HOW-TO-CONTRIBUTE

   1 So, you have a utility that you believe would
   2 be a good addition to cygutils, do you?  You
   3 probably want to know how you could contribute it,
   4 don't you?  Well, first:
   5
   6   Not every spiffy utility belongs in cygutils. We
   7   don't want cygutils to become a huge grab bag of
   8   hundreds of small programs...in many cases, your
   9   spiffy new program should become a standalone package
  10   and a full-fledged member of the cygwin distribution.
  11   (Don't worry -- that's not hard.  It's probably
  12   easier than integrating your spiffy program into
  13   cygutils).
  14
  15   So, your first step is to post a message to the
  16   cygwin-apps mailing list, present your program, and
  17   ASK if it should be included in cygutils, or turned
  18   into a standalong package.  If you believe it should
  19   become part of cygutils, explain why.  I will not
  20   add any program to cygutils without a consensus
  21   from the cygwin-apps list.
  22
  23   In the body of your email, describe what your program
  24   does, why it's needed, and why you think it should be
  25   added to the cygutils package.  Also explain why (or
  26   state that) existing tools will not meet the need your
  27   program does.
  28
  29 Second, once you're obtained agreement that yourfile.c
  30 should be added to cygutils:
  31
  32   Don't just send me yourfile.c and expect me to
  33   do all the integration work.
  34
  35 You need to do more than merely insure that it builds
  36 on your machine with a simple
  37
  38   gcc -o yourfile.exe yourfile.c -lthislibrary -lthatlibrary
  39
  40 In addition to that, you need to check out the cygutils
  41 source and integrate yourfile into the whole system.  Instructions
  42 follow below.  However, you'll notice that it's quite a bit
  43 of work.  Again, are you SURE you want it to become part
  44 of cygutils?  Making a standalone program is a lot easier...
  45
  46 Also, note that I will not fix your bugs.  If, at some time
  47 after your program is accepted into cygutils, I (as cygutils
  48 maintainer) get a bug report on your program, I will forward
  49 it to you.  If you don't fix it or respond within a reasonable
  50 time, I will remove it from the distribution.
  51
  52 ------------------------------------------------------
  53
  54 Okay, now that we're past that unpleasantness, here's how to
  55 integrate your spiffy new utility.  First, let's assume that
  56 your spiffy utility is called 'foo', and its source is in 'foo.c'.
  57
  58 The simple 12 step program:
  59 ---------------------------
  60
  61 1) Get the cygutils source
  62
  63    cvs -d:pserver:anoncvs@sources.redhat.com:/cvs/cygwin-apps login
  64       use 'anoncvs' as the password
  65    cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anoncvs@sources.redhat.com:/cvs/cygwin-apps co cygutils
  66
  67    you now have a 'cygutils' directory with the existing source.
  68
  69 2) License information
  70
  71    make sure that all .c and .h files in your contribution
  72    have license information: preferably GPL, but other
  73    open licenses are acceptable, too.  See the top of
  74    src/lpr/lpr.c for an example.
  75
  76    a) if your license is not GPL or BSD-no-advert, then
  77       you must also include a copy of the ENTIRE license
  78       in the licenses subdirectory.  (Most of the time,
  79       the blurb in the .c or .h file is just that: a short
  80       blurb, with a reference to the full text elsewhere)
  81
  82       You should also add it to the licenses variable in
  83       the toplevel Makefile.am: e.g.
  84
  85       licenses = ... licenses/COPYING.MPL ...
  86
  87 3) Make a home
  88
  89    create a new directory for your contribution underneath 'src'
  90    In our case, we will do this:
  91      cd cygutils/src
  92      mkdir foo
  93
  94    copy your source into the new directory
  95      cp <location>/foo.c <cygutils>/src/foo/
  96
  97 4) Modify your source code
  98
  99    Add the following snippet to the beginning of your .c and .h(*)
 100    files, just after the license information:
 101
 102      #if HAVE_CONFIG_H
 103      #include "config.h"
 104      #endif
 105      #include "common.h"
 106
 107    a) If your contribution has its own .h file(s), the entire .h file
 108       should be "guarded" as follows:
 109
 110         /* license information */
 111         #ifndef _FOO_H
 112         #define _FOO_H
 113         /* the config.h/common.h stuff */
 114         /* your header stuff */
 115         #endif /* !_FOO_H */
 116
 117       the "_FOO_H" identifier should be changed to match the filename
 118       of your header file.  Thus, "bob.h" would be guarded with _BOB_H.
