HACKING

Information for GNU Gnulib maintainers and contributors
*******************************************************

Using git
=========

* We don't use topic branches.  Changes are usually small enough that
  they can be committed directly to the master branch, after appropriate
  testing.

* We maintain stable branches, though, as described in the documentation:
  https://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/html_node/Stable-Branches.html
  When backporting a commit to a stable branch of the last year, be sure
  to update the copyright year of each modified file (since we don't run
  "make update-copyright" on the stable branches).

* We update the ChangeLog by hand.  The commit message is usually identical
  to the ChangeLog entry, with the date and author line removed, with
  the leading tabs removed, and with a blank line after the commit's
  summary line.

* When you commit a contributor's patch, please
  - add a reasonable ChangeLog entry in the usual style (meaningful
    summary line and detailed change list),
  - if the contribution is so small that it does not require a
    copyright assignment (cf.
    https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/html_node/Legally-Significant.html )
    add a line:
    Copyright-paperwork-exempt: Yes
  - use the 'git commit' option --author="Contributor Name <email@address>"

License Notices
===============

In *.m4 files, use a notice like this:
  dnl Copyright (C) YEARS Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  dnl This file is free software; the Free Software Foundation
  dnl gives unlimited permission to copy and/or distribute it,
  dnl with or without modifications, as long as this notice is preserved.

In lib/, tests/, build-aux/ files, except those that are shared with glibc,
use the license notices from etc/license-notices/ . This avoids gratuitous
differences in wording, as well misunderstandings when a license notice
would say "This program ...".

Test Suite
==========

When adding a module, add a unit test module as well.  This is our best
chance to catch portability problems.