CONTRIBUTING.md - external/github.com/grpc/grpc - Git at Google

 # How to contribute

 We definitely welcome your patches and contributions to gRPC! Please read the gRPC
 organization's [governance rules](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-community/blob/master/governance.md)
 and [contribution guidelines](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-community/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) before proceeding.

 If you are new to github, please start by reading [Pull Request
 howto](https://help.github.com/articles/about-pull-requests/)

 If you are looking for features to work on, please filter the issues list with the label ["disposition/help wanted"](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/issues?q=label%3A%22disposition%2Fhelp+wanted%22).
 Please note that some of these feature requests might have been closed in the past as a result of them being marked as stale due to there being no activity, but these are still valid feature requests.

 ## Legal requirements

 In order to protect both you and ourselves, you will need to sign the
 [Contributor License
 Agreement](https://identity.linuxfoundation.org/projects/cncf).

 ## Cloning the repository

 Before starting any development work you will need a local copy of the gRPC repository.
 Please follow the instructions in [Building gRPC C++: Clone the repository](BUILDING.md#clone-the-repository-including-submodules).

 ## Building & Running tests

 Different languages use different build systems. To hide the complexity
 of needing to build with many different build systems, a portable python
 script that unifies the experience of building and testing gRPC in different
 languages and on different platforms is provided.

 To build gRPC in the language of choice (e.g. `c++`, `csharp`, `php`, `python`, `ruby`, ...)
 - Prepare your development environment based on language-specific instructions in `src/YOUR-LANGUAGE` directory.
 - The language-specific instructions might involve installing C/C++ prerequisites listed in
   [Building gRPC C++: Prerequisites](BUILDING.md#pre-requisites). This is because gRPC implementations
   in this repository are using the native gRPC "core" library internally.
 - Run
   ```
   python tools/run_tests/run_tests.py -l YOUR_LANGUAGE --build_only
   ```
 - To also run all the unit tests after building
   ```
   python tools/run_tests/run_tests.py -l YOUR_LANGUAGE
   ```

 You can also run `python tools/run_tests/run_tests.py --help` to discover useful command line flags supported. For more details,
 see [tools/run_tests](tools/run_tests) where you will also find guidance on how to run various other test suites (e.g. interop tests, benchmarks).

 ## Generated project files

 To ease maintenance of language- and platform- specific build systems, many
 projects files are generated using templates and should not be edited by hand.
 Run `tools/buildgen/generate_projects.sh` to regenerate.  See
 [templates](templates) for details.

 As a rule of thumb, if you see the "sanity tests" failing you've most likely
 edited generated files or you didn't regenerate the projects properly (or your
 code formatting doesn't match our code style).

 ## Guidelines for Pull Requests
 How to get your contributions merged smoothly and quickly.

 - Create **small PRs** that are narrowly focused on **addressing a single
   concern**.  We often times receive PRs that are trying to fix several things
   at a time, but only one fix is considered acceptable, nothing gets merged and
   both author's & review's time is wasted.  Create more PRs to address different
   concerns and everyone will be happy.

 - For speculative changes, consider opening an issue and discussing it first.
   If you are suggesting a behavioral or API change, consider starting with a
   [gRFC proposal](https://github.com/grpc/proposal).

 - Provide a good **PR description** as a record of **what** change is being made
   and **why** it was made.  Link to a GitHub issue if it exists.

 - Don't fix code style and formatting unless you are already changing that line
   to address an issue.  PRs with irrelevant changes won't be merged.  If you do
   want to fix formatting or style, do that in a separate PR.

 - If you are adding a new file, make sure it has the copyright message template
   at the top as a comment. You can copy over the message from an existing file
   and update the year.

 - Unless your PR is trivial, you should expect there will be reviewer comments
   that you'll need to address before merging.  We expect you to be reasonably
   responsive to those comments, otherwise the PR will be closed after 2-3 weeks
   of inactivity.

 - If you have non-trivial contributions, please consider adding an entry to [the
   AUTHORS file](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/blob/master/AUTHORS) listing the
   copyright holder for the contribution (yourself, if you are signing the
   individual CLA, or your company, for corporate CLAs) in the same PR as your
   contribution.  This needs to be done only once, for each company, or
   individual. Please keep this file in alphabetical order.

