proto_icmpv6.h: intermediate state

[netsniff-ng.git] / Documentation / SubmittingPatches

Checklist for Patches:
//////////////////////

Submitting patches should follow this guideline (derived from the Git project):

* Commits:

- make sure to comply with the coding guidelines (see CodingStyle)
- make commits of logical units
- check for unnecessary whitespace with "git diff --check" before committing
- do not check in commented out code or unneeded files
- the first line of the commit message should be a short description (50
  characters is the soft limit, see DISCUSSION in git-commit(1)), and should
  skip the full stop
- the body should provide a meaningful commit message, which:
  . explains the problem the change tries to solve, iow, what is wrong with
    the current code without the change.
  . justifies the way the change solves the problem, iow, why the result with
    the change is better.
  . alternate solutions considered but discarded, if any.
- describe changes in imperative mood, e.g. "make xyzzy do frotz" instead of
  "[This patch] makes xyzzy do frotz" or "[I] changed xyzzy to do frotz", as
  if you are giving orders to the codebase to change its behaviour.
- try to make sure your explanation can be understood without external
  resources. Instead of giving a URL to a mailing list archive, summarize the
  relevant points of the discussion.
- add a "Signed-off-by: Your Name <you@example.com>" line to the commit message
  (or just use the option "-s" when committing) to confirm that you agree to
  the Developer's Certificate of Origin (see also
  http://linux.yyz.us/patch-format.html or below); this is mandatory
- make sure syntax of man-pages is free of errors: podchecker <tool>.c

* For Patches via GitHub:

- fork the netsniff-ng project on GitHub to your local GitHub account
  (https://github.com/gnumaniacs/netsniff-ng)
- make your changes to the latest master branch with respect to the commit
  section above
- if you change, add, or remove a command line option or make some other user
  interface change, the associated documentation should be updated as well.
- open a pull request on (https://github.com/gnumaniacs/netsniff-ng) and send
  a notification to the list (netsniff-ng@googlegroups.com) and the maintainer
  (bugs@netsniff-ng.org) if (and only if) the patch is ready for inclusion.
- if your name is not writable in ASCII, make sure that you send off a message
  in the correct encoding.
- add a short description what the patch or patchset is about

* For Patches via Mail:

- use "git format-patch -M" to create the patch
- do not PGP sign your patch
- do not attach your patch, but read in the mail body, unless you cannot teach
  your mailer to leave the formatting of the patch alone.
- be careful doing cut & paste into your mailer, not to corrupt whitespaces.
- provide additional information (which is unsuitable for the commit message)
  between the "---" and the diffstat
- if you change, add, or remove a command line option or make some other user
  interface change, the associated documentation should be updated as well.
- if your name is not writable in ASCII, make sure that you send off a message
  in the correct encoding.
- send the patch to the list (netsniff-ng@googlegroups.com) and the maintainer
  (bugs@netsniff-ng.org) if (and only if) the patch is ready for inclusion.
  If you use git-send-email(1), please test it first by sending email to
  yourself.

* What does the 'Signed-off-by' mean?

  It certifies the following (extract from the Linux kernel documentation):

  Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1

  By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
  (a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
      have the right to submit it under the open source license
      indicated in the file; or
  (b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
      of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
      license and I have the right under that license to submit that
      work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
      by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
      permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
      in the file; or
  (c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
      person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified it.
  (d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
      are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
      personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
      maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
      this project or the open source license(s) involved.

  then you just add a line saying
    Signed-off-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.example.org>
  using your real name (sorry, no pseudonyms or anonymous contributions).

* Example commit:

  Please write good git commit messages. A good commit message looks like this:

        Header line: explaining the commit in one line

        Body of commit message is a few lines of text, explaining things
        in more detail, possibly giving some background about the issue
        being fixed, etc etc.

        The body of the commit message can be several paragraphs, and
        please do proper word-wrap and keep columns shorter than about
        74 characters or so. That way "git log" will show things
        nicely even when it's indented.

        Reported-by: whoever-reported-it
        Signed-off-by: Your Name <youremail@yourhost.com>

  where that header line really should be meaningful, and really should be
  just one line.  That header line is what is shown by tools like gitk and
  shortlog, and should summarize the change in one readable line of text,
  independently of the longer explanation.

Note that future (0.5.7 onwards) changelogs will include a summary that is
generated by 'git shortlog -n'. Hence, that's why we need you to stick to
the convention.