nspr_contributor_guide.rst (6717B)
1 NSPR contributor guide 2 ====================== 3 4 **Abstract:** 5 6 NSPR accepts contributions in the form of bugfixes, new features, 7 libraries, platform ports, documentation, test cases and other items 8 from many sources. We (the NSPR module owners) sometimes disappoint 9 our contributors when we must reject their contributions. We reject 10 contributions for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons are not 11 obvious to an outside observer. NSPR wishes to document some 12 guidelines for those who would contribute to NSPR. These guidelines 13 should help the contributor in crafting his contribution, increasing 14 its likelihood for acceptance. 15 16 General Guidelines 17 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 18 19 *Downward Compatibility* 20 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 21 22 Because many different applications, besides the mozilla client, use the 23 NSPR API, the API must remain downward compatible across even major 24 releases. This means that the behavior of an existing public API item in 25 NSPR cannot change. Should you need to have a similar API, with some 26 slightly different behavior or different function prototype, then 27 suggest a new API with a different name. 28 29 *C Language API* 30 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 31 32 The NSPR API is a C Language API. Please do not contribute Java, C or 33 other language wrappers. 34 35 *Coding Style* 36 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 37 38 NSPR does not have a documented coding style guide. Look at the extant 39 code. Make yours look like that. Some guidelines concerning naming 40 conventions can be found in :ref:`NSPR_Naming_Conventions`. 41 in the :ref:`NSPR API Reference`. 42 43 *Ownership of your contribution* 44 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 45 46 When you contribute something to NSPR, you must have intellectual 47 property rights to that contribution. This means that you cannot give us 48 something you snatched from somewhere else;. it must be your own 49 invention, free and clear of encumberment of anyone or anything else; 50 pay close attention to the rights of your "Day-Job" employer. If you 51 snatched it from somewhere else, tell us where; show us where the right 52 to incorporate it into NSPR exists. 53 54 *License under MPL or GPL* 55 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 56 57 When you contribute material to NSPR, you agree to allow your 58 contribution to be licensed under the MPL or GPL. 59 60 BugFixes 61 ~~~~~~~~ 62 63 Use `Bugzilla <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/>`__ to track bugs. Document 64 the bug or use an existing report. Be verbose in describing what you are 65 doing and why. 66 67 Include your changes as diffs in an attachment to the BugZilla report. 68 69 Use a coding style consistent with the source file you are changing. 70 71 New Features 72 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 73 74 For purposes of this paper, a "new feature" is defined as some API 75 addition that goes into the core NSPR library, for example: 76 ``libnspr4.dll`` 77 78 NSPR is mostly complete. New APIs are driven mostly by the OS vendors as 79 they add new features. Should you decide that there's something that 80 NSPR does not cover that should be covered, let's talk. Your proposed 81 API should encapsulate a relatively low level capability as would be 82 found in a system call or libc. 83 84 Your new feature must be implemented on all platforms supported by NSPR. 85 When you consider a new API for NSPR ask yourself if your proposed 86 feature can implement it across all platforms supported by NSPR. If 87 several platforms cannot be made to implement your API, then it is not a 88 good candidate for inclusion in NSPR. 89 90 Before you begin what may be a substantial effort in making a candidate 91 feature for NSPR, talk to us. We may tell you that you have a good idea; 92 we may say that it really is not a good candidate for inclusion in NSPR; 93 we may give you suggestions on what would make it more generalized, 94 hence a good candidate for inclusion in NSPR. 95 96 Use `Bugzilla <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org>`__ to track your work. Be 97 verbose. 98 99 NSPR wants you to document your work. If we accept it, we are going to 100 have to answer questions about it and/or maintain it. These are some 101 guidelines for new APIs that you may add to NSPR. 102 103 **Header File Descriptions**. Provide header file descriptions that 104 fully document your public typedefs, enums, macros and functions. 105 106 See: 107 `prshm.h <http://lxr.mozilla.org/nspr/source/nsprpub/pr/include/prshm.h>`__ 108 as an example of how your header file(s) should be documented. 109 110 *Source File Descriptions*o. Provide descriptive documentation in your 111 source (*.c) files. Alas, we have no source files documented as we think 112 they should be. 113 114 The following are some general guidelines to use when implementing new 115 features: 116 117 - Don't export global variables 118 - Your code must be thread safe 119 - You must provide test cases that test all APIs you are adding. See: 120 [#TestCases Test Cases] 121 122 New Libraries 123 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 124 125 All the guidelines applicable to [#NewFeatures New Features] applies to 126 new libraries. 127 128 For purposes of this paper, a "new library" is defined as a library under 129 the ``mozilla/nsprpub/lib`` directory tree and built as a separate 130 library. These libraries exist, for the most part, as "legacy" code from 131 NSPR 1.0. [Note that the current NSPR module owners do not now nor never 132 have been involved with NSPR 1.0.]. Such is life. That said: There are 133 some libraries that implement functions intended for use with 134 applications using NSPR, such as ``...nsprpub/lib/libc/plgetopt.*.`` 135 136 - generally useful 137 - platform abstractions 138 - you agree to sustain, bug fix 139 - May rely on the NSPR API 140 - May NOT rely on any other library API 141 142 New Platform Ports 143 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 144 145 - all NSPR API items must be implemented 146 - platform specific headers in ``pr/include/md/_platformname.[h!cfg]`` 147 - platform specific code in ``pr/src/md/platform/*.c`` 148 - make rules in ``config/_platform.mk`` 149 150 Documentation 151 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 152 153 The files for NSPR's documentation are maintained using a proprietary 154 word processing system [don't ask]. Document your work as described in 155 [#NewFeatures New Features]. Use the style of other NSPR documentation. 156 We will see that your documentation is transcribed into the appropriate 157 word processor and the derived HTML shows up on mozilla.org 158 159 Test Cases 160 ~~~~~~~~~~ 161 162 You should provide test cases for all new features and new libraries. 163 164 Give consideration to providing a test case when fixing a bug if an 165 existing test case did not catch a bug it should have caught. 166 167 The new test cases should be implemented in the style of other NSPR test 168 cases. 169 170 Test cases should prove that the added API items work as advertised. 171 172 Test cases should serve as an example of how to use the API items. 173 174 Test cases should provoke failure of every API item and report its 175 failure. 176 177 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 178 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 179 180 **Q:** Why was my contribution rejected? 181 182 **A:** Check the Bugzilla report covering your contribution.