bc267c49317564454f21cfff9d7f689ffeb487cd
   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 some
1000comments. Woohoo! Now you can get back to work.
1001
1002It's good manners to reply to each comment, notifying the reviewer that you have
1003made the change requested, feel the original is better, or that the comment
1004inspired you to do something a new way which is superior to both the original
1005and the suggested change. This way reviewers don't need to inspect your v2 to
1006figure out whether you implemented their comment or not.
1007
1008If you are going to push back on a comment, be polite and explain why you feel
1009your original is better; be prepared that the reviewer may still disagree with
1010you, and the rest of the community may weigh in on one side or the other. As
1011with all code reviews, it's important to keep an open mind to doing something a
1012different way than you originally planned; other reviewers have a different
1013perspective on the project than you do, and may be thinking of a valid side
1014effect which had not occurred to you. It is always okay to ask for clarification
1015if you aren't sure why a change was suggested, or what the reviewer is asking
1016you to do.
1017
1018Make sure your email client has a plaintext email mode and it is turned on; the
1019Git list rejects HTML email. Please also follow the mailing list etiquette
1020outlined in the
1021https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/git/git/+/todo/MaintNotes[Maintainer's
1022Note], which are similar to etiquette rules in most open source communities
1023surrounding bottom-posting and inline replies.
1024
1025When you're making changes to your code, it is cleanest - that is, the resulting
1026commits are easiest to look at - if you use `git rebase -i` (interactive
1027rebase). Take a look at this
1028https://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 fine
1031and required no upstream reviews in v1, and a patch C which fixes patch A for
1032v2, you can just ship a v2 with a correct patch A and correct patch B. This is
1033changing history, but since it's local history which you haven't shared with
1034anyone, that is okay for now! (Later, it may not make sense to do this; take a
1035look at the section below this one for some context.)
1036
1037=== After Review Approval
1038
1039The Git project has four integration branches: `pu`, `next`, `master`, and
1040`maint`. Your change will be placed into `pu` fairly early on by the maintainer
1041while it is still in the review process; from there, when it is ready for wider
1042testing, it will be merged into `next`. Plenty of early testers use `next` and
1043may 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 this
1046document, you can read `Documents/SubmittingPatches` for some more info about
1047the use of the various integration branches.
1048
1049Back 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 maintainer
1051will merge your topic branch to `next` and life is good.
1052
1053However, if you discover it isn't so perfect after this point, you may need to
1054take some special steps depending on where you are in the process.
1055
1056If the maintainer has announced in the "What's cooking in git.git" email that
1057your 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 to
1059wait 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."
1061
1062If the topic has already been merged to `next`, rather than modifying your
1063patches with `git rebase -i`, you should make further changes incrementally -
1064that is, with another commit, based on top of the maintainer's topic branch as
1065detailed in https://github.com/gitster/git. Your work is still in the same topic
1066but is now incremental, rather than a wholesale rewrite of the topic branch.
1067
1068The topic branches in the maintainer's GitHub are mirrored in GitGitGadget, so
1069if you're sending your reviews out that way, you should be sure to open your PR
1070against the appropriate GitGitGadget/Git branch.
1071
1072If you're using `git send-email`, you can use it the same way as before, but you
1073should generate your diffs from `<topic>..<mybranch>` and base your work on
1074`<topic>` instead of `master`.