1 How to Submit Patches for Open vSwitch
2 ======================================
4 Send changes to Open vSwitch as patches to dev@openvswitch.org.
5 One patch per email, please. More details are included below.
7 If you are using Git, then `git format-patch` takes care of most of
8 the mechanics described below for you.
13 Before you send patches at all, make sure that each patch makes sense.
16 - A given patch should not break anything, even if later
17 patches fix the problems that it causes. The source tree
18 should still build and work after each patch is applied.
19 (This enables `git bisect` to work best.)
21 - A patch should make one logical change. Don't make
22 multiple, logically unconnected changes to disparate
23 subsystems in a single patch.
25 - A patch that adds or removes user-visible features should
26 also update the appropriate user documentation or manpages.
28 Testing is also important:
30 - A patch that modifies existing code should be tested with
31 `make check` before submission.
33 - A patch that adds or deletes files should also be tested with
34 `make distcheck` before submission.
36 - A patch that modifies Linux kernel code should be at least
37 build-tested on various Linux kernel versions before
38 submission. I suggest versions 2.6.32 and whatever
39 the current latest release version is at the time.
41 - A patch that modifies the ofproto or vswitchd code should be
42 tested in at least simple cases before submission.
44 - A patch that modifies xenserver code should be tested on
45 XenServer before submission.
47 If you are using GitHub, then you may utilize the travis-ci.org CI build
48 system by linking your GitHub repository to it. This will run some of
49 the above tests automatically when you push changes to your repository.
50 See the "Continuous Integration with Travis-CI" in the [INSTALL.md] file
51 for details on how to set it up.
56 The subject line of your email should be in the following format:
57 `[PATCH <n>/<m>] <area>: <summary>`
59 - `[PATCH <n>/<m>]` indicates that this is the nth of a series
60 of m patches. It helps reviewers to read patches in the
61 correct order. You may omit this prefix if you are sending
64 - `<area>:` indicates the area of the Open vSwitch to which the
65 change applies (often the name of a source file or a
66 directory). You may omit it if the change crosses multiple
67 distinct pieces of code.
69 - `<summary>` briefly describes the change.
71 The subject, minus the `[PATCH <n>/<m>]` prefix, becomes the first line
72 of the commit's change log message.
77 The body of the email should start with a more thorough description of
78 the change. This becomes the body of the commit message, following
79 the subject. There is no need to duplicate the summary given in the
82 Please limit lines in the description to 79 characters in width.
84 The description should include:
86 - The rationale for the change.
88 - Design description and rationale (but this might be better
89 added as code comments).
91 - Testing that you performed (or testing that should be done
92 but you could not for whatever reason).
96 There is no need to describe what the patch actually changed, if the
97 reader can see it for himself.
99 If the patch refers to a commit already in the Open vSwitch
100 repository, please include both the commit number and the subject of
101 the patch, e.g. 'commit 632d136c (vswitch: Remove restriction on
104 If you, the person sending the patch, did not write the patch
105 yourself, then the very first line of the body should take the form
106 `From: <author name> <author email>`, followed by a blank line. This
107 will automatically cause the named author to be credited with
108 authorship in the repository.
113 The description ends with a series of tags, written one to a line as
114 the last paragraph of the email. Each tag indicates some property of
115 the patch in an easily machine-parseable manner.
117 Examples of common tags follow.
119 Signed-off-by: Author Name <author.name@email.address...>
121 Informally, this indicates that Author Name is the author or
122 submitter of a patch and has the authority to submit it under
123 the terms of the license. The formal meaning is to agree to
124 the Developer's Certificate of Origin (see below).
126 If the author and submitter are different, each must sign off.
127 If the patch has more than one author, all must sign off.
129 Signed-off-by: Author Name <author.name@email.address...>
130 Signed-off-by: Submitter Name <submitter.name@email.address...>
132 Co-authored-by: Author Name <author.name@email.address...>
134 Git can only record a single person as the author of a given
135 patch. In the rare event that a patch has multiple authors,
136 one must be given the credit in Git and the others must be
137 credited via Co-authored-by: tags. (All co-authors must also
140 Acked-by: Reviewer Name <reviewer.name@email.address...>
142 Reviewers will often give an Acked-by: tag to code of which
143 they approve. It is polite for the submitter to add the tag
144 before posting the next version of the patch or applying the
145 patch to the repository. Quality reviewing is hard work, so
146 this gives a small amount of credit to the reviewer.
148 Not all reviewers give Acked-by: tags when they provide
149 positive reviews. It's customary only to add tags from
150 reviewers who actually provide them explicitly.
152 Tested-by: Tester Name <reviewer.name@email.address...>
154 When someone tests a patch, it is customary to add a
155 Tested-by: tag indicating that. It's rare for a tester to
156 actually provide the tag; usually the patch submitter makes
157 the tag himself in response to an email indicating successful
162 When a test report is publicly available, this provides a way
163 to reference it. Typical <URL>s would be build logs from
164 autobuilders or references to mailing list archives.
