pyrox.dev
1<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
2 xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
3 xml:id="chap-submitting-changes">
4 <title>Submitting changes</title>
5 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-making-patches">
6 <title>Making patches</title>
7
8 <itemizedlist>
9 <listitem>
10 <para>
11 Read <link xlink:href="https://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/">Manual (How to
12 write packages for Nix)</link>.
13 </para>
14 </listitem>
15 <listitem>
16 <para>
17 Fork the repository on GitHub.
18 </para>
19 </listitem>
20 <listitem>
21 <para>
22 Create a branch for your future fix.
23 <itemizedlist>
24 <listitem>
25 <para>
26 You can make branch from a commit of your local
27 <command>nixos-version</command>. That will help you to avoid
28 additional local compilations. Because you will receive packages from
29 binary cache.
30 <itemizedlist>
31 <listitem>
32 <para>
33 For example: <command>nixos-version</command> returns
34 <command>15.05.git.0998212 (Dingo)</command>. So you can do:
35 </para>
36 </listitem>
37 </itemizedlist>
38<screen>
39$ git checkout 0998212
40$ git checkout -b 'fix/pkg-name-update'
41</screen>
42 </para>
43 </listitem>
44 <listitem>
45 <para>
46 Please avoid working directly on the <command>master</command> branch.
47 </para>
48 </listitem>
49 </itemizedlist>
50 </para>
51 </listitem>
52 <listitem>
53 <para>
54 Make commits of logical units.
55 <itemizedlist>
56 <listitem>
57 <para>
58 If you removed pkgs, made some major NixOS changes etc., write about
59 them in
60 <command>nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-unstable.xml</command>.
61 </para>
62 </listitem>
63 </itemizedlist>
64 </para>
65 </listitem>
66 <listitem>
67 <para>
68 Check for unnecessary whitespace with <command>git diff --check</command>
69 before committing.
70 </para>
71 </listitem>
72 <listitem>
73 <para>
74 Format the commit in a following way:
75 </para>
76<programlisting>
77(pkg-name | nixos/<module>): (from -> to | init at version | refactor | etc)
78Additional information.
79</programlisting>
80 <itemizedlist>
81 <listitem>
82 <para>
83 Examples:
84 <itemizedlist>
85 <listitem>
86 <para>
87 <command>nginx: init at 2.0.1</command>
88 </para>
89 </listitem>
90 <listitem>
91 <para>
92 <command>firefox: 54.0.1 -> 55.0</command>
93 </para>
94 </listitem>
95 <listitem>
96 <para>
97 <command>nixos/hydra: add bazBaz option</command>
98 </para>
99 </listitem>
100 <listitem>
101 <para>
102 <command>nixos/nginx: refactor config generation</command>
103 </para>
104 </listitem>
105 </itemizedlist>
106 </para>
107 </listitem>
108 </itemizedlist>
109 </listitem>
110 <listitem>
111 <para>
112 Test your changes. If you work with
113 <itemizedlist>
114 <listitem>
115 <para>
116 nixpkgs:
117 <itemizedlist>
118 <listitem>
119 <para>
120 update pkg ->
121 <itemizedlist>
122 <listitem>
123 <para>
124 <command>nix-env -i pkg-name -f <path to your local nixpkgs
125 folder></command>
126 </para>
127 </listitem>
128 </itemizedlist>
129 </para>
130 </listitem>
131 <listitem>
132 <para>
133 add pkg ->
134 <itemizedlist>
135 <listitem>
136 <para>
137 Make sure it's in
138 <command>pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix</command>
139 </para>
140 </listitem>
141 <listitem>
142 <para>
143 <command>nix-env -i pkg-name -f <path to your local nixpkgs
144 folder></command>
145 </para>
146 </listitem>
147 </itemizedlist>
148 </para>
149 </listitem>
150 <listitem>
151 <para>
152 <emphasis>If you don't want to install pkg in you
153 profile</emphasis>.
154 <itemizedlist>
155 <listitem>
156 <para>
157 <command>nix-build -A pkg-attribute-name <path to your local
158 nixpkgs folder>/default.nix</command> and check results in the
159 folder <command>result</command>. It will appear in the same
160 directory where you did <command>nix-build</command>.
161 </para>
162 </listitem>
163 </itemizedlist>
164 </para>
165 </listitem>
166 <listitem>
167 <para>
168 If you did <command>nix-env -i pkg-name</command> you can do
169 <command>nix-env -e pkg-name</command> to uninstall it from your
170 system.
171 </para>
172 </listitem>
173 </itemizedlist>
174 </para>
175 </listitem>
176 <listitem>
177 <para>
178 NixOS and its modules:
179 <itemizedlist>
180 <listitem>
181 <para>
182 You can add new module to your NixOS configuration file (usually
183 it's <command>/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</command>). And do
184 <command>sudo nixos-rebuild test -I nixpkgs=<path to your local
185 nixpkgs folder> --fast</command>.
186 </para>
187 </listitem>
188 </itemizedlist>
189 </para>
190 </listitem>
191 </itemizedlist>
192 </para>
193 </listitem>
194 <listitem>
195 <para>
196 If you have commits <command>pkg-name: oh, forgot to insert
197 whitespace</command>: squash commits in this case. Use <command>git rebase
198 -i</command>.
