2001-10-07 16:34:47 +00:00
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Sending patches:
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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2002-10-07 00:46:57 +00:00
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Note: We know our rules place a burden on you, but rest assured that
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maintaining a big and complex software project is even harder, so please
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accept our rules. We cannot afford to spend our time fixing buggy, broken or
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2004-04-17 10:30:25 +00:00
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outdated patches. The closer you follow our rules the higher is the probability
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that your patch will be included.
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2002-10-07 00:46:57 +00:00
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2004-06-17 08:43:18 +00:00
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0. Do not send complete files. These need to be diffed by hand to see the
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changes, which makes reviews harder and less likely to occur. Besides as
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soon as one of the files changes, your version becomes harder to apply,
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thus reducing its chances of being accepted.
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1. Always make patches for the CVS version. The README describes how to check
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out CVS and daily CVS snapshots are available from our download page.
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We do not accept patches for releases or outdated CVS versions.
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2. Make unified diffs ('diff -Naur' or 'cvs diff -u'). Unified diffs can be
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applied easily with 'patch'. This is much harder with other diff types.
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2004-07-14 01:11:14 +00:00
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Create the diff from the root of the MPlayer source tree, this makes the
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diff easier to apply as it saves the step of changing to the correct
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directory.
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2004-06-17 08:43:18 +00:00
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3. Test the functionality of your patch. We'll *refuse* it if it breaks
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something, even if it extends other features!
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4. Read your patch. We'll *refuse* it if it changes indentation of the
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2004-07-26 23:48:30 +00:00
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code or if it does tab/space conversion or other cosmetic changes!
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2004-06-17 08:43:18 +00:00
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2004-07-26 00:52:56 +00:00
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NOTE: If you already wrote some code and did cosmetic changes, you can
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2004-06-17 08:43:18 +00:00
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use 'diff -uwbBE' to help you remove them. Don't forget to check the
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patch to make sure diff didn't ignore some important change and remove
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any remaining cosmetics!
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5. Comment parts that really need it (tricky side-effects etc).
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2004-06-27 12:38:38 +00:00
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Always document string operations! Comment on what you are doing
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and why it is safe. This makes it easy to review and change your
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code if needed. Commenting trivial code not required.
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Comments must be English!
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2004-06-17 08:43:18 +00:00
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6. If you implement new features, add or change command line switches or
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modify the behavior of existing features, please do not forget to also
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update the documentation. The documentation maintainers will assist you
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in doing this. Updating the English documentation is enough. If you
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speak several languages you are of course welcome to update some of the
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translations as well.
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2004-07-26 23:48:30 +00:00
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7. If you make independent changes, try to send them as separate patches.
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If your patch is very big, try splitting it into several self-contained
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2004-07-26 00:52:56 +00:00
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pieces. Each part can then be reviewed and committed separately.
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8. Send your patch to the mplayer-dev-eng mailing list as a base64-encoded
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2004-07-14 01:11:14 +00:00
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attachment with the subject line:
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'[PATCH] very short description of the patch'.
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2004-06-17 08:43:18 +00:00
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In the mail, describe in a few sentences what you change and why.
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The subject line is very important if you do not want your patch to get
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lost in the noise. We need the uppercase [PATCH] to be able to search
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for unapplied patches, so please use it.
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2004-07-14 01:11:14 +00:00
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Do not compress your patch unless it is larger than 80k or if you know
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that your mailer messes up (reformats) text attachments. It only makes
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handling the patch more difficult.
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2004-06-17 08:43:18 +00:00
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You have to subscribe to mplayer-dev-eng since we blocked postings from
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non-subscribers after spam problems and because patches get reviewed by
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the developers on the list. We want you to be available for discussing
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your code, you might be asked to make modifications before we accept it.
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Don't worry, mplayer-dev-eng is not high traffic and you can subscribe
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2004-07-26 00:52:56 +00:00
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but unset the "Mail delivery" option so that you can post without getting
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any mails.
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Try to avoid uploading the patch to a web or FTP site, send it directly
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2004-07-26 23:48:30 +00:00
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to the mailing list. The fewer steps it takes us to get at the patch the
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2004-07-26 00:52:56 +00:00
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higher the likelihood for it to get reviewed and applied. If your patch
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is so big you cannot send it by mail, try splitting it into pieces.
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9. Give us a few days to react. We try to review patches as fast as possible,
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2004-07-26 23:48:30 +00:00
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but unfortunately we are constantly overloaded with work, be it MPlayer-
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2004-06-17 08:43:18 +00:00
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related or from our day to day lives. If your patch seems to be ignored,
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please resend it and mention that you got ignored. We are interested in
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your work and will eventually either accept it or reject it with an
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2004-07-14 01:11:14 +00:00
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explanation of what we disliked about your patch.
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2004-06-17 08:43:18 +00:00
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2004-07-26 23:48:30 +00:00
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10. Do not immediately ask for CVS write access. If you have contributed one or
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2004-06-17 08:43:18 +00:00
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more nice, acceptable patches and they need maintaining or you want to
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be an MPlayer developer, you'll get CVS write access.
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2003-10-27 00:26:21 +00:00
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2004-07-26 23:48:30 +00:00
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11. For consistency reasons, all option names must use '-' instead of '_'.
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2003-11-14 02:56:50 +00:00
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2004-07-26 23:48:30 +00:00
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12. If you make a nontrivial contribution and wish to be mentioned in the
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2003-11-14 02:56:50 +00:00
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AUTHORS file, include that in your patch.
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2004-04-02 23:35:11 +00:00
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2001-10-07 16:34:47 +00:00
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Thank you!
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