.. _rfc7.1:

===========================================
MS RFC 7.1: MapServer SVN Commit Management
===========================================

:Date:  2008/07/02
:Author: Frank Warmerdam and Tom Kralidis
:Contact: warmerdam at pobox.com and tomkralidis at hotmail.com
:Status: Adopted

.. note::

    This RFC obsoletes :ref:`rfc7`.

Purpose
-------

To formalize SVN commit access, and specify some guidelines for SVN 
committers.


Election to SVN Commit Access
-----------------------------

Permission for SVN commit access shall be provided to new developers only
if accepted by the MapServer Project Steering Committee.   A proposal
should be written to the PSC for new committers and voted on normally.  It
is not necessary to write an RFC document for these votes ... email to 
mapserver-dev is sufficient.

Removal of SVN commit access should be handled by the same process.  

The new committer should have demonstrated commitment to MapServer and
knowledge of the MapServer source code and processes to the committee's
satisfaction, usually by reporting tickets, submitting patches, and/or
actively participating in the various MapServer forums.

The new committer should also be prepared to support any new feature or
changes that he/she commits to the MapServer source tree in future
releases, or to find someone to which to delegate responsibility for
them if he/she stops being available to support the portions of code
that he/she is responsible for.

All committers should also be a member of mapserver-dev mailing list
so they can stay informed on policies, technical developments and 
release preparation.


Committer Tracking
------------------

A list of all project committers will be kept in the main mapserver 
directory (called COMMITTERS) listing for each SVN committer:

* Userid: the id that will appear in the SVN logs for this person.

* Full name: the users actual name. 

* Email address: A current email address at which the committer can be
  reached.  It may be altered in normal ways to make it harder to 
  auto-harvest. 

* A brief indication of areas of responsibility.  


SVN Administrator
-----------------

One member of the Project Steering Committee will be designed the SVN
Administrator.  That person will be responsible for giving SVN commit
access to folks, updating the COMMITTERS file, and other SVN related
management.  Initially Steve Lime will be the SVN Administrator.

SVN Commit Practices
--------------------

The following are considered good SVN commit practices for the MapServer
project. 

* Use meaningful descriptions for SVN commit log entries. 

* Add a ticket reference like "(#1232)" at the end of SVN commit log entries
  when committing changes related to a ticket in Trac.

* Include changeset revision numbers like "r7622" in tickets when discussing
  relevant changes to the codebase.

* Include an entry in the HISTORY file for any significant change or fix
  committed in the main MapServer source tree.  Make sure it is placed under 
  the correct version heading and include ticket numbers in these messages too.

* Changes should not be committed in stable branches without a corresponding
  ticket and HISTORY entry.  Any change worth pushing into the stable 
  version is worth a Trac ticket and good HISTORY notations. 

* Never commit new features to a stable branch: only critical fixes. New
  features can only go in the main development trunk.

* Only ticket defects should be committed to the code during pre-release
  code freeze.  

* Significant changes to the main development version should be
  discussed on the -dev list before you make them, and larger changes will
  require an RFC approved by the PSC.

* Do not create new branches without the approval of the PSC.  Release
  managers are assumed to have permission to create a branch. 

* All source code in SVN should be in Unix text format as opposed to DOS
  text mode. 

* When committing new features or significant changes to existing source
  code, the committer should take reasonable measures to insure that the
  source code continues to build and work on the most commonly supported
  platforms (currently Linux and Windows), either by testing on those
  platforms directly, or by getting help from other developers working on
  those platforms. If new files or library dependencies are added, then
  the configure.in, Makefile.in, Makefile.vc and related documentations
  should be kept up to date.


Legal
-----

Committers are the front line gatekeepers to keep the code base clear of
improperly contributed code. It is important to the MapServer users,
developers and the OSGeo foundation to avoid contributing any code to the
project without it being clearly licensed under the project license.

Generally speaking the key issues are that those providing code to be included
in the repository understand that the code will be released under the
MapServer License, and that the person providing the code has the right
to contribute the code. For the committer themselves understanding about the
license is hopefully clear. For other contributors, the committer should verify
the understanding unless the committer is very comfortable that the contributor
understands the license (for instance frequent contributors).

If the contribution was developed on behalf of an employer (on work time, as
part of a work project, etc) then it is important that an appropriate
representative of the employer understand that the code will be contributed
under the MapServer License. The arrangement should be cleared with an
authorized supervisor/manager, etc.

The code should be developed by the contributor, or the code should be from a
source which can be rightfully contributed such as from the public domain, or
from an Open Source project under a compatible license.

All unusual situations need to be discussed and/or documented.

Committers should adhere to the following guidelines, and may be personally
legally liable for improperly contributing code to the source repository:

* Make sure the contributor (and possibly employer) is aware of the
  contribution terms.
* Code coming from a source other than the contributor (such as adapted
  from another project) should be clearly marked as to the original
  source, copyright holders, license terms and so forth. This information
  can be in the file headers, but should also be added to the project
  licensing file if not exactly matching normal project licensing
  (mapserver/LICENSE.txt).
* Existing copyright headers and license text should never be stripped
  from a file. If a copyright holder wishes to give up copyright they must
  do so in writing to the foundation before copyright messages are
  removed. If license terms are changed it has to be by agreement (written
  in email is ok) of the copyright holders.
* When substantial contributions are added to a file (such as substantial
  patches) the author/contributor should be added to the list of copyright
  holders for the file.
* If there is uncertainty about whether a change it proper to contribute
  to the code base, please seek more information from the project steering
  committee, or the foundation legal counsel. 


Voting History
--------------

Adopted on 2008/07/02 with +1 from PericlesN, DanielM, TamasS, JeffM, 
UmbertoN, SteveW, AssefaY, FrankW, TomK