199 </para>
200 </listitem>
201 <listitem>
202 <para>
203 Rebase you branch against current <command>master</command>.
204 </para>
205 </listitem>
206 </itemizedlist>
207 </section>
208 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-submitting-changes">
209 <title>Submitting changes</title>
210
211 <itemizedlist>
212 <listitem>
213 <para>
214 Push your changes to your fork of nixpkgs.
215 </para>
216 </listitem>
217 <listitem>
218 <para>
219 Create pull request:
220 <itemizedlist>
221 <listitem>
222 <para>
223 Write the title in format <command>(pkg-name | nixos/<module>):
224 improvement</command>.
225 <itemizedlist>
226 <listitem>
227 <para>
228 If you update the pkg, write versions <command>from -> to</command>.
229 </para>
230 </listitem>
231 </itemizedlist>
232 </para>
233 </listitem>
234 <listitem>
235 <para>
236 Write in comment if you have tested your patch. Do not rely much on
237 <command>TravisCI</command>.
238 </para>
239 </listitem>
240 <listitem>
241 <para>
242 If you make an improvement, write about your motivation.
243 </para>
244 </listitem>
245 <listitem>
246 <para>
247 Notify maintainers of the package. For example add to the message:
248 <command>cc @jagajaga @domenkozar</command>.
249 </para>
250 </listitem>
251 </itemizedlist>
252 </para>
253 </listitem>
254 </itemizedlist>
255 </section>
256 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-pull-request-template">
257 <title>Pull Request Template</title>
258
259 <para>
260 The pull request template helps determine what steps have been made for a
261 contribution so far, and will help guide maintainers on the status of a
262 change. The motivation section of the PR should include any extra details
263 the title does not address and link any existing issues related to the pull
264 request.
265 </para>
266
267 <para>
268 When a PR is created, it will be pre-populated with some checkboxes detailed
269 below:
270 </para>
271
272 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-tested-with-sandbox">
273 <title>Tested using sandboxing</title>
274
275 <para>
276 When sandbox builds are enabled, Nix will setup an isolated environment for
277 each build process. It is used to remove further hidden dependencies set by
278 the build environment to improve reproducibility. This includes access to
279 the network during the build outside of <function>fetch*</function>
280 functions and files outside the Nix store. Depending on the operating
281 system access to other resources are blocked as well (ex. inter process
282 communication is isolated on Linux); see
283 <link
284 xlink:href="https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#description-45">build-use-sandbox</link>
285 in Nix manual for details.
286 </para>
287
288 <para>
289 Sandboxing is not enabled by default in Nix due to a small performance hit
290 on each build. In pull requests for
291 <link
292 xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/">nixpkgs</link>
293 people are asked to test builds with sandboxing enabled (see
294 <literal>Tested using sandboxing</literal> in the pull request template)
295 because
296 in<link
297 xlink:href="https://nixos.org/hydra/">https://nixos.org/hydra/</link>
298 sandboxing is also used.
299 </para>
300
301 <para>
302 Depending if you use NixOS or other platforms you can use one of the
303 following methods to enable sandboxing
304 <emphasis role="bold">before</emphasis> building the package:
305 <itemizedlist>
306 <listitem>
307 <para>
308 <emphasis role="bold">Globally enable sandboxing on NixOS</emphasis>:
309 add the following to <filename>configuration.nix</filename>
310<screen>nix.useSandbox = true;</screen>
311 </para>
312 </listitem>
313 <listitem>
314 <para>
315 <emphasis role="bold">Globally enable sandboxing on non-NixOS
316 platforms</emphasis>: add the following to:
317 <filename>/etc/nix/nix.conf</filename>
318<screen>build-use-sandbox = true</screen>
319 </para>
320 </listitem>
321 </itemizedlist>
322 </para>
323 </section>
324
325 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-platform-diversity">
326 <title>Built on platform(s)</title>
327
328 <para>
329 Many Nix packages are designed to run on multiple platforms. As such, it's
330 important to let the maintainer know which platforms your changes have been
331 tested on. It's not always practical to test a change on all platforms, and
332 is not required for a pull request to be merged. Only check the systems you
333 tested the build on in this section.
334 </para>
335 </section>
336
337 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-nixos-tests">
338 <title>Tested via one or more NixOS test(s) if existing and applicable for the change (look inside nixos/tests)</title>
339
340 <para>
341 Packages with automated tests are much more likely to be merged in a timely
342 fashion because it doesn't require as much manual testing by the maintainer
343 to verify the functionality of the package. If there are existing tests for
344 the package, they should be run to verify your changes do not break the
345 tests. Tests only apply to packages with NixOS modules defined and can only
346 be run on Linux. For more details on writing and running tests, see the
347 <link
348 xlink:href="https://nixos.org/nixos/manual/index.html#sec-nixos-tests">section
349 in the NixOS manual</link>.
