1. Communication

There are 2 ways that will be used to communicate: The mailing list
(ouroboros@freelists.org) will be used for almost everything except
for day-to-day chat. For that we will use the channel #ouroboros-rina
on Freenode (IRC chat). Use whatever name you desire.

2. Coding guidelines

The Ouroboros stack is written in C and has the GPL license. It uses
autotools as the build system. The coding guidelines of the Ouroboros
stack are the same as those of the Linux kernel
(https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/CodingStyle) with the
following exceptions:

- Soft tabs are to be used instead of hard tabs

- A space is to be inserted between a pointer and its object name. Example:

int * a;
instead of
int *a;

- Don't explicitly cast malloc, but do

ptr = malloc (sizeof(*ptr) * len);
or
ptr = malloc (sizeof *ptr * len);

- When checking for invalid pointers use

if (ptr == NULL)
instead of
if (!ptr)

3. Development workflow

Git is used as a version tooling for the code. Releases are identified
through a git tag by a number MAJOR.MICRO. Incrementing MAJOR is used
to indicate a big step ahead in terms of features; it is discussed
when new features are planned. Incrementing MICRO is done when
APIs/ABIs are not necessarily compatible.

3.1. Repository structure

The main git repository can be found at:
https://bitbucket.org/ouroboros-rina/stack

It contains the following branches:

- master: Contains the most stable versions of the stack.

- testing: Contains tested version but may still contain bugs.

- be: Contains untested but compiling code.

All new contributions are integrated into ‘be’ from forks of the main
git repository. Once a version of ‘be’ is tested enough, it is merged
into ‘testing’. When a ‘testing’ version is considered stable enough,
it is merged into ‘master’. Users should ALWAYS use master.

3.2. Contributions

There are 3 ways to provide contributions:

- bitbucket pull-requests: via bitbucket UI

- git email pull-requests: via mailing list (ouroboros@freelists.org)

- git email patch: via mailing list (ouroboros@freelists.org)

New development is ALWAYS done against the ‘be’ branch of the main git
repository. Contributions are always made using your real name and
real e-mail address.

3.3 Commit messages

A commit message should follow these 9 simple rules (adjusted from
http://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/):

- Separate subject from body with a blank line

- Limit the subject line to 50 characters

- Capitalize the subject line

- Do not end the subject line with a period

- Use the imperative mood in the subject line

- Precede the subject line by indicating the component where changes
were made

- Wrap the body at 72 characters

- Use the body to explain what and why vs. how

- If the commit addresses a bug, reference it in the body

3.4 Bugs

Bugs are reported through the bitbucket issue tracker
(https://bitbucket.org/ouroboros-rina/stack/issues?status=new&status=open). The
process of reporting a bug is the following:

a. Report the bug on the issue tracker

b. Sync with the HEAD of the most stable branch where the bug is
present

c. Provide a bug fix

d. Request a pull request to that branch

e. The bugfix will be merged upwards into the less stable branches

Note that step a is always required. Steps b-e may be performed by
someone else.

4. New features

New features can be always be requested through the mailing list. They
will be taken into account when a next version of the prototype is
discussed. A next version is discussed through a conference call,
after which the agreed upon features are added to the issue
tracker. Version 1.0 of Ouroboros will contain minimal functionality
to have a RINA implementation. Pull requests containing non discussed
features will be automatically rejected and will revoke you the rights
to perform new pull requests.
