[maemo-developers] Contribution guidelines

[From: Quim Gil]

Hi,

http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_contribution_guidelines updated with your
comments and looks already quite good.

New sections created: Submissions and Quality. "Copyright assignment"
wording changed.

ext Dave Neary wrote:
> It bears the question, though - why are these even needed? What is the
> problem that they solve?

- Nokia saying explicitly that contributions are welcome. In theory it's
been always yes. In practice Nokia processes and the tight relationship
with device launches have been too much of an obstacle, and the lack of
any guidelines hasn't helped at all.

- Defining a clear yet simple framework for contributions leaving no
space for assumptions. For instance, many assumed that contributors
would need to give copyright assignment to Nokia, while in fact the
Maemo SW team is happy with original authors keeping their copyrights
for their creative contributions.


ext Andre Klapper wrote:
> I've seen some patches of lower quality added to Maemo Bugzilla, so I
> would add that
>       * Patches should not generate any more compile time warnings than
>         were already there.
>       * Patches should not include any commented code lines from tests.
>       * Patches should not add any extra debug printing unless
>         absolutely necessary
>       * Patches should match the Coding Style of the existing source
>         file, e.g. with regard to indentation and whitespaces etc.
>       * When attaching a patch in bugs.maemo.org, add the "patch"
>         keyword to the bug report.
> 
> But maybe this goes too much into details already?

The main stuff is in Submissions and Quality now. Details left out,
though. Let's keep the guidelines simple and stable, pointing to the
resources where all this detailed (and perhaps changing) information can
be found.

But your points are very good. Are they considered in the Maemo Coding
Style and Programming Guidelines? [1] If not can you please file an
enhancement request to the official documentation?


[1]
http://maemo.org/maemo_release_documentation/maemo4.1.x/node16.html#SECTION001630000000000000000

-- 
Quim Gil
marketing manager, open source
Maemo Software @ Nokia