How to Contribute Patches to FreeSWITCH
=======================================

Download the Source Code
------------------------

    git clone https://stash.freeswitch.org/scm/fs/freeswitch.git
    cd freeswitch

Ensure Git is Setup
-------------------

    # tell git your full name and email address; make sure to use your
    # real name and not a username
    ./scripts/setup-git.sh

Create Your Commits
-------------------

    # create a topic/feature branch in your local repository
    git checkout -b myfeature

    # make your change
    emacs .

    # commit the results locally; see below for how to write a good
    # commit message
    git commit -va

    # create more commits as needed such that each commit represents a
    # logically separate change
    #while true; do emacs .; git commit -va; done

    # review changes; ensure your author name is correct
    git log -p

Create a Pull Request
---------------------

    # navigate to the FreeSWITCH JIRA
    chromium http://jira.freeswitch.org/

    # create an account in JIRA and create a new issue

    # navigate to FreeSWITCH Stash
    chromium http://stash.freeswitch.org/

    # create an account in Stash; create a forked FS repository; read
    # the details here:
    chromium https://confluence.freeswitch.org/display/FREESWITCH/Pull+Requests

    # add your repository as a remote (change to your username)
    git remote add stash ssh://git@stash.freeswitch.org:7999/~johndoe/freeswitch.git

    # push your changes to a branch
    git push stash +HEAD:myfeature

    # create a pull request as described here:
    chromium https://confluence.freeswitch.org/display/FREESWITCH/Pull+Requests

Guidelines for a Good Commit
----------------------------

To the extent possible and appropriate, address only one issue per
commit.  When we review your commit, anything that doesn't need to be
there will only create confusion.

This means that, for example, unrelated refactoring or whitespace
cleanups should generally happen in separate commits.  Whitespace
cleanup commits should not change anything other than whitespace, and
refactoring commits should strive to preserve identical behavior.

However, don't go overboard.  A commit should do some identifiable
thing completely.  If you're adding a new module, the build changes
for that module should go in the commit that adds the module itself.
If you're adding a feature, the feature should work after applying
that commit.

We don't need to see your missteps and corrections.  Use `git rebase
-i` to squash those out of your history before submitting the commit
series to us.  It should look like you got everything right the first
time.

Use `git log -p` to verify that each diff is correct and minimal, and
that your git author name is correct and complete.

Writing a Good Commit Message
-----------------------------

Your commit message consists of two parts: the subject and the body.

The subject is like the subject in an email message.  It should be
short -- typically less than 50 characters -- and it should concisely
describe the purpose or effect of your change.

If you're having a difficult time writing a short subject for your
commit, perhaps your commit should be broken into smaller separate
commits.

The commit body can be longer and can consist of multiple paragraphs.
The text of the body should be hard wrapped to 68-72 characters.  (In
Emacs you can hard wrap text with `M-q`.)

When writing the commit body, describe in detail the problem that your
commit aims to solve, how your commit solves the problem, and any
changes in behavior that result from your change, such as new
variables, command flags, or breaks in backward compatibility.

Your commit message should be written in the present tense in
imperative style.  Your message should talk about what the patch
*does*, not what you *did* to write it.

The commit subject is the first line of your commit message, then
there is an empty line, then your commit body starts.  A good commit
message might look like this:

    commit b5c64234ea5d4417abe02b282d6f41c019f2252f
    Author: John Doe <johndoe@example.com>
    Date:   Tue Jan 19 03:14:07 2014 +0000
    
        Add frobinator support to mod_sofia
        
        Without proper frobinator support users had to make multiple calls
        to shell scripts to do the sort of frobbing needed in high call
        volume environments.
        
        With this change, we now link to libfrob and support the IETF
        draft-cross-voip-frobbing API.
        
        After appropriate amounts of frobbing have been done, a new variable
        `frobbing_done` is set in the caller's channel.
        
        FS-XXXX #resolve

Patches Related to JIRA Issues
------------------------------

When your patch is related to an issue logged in JIRA, add the
identifier for the issue (e.g. FS-XXXX) to the body of your commit
message at the beginning of a line, typically the last line or just
before "Signed-off-by:" and "Thanks-to:" lines.  This helps our JIRA
bot do useful things by relating the commit to the issue.

If you believe your patch resolves the issue in question, follow the
issue number with a space and the "#resolve" directive as in the
example above.

Avoid Merges
------------

When you've created a local git branch to make and test your changes,
it can be tempting to merge that branch periodically against our git
HEAD, particularly if the branch lingers for some time.  Don't do
this.  Instead, please rebase your branch onto our tree before
submitting the commits to us.  Random "update branch to master" merges
make our history hard to understand and make it more difficult to
isolate regressions with `git-bisect`.

Do As We Say...
---------------

When you look in our git history, you'll find not all commits follow
the guidelines here.  Don't be fooled by this.  These guidelines are
what we want, and your commits should follow them.

It's always difficult to counsel, "do as we say and not as we do," but
the truth is that the format of your commits will be held to a
different standard than the commits of people who have written the
majority of the code in FS.  For one thing, your commits will be
reviewed, so following a careful format helps us to review and merge
your patches quickly and efficiently.

We want a clean and sensible git history, and over time more
contributors will be following the guidelines here.

Where to Go for Help
--------------------

If you have any questions or run into any roadblocks please reach out
to us.  You can send an email to our development mailing list:

> http://lists.freeswitch.org/mailman/listinfo/freeswitch-dev

Note that while you're free to send a patch to that list for questions
or for review, patches sent to the mailing list will not be considered
for inclusion.  Patches that you want included in FreeSWITCH must be
submitted to JIRA.

You can also reach us on freenode.net at:

> \#freeswitch-dev

Finally, feel free to join us in our weekly conference call.  Many of
the core developers are often on the call and you'll have an
opportunity at the beginning or end of the call to ask your questions:

> http://wiki.freeswitch.org/wiki/Weekly_Conference_Call
