On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 7:51 PM, Michal Privoznik <mprivozn(a)redhat.com>
wrote:
On 11.05.2016 16:01, Cole Robinson wrote:
> I've thought a bit about this too. I don't think the HACKING page is a
good
> landing page for new contributors. It _is_ useful document _everything_
that a
> contributor might want to know, but I think we should also have a page
> specifically for a contributor quickstart which has very bare minimum
info.
> I'm not saying this is anything you need to handle :) Just figured I'd
throw
> my thoughts out.
Agreed. Good idea!
>
> Ideas for the hypothetical doc, which shouldn't be more than a page or
two:
>
> - building libvirt, with links to more complete docs. though one of the
> hardest bits about getting involved with any project is learning the
correct
> build incantation to make things work. I usually suggest grabbing the
> ./configure line from rpm --eval '%configure', but libvirt has autogen.sh
> --system as well, but I haven't tested it in a while
I'd advice them to use the autogen.sh script, because I guess that rpm
produces this long command line enabling all the features supported (for
instance systemd API requiring systemd-devel and so on). In general,
when configure is run without any additional arguments, it enables all
the features that it is able to with packages currently installed in the
system. I don't think we should require newbies to install sheepdog for
instance.
>
> - running libvirt: running libvirtd/virsh from git, maybe RPM? probably
> discouraging 'make install' unless people know what they are doing
Correct. ./run daemon/libvirtd or ./run tools/virsh. I wouldn't mention
RPM as it would replace libvirtd they have in the system, which is a
stable one with their buggy one. They are new to the project, there
definitely gonna be some bugs in their code.
>
> - basic steps for running make check and make syntax-check
This should be the default. Correct. I usually join them: make all
syntax-check check.
>
> - mention that we use git format-patch/send-email, but no instructions,
link
> them if necessary. maybe link to example mailing list postings for
guidelines
> for formatting commit messages/series
Correct.
>
> - A link to the BiteSizedTasks page
Correct.
I am definitely +1 for this. Having recently gotten my first patch
accepted, I would say that a contributor quickstart page which describes
how to set up the bare essentials to start contributing with links to more
info is a good idea.
Also, anything more about changing stuff on the hacking page, like the
example I had given about removing the point that mentions using plain diff
or git diff? Any more points or things that should be removed, added or
updated from that page?
Nishith