 119
 120       Naturally, the header files should also be copied into src/foo/.
 121
 122 5) Modify cygutils/Makefile.am
 123
 124   a) Add your program to the list of progs to be built.  If your
 125      program will build on non-windows platforms in addition to cygwin,
 126      then you can add your program to the "bin_PROGRAMS" variable:
 127
 128      bin_PROGRAMS = ... src/foo/foo ...
 129
 130      If your contribution is windows-specific, then you should add it
 131      to BOTH the "windows_progs" and the EXTRA_PROGRAMS variables:
 132
 133      windows_progs = ... src/foo/foo ...
 134      EXTRA_PROGRAMS = ... src/foo/foo ...
 135
 136   b) Special link libraries
 137
 138      If you need to link to special *WINDOWS* libraries, then obviously
 139      your program is windows-specific, but also you should add a line
 140      in your Makefile.am like this:
 141
 142      src_foo_foo_LDADD = -lwinlib
 143
 144      Where "src_foo_foo" is the path to your program, where the '/'
 145      characters are replaced with '_' characters.  Yes, it looks a little
 146      funny -- but because our subdirectory has the same name as our
 147      program, we get double foo's...  Also, 'winlib' is the library
 148      that you need.  See the src_lpr_lpr_LDADD variable in Makefile.am
 149      for an example.
 150
 151      If, on the other hand, you need to link to some other (cygwin)
 152      library that is also more generally available -- like libreadline
 153      or libncurses -- then you'll need to do a little more work.
 154      For your initial submission, just create an LDADD variable in
 155      Makefile.am with -lreadline (or whatever).  We'll figure out how
 156      to handle it better further down the road.  However, make sure
 157      to let me know about your special link requirements.
 158
 159      src_foo_foo_LDADD = -lreadline
 160
 161      One special case is the gettext internationalization libraries.
 162      If your program must link with -lintl, then all you need to
 163      do is create an LDADD variable as follows:
 164
 165      src_foo_foo_LDADD = @LIBINTL@
 166
 167      The configuration process will replace @LIBINTL@ with the
 168      appropriate -lintl -liconv invocation.
 169
 170      Note that you do NOT need to include the popt library in
 171      a 'src_foo_foo_LDADD' line; -lpopt will be added automatically...
 172
 173      If your app depends on IPC functions, then add @IPCLIBS@
 174      to the 'src_foo_foo_LDADD' line.
 175
 176   c) man pages and other documentation
 177
 178      If you got 'em, copy 'em to your src/foo directory, and add the
 179      manpage to the man_MANS variable in Makefile.am like this:
 180
 181      man_MANS = ... src/foo/foo.1 ...
 182
 183      If there are non-man-page documentation files, you should those
 184      files to the extra_docs variable (which gets automatically
 185      included in EXTRA_DIST)
 186
 187      extra_docs = ... src/foo/foo.README ...
 188
 189      However, there is no provisiion for actually INSTALLING these
 190      additional documentation files.  At least not yet.
 191
 192   d) Extra files
 193
 194      If your contribution consists of more source files than a single
 195      .c, then you need to add a variable to Makefile.am that lists all
 196      of them:
 197
 198      src_foo_foo_SOURCES = foo.c otherfoo.c foo.h
 199
 200      Note that this variable should NOT be specified if your program
 201      consists merely of a single .c file whose name is the same as
 202      your program + '.c'.
 203
 204      If there are .h files in your SOURCES list, then you need to
 205      add those .h files to the noinst_HEADERS variable, or the headers
 206      would get installed into /usr/include/src/foo/ -- and we don't
 207      want that!
 208
 209      noinst_HEADERS = ... src/foo/foo.h ...
 210
 211   If you have other questions about the Makefile.am file, try to
 212   follow the "patterns" established in it by the other programs,
 213   or (gasp) read the automake documentation.
 214
 215 6) Simplify your #includes.
