebase -i` and push your 702branch again: 703 704---- 705$ git push -f remotename psuh 706---- 707 708In fact, you should continue to make changes this way up until the point when 709your patch is accepted into `next`. 710 711//// 712TODO https://github.com/gitgitgadget/gitgitgadget/issues/83 713It'd be nice to be able to verify that the patch looks good before sending it 714to everyone on Git mailing list. 715=== Check Your Work 716//// 717 718=== Sending Your Patches 719 720Now that your CI is passing and someone has granted you permission to use 721GitGitGadget with the `/allow` command, sending out for review is as simple as 722commenting on your PR with `/submit`. 723 724=== Updating With Comments 725 726Skip ahead to <<reviewing,Responding to Reviews>> for information on how to 727reply to review comments you will receive on the mailing list. 728 729Once you have your branch again in the shape you want following all review 730comments, you can submit again: 731 732---- 733$ git push -f remotename psuh 734---- 735 736Next, go look at your pull request against GitGitGadget; you should see the CI 737has been kicked off again. Now while the CI is running is a good time for you 738to modify your description at the top of the pull request thread; it will be 739used again as the cover letter. You should use this space to describe what 740has changed since your previous version, so that your reviewers have some idea 741of what they're looking at. When the CI is done running, you can comment once 742more with `/submit` - GitGitGadget will automatically add a v2 mark to your 743changes. 744 745== Sending Patches with `git send-email` 746 747If you don't want to use GitGitGadget, you can also use Git itself to mail your 748patches. Some benefits of using Git this way include finer grained control of 749subject line (for example, being able to use the tag [RFC PATCH] in the subject) 750and being able to send a ``dry run'' mail to yourself to ensure it all looks 751good before going out to the list. 752 753=== Prerequisite: Setting Up `git send-email` 754 755Configuration for `send-email` can vary based on your operating system and email 756provider, and so will not be covered in this tutorial, beyond stating that in 757many distributions of Linux, `git-send-email` is not packaged alongside the 758typical `git` install. You may need to install this additional package; there 759are a number of resources online to help you do so. You will also need to 760determine the right way to configure it to use your SMTP server; again, as this 761configuration can change significantly based on your system and email setup, it 762is out of scope for the context of this tutorial. 763 764=== Preparing Initial Patchset 765 766Sending emails with Git is a two-part process; before you can prepare the emails 767themselves, you'll need to prepare the patches. Luckily, this is pretty simple: 768 769---- 770$ git format-patch --cover-letter -o psuh/ master..psuh 771---- 772 773The `--cover-letter` parameter tells `format-patch` to create a cover letter 774template for you. You will need to fill in the template before you're ready 775to send - but for now, the template will be next to your other patches. 776 777The `-o psuh/` parameter tells `format-patch` to place the patch files into a 778directory. This is useful because `git send-email` can take a directory and 779send out all the patches from there. 780 781`master..psuh` tells `format-patch` to generate patches for the difference 782between `master` and `psuh`. It will make one patch file per commit. After you 783run, you can go have a look at each of the patches with your favorite text 784editor and make sure everything looks alright; however, it's not recommended to 785make code fixups via the patch file. It's a better idea to make the change the 786normal way using `git rebase -i` or by adding a new commit than by modifying a 787patch. 788 789NOTE: Optionally, you can also use the `--rfc` flag to prefix your patch subject 790with ``[RFC PATCH]'' instead of ``[PATCH]''. RFC stands for ``request for 791comments'' and indicates that while your code isn't quite ready for submission, 792you'd like to begin the code review process. This can also be used when your 793patch is a proposal, but you aren't sure whether the community wants to solve 794the problem with that approach or not - to conduct a sort of design review. You 795may also see on the list patches marked ``WIP'' - this means they are incomplete 796but want reviewers to look at what they have so far. You can add this flag with 797`--subject-prefix=WIP`. 798 799Check and make sure that your patches and cover letter template exist in the 800directory you specified - you're nearly ready to send out your review! 801 802=== Preparing Email 803 804In addition to an email per patch, the Git community also expects your patches 805to come with a cover letter, typically with a subject line [PATCH 0/x] (where 806x is the number of patches you're sending). Since you invoked `format-patch` 807with `--cover-letter`, you've already got a template ready. Open it up in your 808favorite editor. 809 810You should see a number of headers present already. Check that your `From:` 811header is correct. Then modify your `Subject:` to something which succinctly 812covers the purpose of your entire topic branch, for example: 813 814---- 815Subject: [PATCH 0/7] adding the 'psuh' command 816---- 817 818Make sure you retain the ``[PATCH 0/X]'' part; that's what indicates to the Git 819community that this email is the beginning of a review, and many reviewers 820filter their email for this type of flag. 821 822You'll need to add some extra parameters when you invoke `git send-email` to add 823the cover letter. 