Re: git commits to Systemtap

[Theodore Tso <tytso at mit dot edu>]

On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 12:42:32PM -0500, David Smith wrote:
> Dave Nomura wrote:
> > I am ready to make my first git commits to Systemtap.  Could you tell me
> > the procedure that you follow for doing this?
> > 
> > I am new to git so the full command syntax would be helpful.
> 
> First, read the git tutorial to get a feel for what you are about to do:
> <http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/v1.4.4.4/tutorial.html>

Were you deliberately pointing Dave at Git 1.4 documentation?  That's
pretty ancient, and most people believe git is much more usable
starting with git 1.5.x series.

> Here are the basic steps:
> 
> 1: Checkout the source (corresponds to "cvs co"):
> 
> # git clone ssh://sources.redhat.com/git/systemtap.git
> (note that using the ssh protocol assumes you have a sources.redhat.com
> account)

If you don't have a sources.redhat.com account, you can do this instead:

   git clone git://sources.redhat.com/git/systemtap.git

...but then of course the "git push" command won't work, and
submitting patches gets harder.

BTW, what does it take to get a sources.redhat.com account?

If you don't have a sources.redhat.com account, you can create a
branch to hold your work:

git checkout -b fix-manpage-bug
<hack hack hack>
git commit -a -m "Fix the manpage bug".
<hack hack hack>
git commit -a -m "Another manpage fix"
<repeat as many times as necessary>

Then when it comes time to submit the patch via e-mail, you can just do:

git format-patches --numbered -o /tmp/patches-to-send master
git send-email --to systemtap@sourceware.org /tmp/patches-to-send

Then you can switch back to the master branch as follows:

git checkout master

And when the patches have been accepted, you can delete your
development branch:

git branch -D fix-manpage-bug


I don't know how freely the systemtap project gives commit access to
people who want to push changes to systemtap, but the advantage of the
e-mail based submission method is that no special permissions are
needed, and it allows the systemtap team to review patches before they
are committed to the official tree.

Regards,

						- Ted