 216
 217    Take a good look at the #include statements in your .c and .h
 218    files.  If the dependencies are listed in <cygutils>/common.h,
 219    then you shouldn't re-include them.  If a dependency is NOT
 220    listed in common.h, then leave it in your .h/.c file -- for
 221    now.  We may choose to add them to common.h and add new tests
 222    to configure.ac, or we may choose to let your .c file
 223    include it directly.  However, anything that's already in
 224    common.h, remove from your .c/.h file.  It's okay to just
 225    comment them out, rather than deleting them entirely, if
 226    you prefer.
 227
 228 7) Add information to cygutils documentation files:
 229
 230    Add a short blurb about your app to <cygutils>/PROGLIST
 231    Add your app to the list at the end of the README file
 232    Add your name to the AUTHORS file.
 233
 234 8) Bootstrap
 235
 236    (You need to have autoconf, autoconf-devel, automake, and
 237    automake-devel installed for this to work).  Change dir
 238    to the top of your checked-out source, and run bootstrap:
 239
 240    cd <cygutils>
 241    ./bootstrap
 242
 243    If you haven't made any mistakes, you should (a) see no
 244    errors, and (b) see some new rules in Makefile.in that
 245    correspond to your program.
 246
 247 9) Build and test
 248
 249    Now, just run './configure ; make' as usual.  Somewhere
 250    amongst the flurry of messages, you should see your application
 251    being built.  If so, you're almost done.  If not, then you
 252    need to figure out why.  Time to read the auto* documentation...
 253
 254 10) Create a patch and ChangeLog entry
 255
 256    a) PATCH
 257
 258       cd <cygutils>
 259       cvs diff -u > foo.patch
 260
 261       If you've already edited the ChangeLog file, make sure to
 262       *remove* that chunk from foo.patch.  I don't want a PATCH
 263       for the ChangeLog, I want the ChangeLog entry itself (ChangeLog
 264       patches rarely apply cleanly; it's easier to cut-n-paste.  More
 265       below).
 266
 267    b) NEW FILES
 268
 269       However, you'll notice that none of the files in your src/foo
 270       directory are represented in the patch.  That's normal.  Remove
 271       any .o and .exe files from src/foo, and then just make a tarball
 272
 273       cd <cygutils>
 274       tar cvjf foo.tar.bz2 src/foo
 275
 276    c) CHANGELOG
 277
 278       You should also create a ChangeLog entry.  Don't actually edit
 279       the ChangeLog itself; create a new file (foo.changelog?) and
 280       put your stuff there.  It should look like this:
 281
 282       2002-03-02  Your Name  <your_email_address@domain.com>
 283
 284          * src/foo: new directory
 285          * src/foo/foo.c: new file
 286          * Makefile.am: add program 'foo'
 287          * Makefile.in: regenerate
 288          * AUTHORS: add yourname for foo
 289          * PROGLIST: add foo
 290          * README: add foo
 291
 292       Don't list src/foo/Makefile.  Do list every original
 293       file in src/foo/ (like your man pages, or extra documentation
 294       files, or headers)
 295
 296 11) Send a notice email to cygwin-apps@cygwin.com, that says "Hey, I
 297    finished the integration work neceesary to include 'foo' in the
 298    'cygutils' package, as previously agreed on this list."  Paste
 299    the ChangeLog into that notice.  But do NOT send the patch or
 300    tarball to the mailing list.
 301
 302    Instead, send that to ME, cwilson@ece.gatech.edu.  The patch
 303    and tarball should be attachments, but paste the ChangeLog entry
 304         into the body of the message.  Do NOT paste your patch into the
 305         body of the email; most mail programs will horrendously distort
 306    it if you do).  Also, be sure and warn of any special link
 307    requirements (cf. section 5a and 5b above).
 308
 309 12) Bask in the glow of a job well done.
 310
 311 --
 312 Chuck Wilson
 313 cygutils maintainer
 314
 315 Note to self: how to commit contributions:
 316   apply the patch
 317   untar the contribution
 318   Add the Changelog entry
 319   ./bootstrap
 320   cvs add src/directory
 321   cvs add src/directory/srcfiles
 322   cvs commit -m "Add foo contribution"
 323   ./bootstrap
 324   cvs diff | grep Index > foo
 325   >>> use 'foo' to add another Changelog entry
 326   cvs commit -m "Add foo contribution"
 327   cvs tag something
 328