1: # Contributing to the curl project
2:
3: This document is intended to offer guidelines on how to best contribute to the
4: curl project. This concerns new features as well as corrections to existing
5: flaws or bugs.
6:
7: ## Learning curl
8:
9: ### Join the Community
10:
11: Skip over to [https://curl.haxx.se/mail/](https://curl.haxx.se/mail/) and join
12: the appropriate mailing list(s). Read up on details before you post
13: questions. Read this file before you start sending patches! We prefer
14: questions sent to and discussions being held on the mailing list(s), not sent
15: to individuals.
16:
17: Before posting to one of the curl mailing lists, please read up on the
18: [mailing list etiquette](https://curl.haxx.se/mail/etiquette.html).
19:
20: We also hang out on IRC in #curl on irc.freenode.net
21:
22: If you're at all interested in the code side of things, consider clicking
23: 'watch' on the [curl repo on github](https://github.com/curl/curl) to be
24: notified of pull requests and new issues posted there.
25:
26: ### License and copyright
27:
28: When contributing with code, you agree to put your changes and new code under
29: the same license curl and libcurl is already using unless stated and agreed
30: otherwise.
31:
32: If you add a larger piece of code, you can opt to make that file or set of
33: files to use a different license as long as they don't enforce any changes to
34: the rest of the package and they make sense. Such "separate parts" can not be
35: GPL licensed (as we don't want copyleft to affect users of libcurl) but they
36: must use "GPL compatible" licenses (as we want to allow users to use libcurl
37: properly in GPL licensed environments).
38:
39: When changing existing source code, you do not alter the copyright of the
40: original file(s). The copyright will still be owned by the original creator(s)
41: or those who have been assigned copyright by the original author(s).
42:
43: By submitting a patch to the curl project, you are assumed to have the right
44: to the code and to be allowed by your employer or whatever to hand over that
45: patch/code to us. We will credit you for your changes as far as possible, to
46: give credit but also to keep a trace back to who made what changes. Please
47: always provide us with your full real name when contributing!
48:
49: ### What To Read
50:
51: Source code, the man pages, the [INTERNALS
52: document](https://curl.haxx.se/dev/internals.html),
53: [TODO](https://curl.haxx.se/docs/todo.html),
54: [KNOWN_BUGS](https://curl.haxx.se/docs/knownbugs.html) and the [most recent
55: changes](https://curl.haxx.se/dev/sourceactivity.html) in git. Just lurking on
56: the [curl-library mailing
57: list](https://curl.haxx.se/mail/list.cgi?list=curl-library) will give you a
58: lot of insights on what's going on right now. Asking there is a good idea too.
59:
60: ## Write a good patch
61:
62: ### Follow code style
63:
64: When writing C code, follow the
65: [CODE_STYLE](https://curl.haxx.se/dev/code-style.html) already established in
66: the project. Consistent style makes code easier to read and mistakes less
67: likely to happen. Run `make checksrc` before you submit anything, to make sure
68: you follow the basic style. That script doesn't verify everything, but if it
69: complains you know you have work to do.
70:
71: ### Non-clobbering All Over
72:
73: When you write new functionality or fix bugs, it is important that you don't
74: fiddle all over the source files and functions. Remember that it is likely
75: that other people have done changes in the same source files as you have and
76: possibly even in the same functions. If you bring completely new
77: functionality, try writing it in a new source file. If you fix bugs, try to
78: fix one bug at a time and send them as separate patches.
79:
80: ### Write Separate Changes
81:
82: It is annoying when you get a huge patch from someone that is said to fix 511
83: odd problems, but discussions and opinions don't agree with 510 of them - or
84: 509 of them were already fixed in a different way. Then the person merging
85: this change needs to extract the single interesting patch from somewhere
86: within the huge pile of source, and that creates a lot of extra work.
87:
88: Preferably, each fix that corrects a problem should be in its own patch/commit
89: with its own description/commit message stating exactly what they correct so
90: that all changes can be selectively applied by the maintainer or other
91: interested parties.
92:
93: Also, separate changes enable bisecting much better for tracking problems
94: and regression in the future.
95:
96: ### Patch Against Recent Sources
97:
98: Please try to get the latest available sources to make your patches against.
99: It makes the lives of the developers so much easier. The very best is if you
100: get the most up-to-date sources from the git repository, but the latest
101: release archive is quite OK as well!
102:
103: ### Documentation
104:
105: Writing docs is dead boring and one of the big problems with many open source
106: projects. But someone's gotta do it! It makes things a lot easier if you
107: submit a small description of your fix or your new features with every
108: contribution so that it can be swiftly added to the package documentation.
109:
110: The documentation is always made in man pages (nroff formatted) or plain
111: ASCII files. All HTML files on the web site and in the release archives are
112: generated from the nroff/ASCII versions.
113:
114: ### Test Cases
115:
116: Since the introduction of the test suite, we can quickly verify that the main
117: features are working as they're supposed to. To maintain this situation and
118: improve it, all new features and functions that are added need to be tested
119: in the test suite. Every feature that is added should get at least one valid
120: test case that verifies that it works as documented. If every submitter also
121: posts a few test cases, it won't end up as a heavy burden on a single person!
122:
123: If you don't have test cases or perhaps you have done something that is very
124: hard to write tests for, do explain exactly how you have otherwise tested and
125: verified your changes.