 - Maintain **clean commit history** and use **meaningful commit messages**.
   PRs with messy commit history are difficult to review and won't be merged.
   Use `rebase -i upstream/master` to curate your commit history and/or to
   bring in latest changes from master (but avoid rebasing in the middle of
   a code review).

 - Keep your PR up to date with upstream/master (if there are merge conflicts,
   we can't really merge your change).

 - If you are regenerating the projects using
   `tools/buildgen/generate_projects.sh`, make changes to generated files a
   separate commit with commit message `regenerate projects`.  Mixing changes
   to generated and hand-written files make your PR difficult to review.
   Note that running this script requires the installation of Python packages
   `pyyaml` and `mako` (typically installed using `pip`) as well as a recent
   version of [`go`](https://golang.org/doc/install#install).

 - **All tests need to be passing** before your change can be merged.
   We recommend you **run tests locally** before creating your PR to catch
   breakages early on (see [tools/run_tests](tools/run_tests).  Ultimately, the
   green signal will be provided by our testing infrastructure.  The reviewer
   will help you if there are test failures that seem not related to the change
   you are making.

 - Exceptions to the rules can be made if there's a compelling reason for doing
   so.

 ## Obtaining Commit Access
 We grant Commit Access to contributors based on the following criteria:
 * Sustained contribution to the gRPC project.
 * Deep understanding of the areas contributed to, and good consideration of various reliability, usability and performance tradeoffs.
 * Contributions demonstrate that obtaining Commit Access will significantly reduce friction for the contributors or others.

 In addition to submitting PRs, a Contributor with Commit Access can:
 * Review PRs and merge once other checks and criteria pass.
 * Triage bugs and PRs and assign appropriate labels and reviewers.

 ### Obtaining Commit Access without Code Contributions
 The [gRPC organization](https://github.com/grpc) is comprised of multiple repositories and commit access is usually restricted to one or more of these repositories. Some repositories such as the [grpc.github.io](https://github.com/grpc/grpc.github.io/) do not have code, but the same principle of sustained, high quality contributions, with a good understanding of the fundamentals, apply.
	# How to contribute

	We definitely welcome your patches and contributions to gRPC! Please read the gRPC
	organization's [governance rules](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-community/blob/master/governance.md)
	and [contribution guidelines](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-community/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) before proceeding.

	If you are new to github, please start by reading [Pull Request
	howto](https://help.github.com/articles/about-pull-requests/)

	If you are looking for features to work on, please filter the issues list with the label ["disposition/help wanted"](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/issues?q=label%3A%22disposition%2Fhelp+wanted%22).
	Please note that some of these feature requests might have been closed in the past as a result of them being marked as stale due to there being no activity, but these are still valid feature requests.

	## Legal requirements

	In order to protect both you and ourselves, you will need to sign the
	[Contributor License
	Agreement](https://identity.linuxfoundation.org/projects/cncf).

	## Cloning the repository

	Before starting any development work you will need a local copy of the gRPC repository.
	Please follow the instructions in [Building gRPC C++: Clone the repository](BUILDING.md#clone-the-repository-including-submodules).

	## Building & Running tests

	Different languages use different build systems. To hide the complexity
	of needing to build with many different build systems, a portable python
	script that unifies the experience of building and testing gRPC in different
	languages and on different platforms is provided.

	To build gRPC in the language of choice (e.g. `c++`, `csharp`, `php`, `python`, `ruby`, ...)
	- Prepare your development environment based on language-specific instructions in `src/YOUR-LANGUAGE` directory.
	- The language-specific instructions might involve installing C/C++ prerequisites listed in
	[Building gRPC C++: Prerequisites](BUILDING.md#pre-requisites). This is because gRPC implementations
	in this repository are using the native gRPC "core" library internally.
	- Run
	```
	python tools/run_tests/run_tests.py -l YOUR_LANGUAGE --build_only
	```
	- To also run all the unit tests after building
	```
	python tools/run_tests/run_tests.py -l YOUR_LANGUAGE
	```

	You can also run `python tools/run_tests/run_tests.py --help` to discover useful command line flags supported. For more details,
	see [tools/run_tests](tools/run_tests) where you will also find guidance on how to run various other test suites (e.g. interop tests, benchmarks).