824 825Next you'll have to fill out the body of your cover letter. This is an important 826component of change submission as it explains to the community from a high level 827what you're trying to do, and why, in a way that's more apparent than just 828looking at your diff. Be sure to explain anything your diff doesn't make clear 829on its own. 830 831Here's an example body for `psuh`: 832 833---- 834Our internal metrics indicate widespread interest in the command 835git-psuh - that is, many users are trying to use it, but finding it is 836unavailable, using some unknown workaround instead. 837 838The following handful of patches add the psuh command and implement some 839handy features on top of it. 840 841This patchset is part of the MyFirstContribution tutorial and should not 842be merged. 843---- 844 845The template created by `git format-patch --cover-letter` includes a diffstat. 846This gives reviewers a summary of what they're in for when reviewing your topic. 847The one generated for `psuh` from the sample implementation looks like this: 848 849---- 850 Documentation/git-psuh.txt | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++ 851 Makefile | 1 + 852 builtin.h | 1 + 853 builtin/psuh.c | 73 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 854 git.c | 1 + 855 t/t9999-psuh-tutorial.sh | 12 +++++++ 856 6 files changed, 128 insertions(+) 857 create mode 100644 Documentation/git-psuh.txt 858 create mode 100644 builtin/psuh.c 859 create mode 100755 t/t9999-psuh-tutorial.sh 860---- 861 862Finally, the letter will include the version of Git used to generate the 863patches. You can leave that string alone. 864 865=== Sending Email 866 867At this point you should have a directory `psuh/` which is filled with your 868patches and a cover letter. Time to mail it out! You can send it like this: 869 870---- 871$ git send-email --to=target@example.com psuh/*.patch 872---- 873 874NOTE: Check `git help send-email` for some other options which you may find 875valuable, such as changing the Reply-to address or adding more CC and BCC lines. 876 877NOTE: When you are sending a real patch, it will go to git@vger.kernel.org - but 878please don't send your patchset from the tutorial to the real mailing list! For 879now, you can send it to yourself, to make sure you understand how it will look. 880 881After you run the command above, you will be presented with an interactive 882prompt for each patch that's about to go out. This gives you one last chance to 883edit or quit sending something (but again, don't edit code this way). Once you 884press `y` or `a` at these prompts your emails will be sent! Congratulations! 885 886Awesome, now the community will drop everything and review your changes. (Just 887kidding - be patient!) 888 889=== Sending v2 890 891Skip ahead to <<reviewing,Responding to Reviews>> for information on how to 892handle comments from reviewers. Continue this section when your topic branch is 893shaped the way you want it to look for your patchset v2. 894 895When you're ready with the next iteration of your patch, the process is fairly 896similar. 897 898First, generate your v2 patches again: 899 900---- 901$ git format-patch -v2 --cover-letter -o psuh/ master..psuh 902---- 903 904This will add your v2 patches, all named like `v2-000n-my-commit-subject.patch`, 905to the `psuh/` directory. You may notice that they are sitting alongside the v1 906patches; that's fine, but be careful when you are ready to send them. 907 908Edit your cover letter again. Now is a good time to mention what's different 909between your last version and now, if it's something significant. You do not 910need the exact same body in your second cover letter; focus on explaining to 911reviewers the changes you've made that may not be as visible. 912 913You will also need to go and find the Message-Id of your previous cover letter. 914You can either note it when you send the first series, from the output of `git 915send-email`, or you can look it up on the 916https://public-inbox.org/git[mailing list]. Find your cover letter in the 917archives, click on it, then click "permalink" or "raw" to reveal the Message-Id 918header. It should match: 919 920---- 921Message-Id: <foo.12345.author@example.com> 922---- 923 924Your Message-Id is `<foo.12345.author@example.com>`. This example will be used 925below as well; make sure to replace it with the correct Message-Id for your 926**previous cover letter** - that is, if you're sending v2, use the Message-Id 927from v1; if you're sending v3, use the Message-Id from v2. 928 929While you're looking at the email, you should also note who is CC'd, as it's 930common practice in the mailing list to keep all CCs on a thread. You can add 931these CC lines directly to your cover letter with a line like so in the header 932(before the Subject line): 933 934---- 935CC: author@example.com, Othe R <other@example.com> 936---- 937 938Now send the emails again, paying close attention to which messages you pass in 939to the command: 940 941---- 942$ git send-email --to=target@example.com 943 --in-reply-to="<foo.12345.author@example.com>" 944 psuh/v2* 945---- 946 947=== Bonus Chapter: One-Patch Changes 948 949In some cases, your very small change may consist of only one patch. When that 950happens, you only need to send one email. Your commit message should already be 951meaningful and explain at a high level the purpose (what is happening and why) 952of your patch, but if you need to supply even more context, you can do so below 953the `---` in your patch. Take the example below, which was generated with `git 954format-patch` on a single commit, and then edited to add the content between 955the `---` and the diffstat. 956 957---- 958From 1345bbb3f7ac74abde040c12e737204689a72723 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 959From: A U Thor <author@example.com> 960Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2019 15:11:02 -0700 961Subject: [PATCH] README: change the grammar 962 963I think it looks better this way. This part of the commit message will 964end up in the commit-log. 965 966Signed-off-by: A U Thor <author@example.com> 967--- 968Let's have a wild discussion about grammar on the mailing list. This 969part of my email will never end up in the commit log. Here is where I 970can add additional context to the mailing list about my intent, outside 971of the context of the commit log. This section was added after `git 972format-patch` was run, by editing the patch file in a text editor. 