126:
127: ## Sharing Your Changes
128:
129: ### How to get your changes into the main sources
130:
131: Ideally you file a [pull request on
132: github](https://github.com/curl/curl/pulls), but you can also send your plain
133: patch to [the curl-library mailing
134: list](https://curl.haxx.se/mail/list.cgi?list=curl-library).
135:
136: Either way, your change will be reviewed and discussed there and you will be
137: expected to correct flaws pointed out and update accordingly, or the change
138: risks stalling and eventually just getting deleted without action. As a
139: submitter of a change, you are the owner of that change until it has been merged.
140:
141: Respond on the list or on github about the change and answer questions and/or
142: fix nits/flaws. This is very important. We will take lack of replies as a
143: sign that you're not very anxious to get your patch accepted and we tend to
144: simply drop such changes.
145:
146: ### About pull requests
147:
148: With github it is easy to send a [pull
149: request](https://github.com/curl/curl/pulls) to the curl project to have
150: changes merged.
151:
152: We strongly prefer pull requests to mailed patches, as it makes it a proper
153: git commit that is easy to merge and they are easy to track and not that easy
154: to loose in the flood of many emails, like they sometimes do on the mailing
155: lists.
156:
157: Every pull request submitted will automatically be tested in several different
158: ways. Every pull request is verified for each of the following:
159:
160: - ... it still builds, warning-free, on Linux and macOS, with both
161: clang and gcc
162: - ... it still builds fine on Windows with several MSVC versions
163: - ... it still builds with cmake on Linux, with gcc and clang
164: - ... it follows rudimentary code style rules
165: - ... the test suite still runs 100% fine
166: - ... the release tarball (the "dist") still works
167: - ... it builds fine in-tree as well as out-of-tree
168: - ... code coverage doesn't shrink drastically
169:
170: If the pull-request fails one of these tests, it will show up as a red X and
171: you are expected to fix the problem. If you don't understand when the issue is
172: or have other problems to fix the complaint, just ask and other project
173: members will likely be able to help out.
174:
175: When you adjust your pull requests after review, consider squashing the
176: commits so that we can review the full updated version more easily.
177:
178: ### Making quality patches
179:
180: Make the patch against as recent source versions as possible.
181:
182: If you've followed the tips in this document and your patch still hasn't been
183: incorporated or responded to after some weeks, consider resubmitting it to the
184: list or better yet: change it to a pull request.
185:
186: ### Write good commit messages
187:
188: A short guide to how to write commit messages in the curl project.
189:
190: ---- start ----
191: [area]: [short line describing the main effect]
192: -- empty line --
193: [full description, no wider than 72 columns that describe as much as
194: possible as to why this change is made, and possibly what things
195: it fixes and everything else that is related]
196: -- empty line --
197: [Closes/Fixes #1234 - if this closes or fixes a github issue]
198: [Bug: URL to source of the report or more related discussion]
199: [Reported-by: John Doe - credit the reporter]
200: [whatever-else-by: credit all helpers, finders, doers]
201: ---- stop ----
202:
203: Don't forget to use commit --author="" if you commit someone else's work, and
204: make sure that you have your own user and email setup correctly in git before
205: you commit
206:
207: ### Write Access to git Repository
208:
209: If you are a very frequent contributor, you may be given push access to the
210: git repository and then you'll be able to push your changes straight into the
211: git repo instead of sending changes as pull requests or by mail as patches.
212:
213: Just ask if this is what you'd want. You will be required to have posted
214: several high quality patches first, before you can be granted push access.
215:
216: ### How To Make a Patch with git
217:
218: You need to first checkout the repository:
219:
220: git clone https://github.com/curl/curl.git
221:
222: You then proceed and edit all the files you like and you commit them to your
223: local repository:
224:
225: git commit [file]
226:
227: As usual, group your commits so that you commit all changes at once that
228: constitute a logical change.
229:
230: Once you have done all your commits and you're happy with what you see, you
231: can make patches out of your changes that are suitable for mailing:
232:
233: git format-patch remotes/origin/master
234:
235: This creates files in your local directory named NNNN-[name].patch for each
236: commit.
237:
238: Now send those patches off to the curl-library list. You can of course opt to
239: do that with the 'git send-email' command.
240:
241: ### How To Make a Patch without git
242:
243: Keep a copy of the unmodified curl sources. Make your changes in a separate
244: source tree. When you think you have something that you want to offer the
245: curl community, use GNU diff to generate patches.
246:
247: If you have modified a single file, try something like:
248:
249: diff -u unmodified-file.c my-changed-one.c > my-fixes.diff
250:
251: If you have modified several files, possibly in different directories, you
252: can use diff recursively:
253:
254: diff -ur curl-original-dir curl-modified-sources-dir > my-fixes.diff
255:
256: The GNU diff and GNU patch tools exist for virtually all platforms, including
257: all kinds of Unixes and Windows:
258:
259: For unix-like operating systems:
260:
261: - [https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/patch/](https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/patch/)
262: - [https://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/](https://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/)
263:
264: For Windows:
265:
266: - [https://gnuwin32.sourceforge.io/packages/patch.htm](https://gnuwin32.sourceforge.io/packages/patch.htm)
267: - [https://gnuwin32.sourceforge.io/packages/diffutils.htm](https://gnuwin32.sourceforge.io/packages/diffutils.htm)
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