To be filled. note on cvs comments. Don't only comment what you did,
- but also why you did it!
If you become part of the active development team, you will eventually
+ need write access to our holy grail, the CVS repository. One of the
+ team members will need to set this up for you. Please read
+ this chapter completely before accessing via CVS.
+
The project's CVS repository is hosted on
+ SourceForge.
+ Please refer to the chapters 6 and 7 in
+ SF's site
+ documentation for the technical access details for your
+ operating system. For historical reasons, the CVS server is
+ called cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net, the repository is
+ called ijbswa, and the source tree module is called
+ current.
+
Within the CVS repository, there are modules and branches. As
+ mentioned, the sources are in the current
+ "module". Other modules are present for platform specific
+ issues. There is a webview of the CVS hierarchy at http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/ijbswa/,
+ which might help with visualizing how these pieces fit together.
+
Branches are used to fork a sub-development path from the main trunk.
+ Within the current module where the sources are, there
+ is always at least one "branch" from the main trunk
+ devoted to a stable release series. The main trunk is where active
+ development takes place for the next stable series (e.g. 3.2.x).
+ So just prior to each stable series (e.g. 3.0.x), a branch is created
+ just for stable series releases (e.g. 3.0.0 -> 3.0.1 -> 3.0.2, etc).
+ Once the initial stable release of any stable branch has taken place,
+ this branch is only used for bugfixes, which have
+ had prior testing before being committed to CVS. (See Version Numbers below for details on
+ versioning.)
+
This will result in at least two active branches, which means there may
+ be occasions that require the same (or similar) item to be
+ checked into to two different places (assuming its a bugfix and needs
+ fixing in both the stable and unstable trees). This also means that in
+ order to have access to both trees, both will have to be checked out
+ separately. Use the cvs -r flag to check out a
+ branch, e.g: cvs co -r v_3_0_branch current.
+
The source tree is the heart of every software project. Every effort must
+ be made to ensure that it is readable, compilable and consistent at all
+ times. There are differing guidelines for the stable branch and the
+ main development trunk, and we ask anyone with CVS access to strictly
+ adhere to the following guidelines:
+
Basic Guidelines, for all branches:
+
Never (read: never, ever) be tempted to commit
+ that small change without testing it thoroughly first. When we're
+ close to a public release, ask a fellow developer to review your
+ changes.
+
Your commit message should give a concise overview of what you
+ changed (no big details) and why you changed it
+ Just check previous messages for good examples.
+
Don't use the same message on multiple files, unless it equally applies to
+ all those files.
+
If your changes span multiple files, and the code won't recompile unless
+ all changes are committed (e.g. when changing the signature of a function),
+ then commit all files one after another, without long delays in between.
+ If necessary, prepare the commit messages in advance.
+
Before changing things on CVS, make sure that your changes are in line
+ with the team's general consensus on what should be done.
+
Note that near a major public release, we get more cautious.
+ There is always the possibility to submit a patch to the patch
+ tracker instead.
+
+
Stable branches are handled with more care, especially after the
+ initial *.*.0 release, and we are just in bugfix mode. In addition to
+ the above, the below applies only to the stable branch (currently the
+ v_3_0_branch branch):
+
Do not commit anything unless your proposed
+ changes have been well tested first, preferably by other members of the
+ project, or have prior approval of the project leaders or consensus
+ of the devel list.
+
Where possible, bugfixes and changes should be tested in the main
+ development trunk first. There may be occasions where this is not
+ feasible, though.
+