350 </para>
351 </section>
352
353 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-tested-compilation">
354 <title>Tested compilation of all pkgs that depend on this change using <command>nox-review</command></title>
355
356 <para>
357 If you are updating a package's version, you can use nox to make sure all
358 packages that depend on the updated package still compile correctly. This
359 can be done using the nox utility. The <command>nox-review</command>
360 utility can look for and build all dependencies either based on uncommited
361 changes with the <literal>wip</literal> option or specifying a github pull
362 request number.
363 </para>
364
365 <para>
366 review uncommitted changes:
367<screen>nix-shell -p nox --run "nox-review wip"</screen>
368 </para>
369
370 <para>
371 review changes from pull request number 12345:
372<screen>nix-shell -p nox --run "nox-review pr 12345"</screen>
373 </para>
374 </section>
375
376 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-tested-execution">
377 <title>Tested execution of all binary files (usually in <filename>./result/bin/</filename>)</title>
378
379 <para>
380 It's important to test any executables generated by a build when you change
381 or create a package in nixpkgs. This can be done by looking in
382 <filename>./result/bin</filename> and running any files in there, or at a
383 minimum, the main executable for the package. For example, if you make a
384 change to <package>texlive</package>, you probably would only check the
385 binaries associated with the change you made rather than testing all of
386 them.
387 </para>
388 </section>
389
390 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-contribution-standards">
391 <title>Meets Nixpkgs contribution standards</title>
392
393 <para>
394 The last checkbox is fits
395 <link
396 xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md">CONTRIBUTING.md</link>.
397 The contributing document has detailed information on standards the Nix
398 community has for commit messages, reviews, licensing of contributions you
399 make to the project, etc... Everyone should read and understand the
400 standards the community has for contributing before submitting a pull
401 request.
402 </para>
403 </section>
404 </section>
405 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-hotfixing-pull-requests">
406 <title>Hotfixing pull requests</title>
407
408 <itemizedlist>
409 <listitem>
410 <para>
411 Make the appropriate changes in you branch.
412 </para>
413 </listitem>
414 <listitem>
415 <para>
416 Don't create additional commits, do
417 <itemizedlist>
418 <listitem>
419 <para>
420 <command>git rebase -i</command>
421 </para>
422 </listitem>
423 <listitem>
424 <para>
425 <command>git push --force</command> to your branch.
426 </para>
427 </listitem>
428 </itemizedlist>
429 </para>
430 </listitem>
431 </itemizedlist>
432 </section>
433 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-commit-policy">
434 <title>Commit policy</title>
435
436 <itemizedlist>
437 <listitem>
438 <para>
439 Commits must be sufficiently tested before being merged, both for the
440 master and staging branches.
441 </para>
442 </listitem>
443 <listitem>
444 <para>
445 Hydra builds for master and staging should not be used as testing
446 platform, it's a build farm for changes that have been already tested.
447 </para>
448 </listitem>
449 <listitem>
450 <para>
451 When changing the bootloader installation process, extra care must be
452 taken. Grub installations cannot be rolled back, hence changes may break
453 people's installations forever. For any non-trivial change to the
454 bootloader please file a PR asking for review, especially from @edolstra.
455 </para>
456 </listitem>
457 </itemizedlist>
458
459 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-master-branch">
460 <title>Master branch</title>
461
462 <itemizedlist>
463 <listitem>
464 <para>
465 It should only see non-breaking commits that do not cause mass rebuilds.
466 </para>
467 </listitem>
468 </itemizedlist>
469 </section>
470
471 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-staging-branch">
472 <title>Staging branch</title>
473
474 <itemizedlist>
475 <listitem>
476 <para>
477 It's only for non-breaking mass-rebuild commits. That means it's not to
478 be used for testing, and changes must have been well tested already.
479 <link xlink:href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160528180406/http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.nixos/13447">Read
480 policy here</link>.
481 </para>
482 </listitem>
483 <listitem>
484 <para>
485 If the branch is already in a broken state, please refrain from adding
486 extra new breakages. Stabilize it for a few days, merge into master, then
487 resume development on staging.
488 <link xlink:href="http://hydra.nixos.org/jobset/nixpkgs/staging#tabs-evaluations">Keep
489 an eye on the staging evaluations here</link>. If any fixes for staging
490 happen to be already in master, then master can be merged into staging.
491 </para>
492 </listitem>
493 </itemizedlist>
494 </section>
495
496 <section xml:id="submitting-changes-stable-release-branches">
497 <title>Stable release branches</title>
498
499 <itemizedlist>
500 <listitem>
501 <para>
502 If you're cherry-picking a commit to a stable release branch, always use
503 <command>git cherry-pick -xe</command> and ensure the message contains a
504 clear description about why this needs to be included in the stable
505 branch.
506 </para>
507 <para>
508 An example of a cherry-picked commit would look like this:
509 </para>
510<screen>
511nixos: Refactor the world.
512
513The original commit message describing the reason why the world was torn apart.
514
515(cherry picked from commit abcdef)
516Reason: I just had a gut feeling that this would also be wanted by people from
517the stone age.
518 </screen>
519 </listitem>
520 </itemizedlist>
521 </section>
522 </section>
523</chapter>