	## Generated project files

	To ease maintenance of language- and platform- specific build systems, many
	projects files are generated using templates and should not be edited by hand.
	Run `tools/buildgen/generate_projects.sh` to regenerate. See
	[templates](templates) for details.

	As a rule of thumb, if you see the "sanity tests" failing you've most likely
	edited generated files or you didn't regenerate the projects properly (or your
	code formatting doesn't match our code style).

	## Guidelines for Pull Requests
	How to get your contributions merged smoothly and quickly.

	- Create small PRs that are narrowly focused on **addressing a single
	concern**. We often times receive PRs that are trying to fix several things
	at a time, but only one fix is considered acceptable, nothing gets merged and
	both author's & review's time is wasted. Create more PRs to address different
	concerns and everyone will be happy.

	- For speculative changes, consider opening an issue and discussing it first.
	If you are suggesting a behavioral or API change, consider starting with a
	[gRFC proposal](https://github.com/grpc/proposal).

	- Provide a good PR description as a record of what change is being made
	and why it was made. Link to a GitHub issue if it exists.

	- Don't fix code style and formatting unless you are already changing that line
	to address an issue. PRs with irrelevant changes won't be merged. If you do
	want to fix formatting or style, do that in a separate PR.

	- If you are adding a new file, make sure it has the copyright message template
	at the top as a comment. You can copy over the message from an existing file
	and update the year.

	- Unless your PR is trivial, you should expect there will be reviewer comments
	that you'll need to address before merging. We expect you to be reasonably
	responsive to those comments, otherwise the PR will be closed after 2-3 weeks
	of inactivity.

	- If you have non-trivial contributions, please consider adding an entry to [the
	AUTHORS file](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/blob/master/AUTHORS) listing the
	copyright holder for the contribution (yourself, if you are signing the
	individual CLA, or your company, for corporate CLAs) in the same PR as your
	contribution. This needs to be done only once, for each company, or
	individual. Please keep this file in alphabetical order.

	- Maintain clean commit history and use meaningful commit messages.
	PRs with messy commit history are difficult to review and won't be merged.
	Use `rebase -i upstream/master` to curate your commit history and/or to
	bring in latest changes from master (but avoid rebasing in the middle of
	a code review).

	- Keep your PR up to date with upstream/master (if there are merge conflicts,
	we can't really merge your change).

	- If you are regenerating the projects using
	`tools/buildgen/generate_projects.sh`, make changes to generated files a
	separate commit with commit message `regenerate projects`. Mixing changes
	to generated and hand-written files make your PR difficult to review.
	Note that running this script requires the installation of Python packages
	`pyyaml` and `mako` (typically installed using `pip`) as well as a recent
	version of [`go`](https://golang.org/doc/install#install).

	- All tests need to be passing before your change can be merged.
	We recommend you run tests locally before creating your PR to catch
	breakages early on (see [tools/run_tests](tools/run_tests). Ultimately, the
	green signal will be provided by our testing infrastructure. The reviewer
	will help you if there are test failures that seem not related to the change
	you are making.

	- Exceptions to the rules can be made if there's a compelling reason for doing
	so.

	## Obtaining Commit Access
	We grant Commit Access to contributors based on the following criteria:
	* Sustained contribution to the gRPC project.
	* Deep understanding of the areas contributed to, and good consideration of various reliability, usability and performance tradeoffs.
	* Contributions demonstrate that obtaining Commit Access will significantly reduce friction for the contributors or others.

	In addition to submitting PRs, a Contributor with Commit Access can:
	* Review PRs and merge once other checks and criteria pass.
	* Triage bugs and PRs and assign appropriate labels and reviewers.

	### Obtaining Commit Access without Code Contributions
	The [gRPC organization](https://github.com/grpc) is comprised of multiple repositories and commit access is usually restricted to one or more of these repositories. Some repositories such as the [grpc.github.io](https://github.com/grpc/grpc.github.io/) do not have code, but the same principle of sustained, high quality contributions, with a good understanding of the fundamentals, apply.