CONTRIBUTING

   1 Contributing to this project
   2 ----------------------------
   3
   4 This project accepts contributions. In order to contribute, you should
   5 pay attention to a few things:
   6
   7     1 - your code must follow the coding style rules
   8     2 - the format of the submission must Github pull requests
   9     3 - your work must be signed
  10
  11
  12 Coding Style:
  13 -------------
  14
  15 The coding style follows the Linux kernel coding style.
  16
  17 The coding style is defined in the 'CodingStyle' file, available in
  18 the directory 'Documentation' of the Linux kernel source tree.
  19
  20 It can be accessed online too:
  21
  22 https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.10/process/coding-style.html
  23
  24 Submitting Modifications:
  25 -------------------------
  26
  27 The contributions must be Github pull requests.
  28 It is also possible to send contributions as email patches. But please be aware
  29 that the review process might take significantly longer than in the case of
  30 Github pull requests. You can submit your email patches to the
  31 lxc-devel@lists.linuxcontainers.org mailing list. (Use
  32 http://lists.linuxcontainers.org/listinfo/lxc-devel to subscribe to the list.)
  33 The guidelines for submitting email patches are the same as the patch submission
  34 for the Linux kernel except for the DCO which is defined below. The guidelines
  35 are defined in the 'SubmittingPatches' file, available in the directory
  36 'Documentation' of the Linux kernel source tree:
  37 https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.10/process/submitting-patches.html
  38
  39 Licensing for new files:
  40 ------------------------
  41
  42 LXC is made of files shipped under a few different licenses.
  43
  44 Anything that ends up being part of the LXC library needs to be released
  45 under LGPLv2.1+ or a license compatible with it (though the latter will
  46 only be accepted for cases where the code originated elsewhere and was
  47 imported into LXC).
  48
  49 Language bindings for the libraries need to be released under LGPLv2.1+.
  50
  51 Anything else (non-libaries) needs to be Free Software and needs to be
  52 allowed to link with LGPLv2.1+ code (if needed). LXC upstream prefers
  53 LGPLv2.1+ or GPLv2 for those.
  54
  55 When introducing a new file into the project, please make sure it has a
  56 copyright header making clear under which license it's being released
  57 and if it doesn't match the criteria described above, please explain
  58 your decision on the lxc-devel mailing-list when submitting your patch.
  59
  60 Developer Certificate of Origin:
  61 --------------------------------
  62
  63 To improve tracking of contributions to this project we will use a
  64 process modeled on the modified DCO 1.1 and use a "sign-off" procedure
  65 on patches that are being emailed around or contributed in any other
  66 way.
  67
  68 The sign-off is a simple line at the end of the explanation for the
  69 patch, which certifies that you wrote it or otherwise have the right
  70 to pass it on as an open-source patch.  The rules are pretty simple:
  71 if you can certify the below:
  72
  73 By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
  74
  75 (a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I have
  76     the right to submit it under the open source license indicated in
  77     the file; or
  78
  79 (b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best of
  80     my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source License
  81     and I have the right under that license to submit that work with
  82     modifications, whether created in whole or in part by me, under
  83     the same open source license (unless I am permitted to submit
  84     under a different license), as indicated in the file; or
  85
  86 (c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other person
  87     who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified it.
  88
  89 (d) The contribution is made free of any other party's intellectual
  90     property claims or rights.
  91
  92 (e) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution are
  93     public and that a record of the contribution (including all
  94     personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
  95     maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
  96     this project or the open source license(s) involved.
  97
  98
  99 then you just add a line saying
 100
 101     Signed-off-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.org>
 102
 103 You can do it by using option -s or --signoff when you commit
 104
 105     git commit --signoff ...
 106
 107 using your real name (sorry, no pseudonyms or anonymous contributions.)
 108
 109 In addition we support the following DCOs which maintainers can use to indicate
 110 that a patch is acceptable:
 111
 112     Acked-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.org>
 113     Reviewed-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.org>
 114
 115 If you are contributing as a group who is implementing a feature together such
 116 that it cannot be reasonably attributed to a single developer please use:
 117
 118     Co-developed-by: Random J Developer 1 <random_1@developer.org>
 119     Co-developed-by: Random J Developer 2 <random_1@developer.org>