166 Some autobuilders only retain their logs for a limited amount
167 of time. It is less useful to cite these because they may be
168 dead links for a developer reading the commit message months
171 Reported-by: Reporter Name <reporter.name@email.address...>
173 When a patch fixes a bug reported by some person, please
174 credit the reporter in the commit log in this fashion. Please
175 also add the reporter's name and email address to the list of
176 people who provided helpful bug reports in the AUTHORS file at
177 the top of the source tree.
179 Fairly often, the reporter of a bug also tests the fix.
180 Occasionally one sees a combined "Reported-and-tested-by:" tag
181 used to indicate this. It is also acceptable, and more
182 common, to include both tags separately.
184 (If a bug report is received privately, it might not always be
185 appropriate to publicly credit the reporter. If in doubt,
186 please ask the reporter.)
188 Requested-by: Requester Name <requester.name@email.address...>
189 Suggested-by: Suggester Name <suggester.name@email.address...>
191 When a patch implements a request or a suggestion made by some
192 person, please credit that person in the commit log in this
193 fashion. For a helpful suggestion, please also add the
194 person's name and email address to the list of people who
195 provided suggestions in the AUTHORS file at the top of the
198 (If a suggestion or a request is received privately, it might
199 not always be appropriate to publicly give credit. If in
204 If a patch fixes or is otherwise related to a bug reported in
205 a public bug tracker, please include a reference to the bug in
206 the form of a URL to the specific bug, e.g.:
208 Reported-at: https://bugs.debian.org/743635
210 This is also an appropriate way to refer to bug report emails
211 in public email archives, e.g.:
213 Reported-at: http://openvswitch.org/pipermail/dev/2014-June/040952.html
218 If a patch fixes or is otherwise related to a bug reported in
219 a private bug tracker, you may include some tracking ID for
220 the bug for your own reference. Please include some
221 identifier to make the origin clear, e.g. "VMware-BZ" refers
222 to VMware's internal Bugzilla instance and "ONF-JIRA" refers
223 to the Open Networking Foundation's JIRA bug tracker.
228 These are obsolete forms of VMware-BZ: that can still be seen
229 in old change log entries. (They are obsolete because they do
230 not tell the reader what bug tracker is referred to.)
232 Developer's Certificate of Origin
233 ---------------------------------
235 To help track the author of a patch as well as the submission chain,
236 and be clear that the developer has authority to submit a patch for
237 inclusion in openvswitch please sign off your work. The sign off
238 certifies the following:
240 Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1
242 By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
244 (a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
245 have the right to submit it under the open source license
246 indicated in the file; or
248 (b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
249 of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
250 license and I have the right under that license to submit that
251 work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
252 by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
253 permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
256 (c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
257 person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified
260 (d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
261 are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
262 personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
263 maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
264 this project or the open source license(s) involved.
269 If you want to include any comments in your email that should not be
270 part of the commit's change log message, put them after the
271 description, separated by a line that contains just `---`. It may be
272 helpful to include a diffstat here for changes that touch multiple
278 The patch should be in the body of the email following the description,
279 separated by a blank line.
281 Patches should be in `diff -up` format. We recommend that you use Git
282 to produce your patches, in which case you should use the `-M -C`
283 options to `git diff` (or other Git tools) if your patch renames or
284 copies files. Quilt (http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/quilt) might
285 be useful if you do not want to use Git.
287 Patches should be inline in the email message. Some email clients
288 corrupt white space or wrap lines in patches. There are hints on how
289 to configure many email clients to avoid this problem at:
290 http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob_plain;f=Documentation/email-clients.txt
291 If you cannot convince your email client not to mangle patches, then
292 sending the patch as an attachment is a second choice.
294 Please follow the style used in the code that you are modifying. The
295 [CodingStyle.md] file describes the coding style used in most of Open
296 vSwitch. Use Linux kernel coding style for Linux kernel code.
302 From fa29a1c2c17682879e79a21bb0cdd5bbe67fa7c0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
303 From: Jesse Gross <jesse@nicira.com>
304 Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 13:17:24 -0800
305 Subject: [PATCH] datapath: Alphabetize include/net/ipv6.h compat header.
307 Signed-off-by: Jesse Gross <jesse@nicira.com>
309 datapath/linux/Modules.mk | 2 +-
310 1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
312 diff --git a/datapath/linux/Modules.mk b/datapath/linux/Modules.mk
313 index fdd952e..f6cb88e 100644
314 --- a/datapath/linux/Modules.mk
315 +++ b/datapath/linux/Modules.mk
316 @@ -56,11 +56,11 @@ openvswitch_headers += \
317 linux/compat/include/net/dst.h \
318 linux/compat/include/net/genetlink.h \
319 linux/compat/include/net/ip.h \
320 + linux/compat/include/net/ipv6.h \
321 linux/compat/include/net/net_namespace.h \
322 linux/compat/include/net/netlink.h \
323 linux/compat/include/net/protocol.h \
324 linux/compat/include/net/route.h \
325 - linux/compat/include/net/ipv6.h \
326 linux/compat/genetlink.inc
328 both_modules += brcompat
333 [INSTALL.md]:INSTALL.md
334 [CodingStyle.md]:CodingStyle.md