973 974 README.md | 2 +- 975 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) 976 977diff --git a/README.md b/README.md 978index 88f126184c..38da593a60 100644 979--- a/README.md 980+++ b/README.md 981@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ 982 Git - fast, scalable, distributed revision control system 983 ========================================================= 984 985-Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an 986+Git is a fast, scalable, and distributed revision control system with an 987 unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations 988 and full access to internals. 989 990-- 9912.21.0.392.gf8f6787159e-goog 992---- 993 994== My Patch Got Emailed - Now What? 995 996[[reviewing]] 997=== Responding to Reviews 998 999After a few days, you will hopefully receive a reply to your patchset with some1000comments. Woohoo! Now you can get back to work.10011002It's good manners to reply to each comment, notifying the reviewer that you have1003made the change requested, feel the original is better, or that the comment1004inspired you to do something a new way which is superior to both the original1005and the suggested change. This way reviewers don't need to inspect your v2 to1006figure out whether you implemented their comment or not.10071008If you are going to push back on a comment, be polite and explain why you feel1009your original is better; be prepared that the reviewer may still disagree with1010you, and the rest of the community may weigh in on one side or the other. As1011with all code reviews, it's important to keep an open mind to doing something a1012different way than you originally planned; other reviewers have a different1013perspective on the project than you do, and may be thinking of a valid side1014effect which had not occurred to you. It is always okay to ask for clarification1015if you aren't sure why a change was suggested, or what the reviewer is asking1016you to do.10171018Make sure your email client has a plaintext email mode and it is turned on; the1019Git list rejects HTML email. Please also follow the mailing list etiquette1020outlined in the1021https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/git/git/+/todo/MaintNotes[Maintainer's1022Note], which are similar to etiquette rules in most open source communities1023surrounding bottom-posting and inline replies.10241025When you're making changes to your code, it is cleanest - that is, the resulting1026commits are easiest to look at - if you use `git rebase -i` (interactive1027rebase). Take a look at this1028https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/git-pocket-guide/9781449327507/ch10.html[overview]1029from O'Reilly. The general idea is to modify each commit which requires changes;1030this way, instead of having a patch A with a mistake, a patch B which was fine1031and required no upstream reviews in v1, and a patch C which fixes patch A for1032v2, you can just ship a v2 with a correct patch A and correct patch B. This is1033changing history, but since it's local history which you haven't shared with1034anyone, that is okay for now! (Later, it may not make sense to do this; take a1035look at the section below this one for some context.)10361037=== After Review Approval10381039The Git project has four integration branches: `pu`, `next`, `master`, and1040`maint`. Your change will be placed into `pu` fairly early on by the maintainer1041while it is still in the review process; from there, when it is ready for wider1042testing, it will be merged into `next`. Plenty of early testers use `next` and1043may report issues. Eventually, changes in `next` will make it to `master`,1044which is typically considered stable. Finally, when a new release is cut,1045`maint` is used to base bugfixes onto. As mentioned at the beginning of this1046document, you can read `Documents/SubmittingPatches` for some more info about1047the use of the various integration branches.10481049Back to now: your code has been lauded by the upstream reviewers. It is perfect.1050It is ready to be accepted. You don't need to do anything else; the maintainer1051will merge your topic branch to `next` and life is good.10521053However, if you discover it isn't so perfect after this point, you may need to1054take some special steps depending on where you are in the process.10551056If the maintainer has announced in the "What's cooking in git.git" email that1057your topic is marked for `next` - that is, that they plan to merge it to `next`1058but have not yet done so - you should send an email asking the maintainer to1059wait a little longer: "I've sent v4 of my series and you marked it for `next`,1060but I need to change this and that - please wait for v5 before you merge it."10611062If the topic has already been merged to `next`, rather than modifying your1063patches with `git rebase -i`, you should make further changes incrementally -1064that is, with another commit, based on top of the maintainer's topic branch as1065detailed in https://github.com/gitster/git. Your work is still in the same topic1066but is now incremental, rather than a wholesale rewrite of the topic branch.10671068The topic branches in the maintainer's GitHub are mirrored in GitGitGadget, so1069if you're sending your reviews out that way, you should be sure to open your PR1070against the appropriate GitGitGadget/Git branch.10711072If you're using `git send-email`, you can use it the same way as before, but you1073should generate your diffs from `<topic>..<mybranch>` and base your work on1074`<topic>` instead of `master`.