--- /dev/null
+---
+title: General Guidelines
+---
+
+## Getting help
+
+If you are looking for something to work on, or need some expert assistance in
+debugging a problem or working out a fix to an issue, our community is always
+eager to help. We hang out on various [developer
+meetings](https://www.automotivelinux.org/developer-meetings/), IRC (#automotive
+on freenode.net) and the [mailing
+lists](https://lists.automotivelinux.org/g/agl-dev-community). We will be glad
+to help. The only silly question is the one you don't ask. Questions are in fact
+a great way to help improve the project as they highlight where our
+documentation could be clearer.
+
+## Reporting bugs
+
+If you are a user and you have found a bug, please submit an issue using
+[JIRA](https://jira.automotivelinux.org/). Before you create a new JIRA issue,
+please try to search the existing items to be sure no one else has previously
+reported it. If it has been previously reported, then you might add a comment
+that you also are interested in seeing the defect fixed.
+
+If it has not been previously reported, create a new JIRA. Please try to provide
+sufficient information for someone else to reproduce the issue. One of the
+project's maintainers should respond to your issue within 24 hours. If not,
+please bump the issue with a comment and request that it be reviewed.
+
+## Submitting your fix
+
+If you just submitted a JIRA for a bug you've discovered, and would like to
+provide a fix, we would welcome that gladly! Please assign the JIRA issue to
+yourself, then you can submit a change request (CR).
+
+**NOTE:** If you need help with submitting your first CR, we have created a
+brief [tutorial](./4_Submitting_Changes.md) for you.
+
+## Fixing issues and working stories
+
+Review the [open issue list](https://jira.automotivelinux.org/issues/?filter=-5)
+and find something that interests you. It is wise to start with something
+relatively straight forward and achievable, and that no one is already assigned.
+If no one is assigned, then assign the issue to yourself. Please be considerate
+and rescind the assignment if you cannot finish in a reasonable time, or add a
+comment saying that you are still actively working the issue if you need a
+little more time.
+
+## Reviewing submitted Change Requests (CRs)
+
+Another way to contribute and learn about Automotive Grade Linux is to help the
+maintainers with the review of the CRs that are open. Indeed maintainers have
+the difficult role of having to review all the CRs that are being submitted and
+evaluate whether they should be merged or not. You can review the code and/or
+documentation changes, test the changes, and tell the submitters and maintainers
+what you think. Once your review and/or test is complete just reply to the CR
+with your findings, by adding comments and/or voting. A comment saying something
+like "I tried it on system X and it works" or possibly "I got an error on system
+X: xxx " will help the maintainers in their evaluation. As a result, maintainers
+will be able to process CRs faster and everybody will gain from it.
+
+Just browse through the [open CRs on
+Gerrit](https://gerrit.automotivelinux.org/gerrit/q/status:open) to get started.
+
+## Making Feature/Enhancement Proposals
+
+Review [JIRA](https://jira.automotivelinux.org/) to be sure that there isn't
+already an open (or recently closed) proposal for the same function. If there
+isn't, to make a proposal we recommend that you open a JIRA Epic, Story or
+Improvement, whichever seems to best fit the circumstance and link or inline a
+"one pager" of the proposal that states what the feature would do and, if
+possible, how it might be implemented. It would help also to make a case for why
+the feature should be added, such as identifying specific use case(s) for which
+the feature is needed and a case for what the benefit would be should the
+feature be implemented. Once the JIRA issue is created, and the "one pager"
+either attached, inlined in the description field, or a link to a publicly
+accessible document is added to the description, send an introductory email to
+the [agl-dev community](mailto:agl-dev-community@lists.automotivelinux.org)
+mailing list linking the JIRA issue, and soliciting feedback.
+
+Discussion of the proposed feature should be conducted in the JIRA issue itself,
+so that we have a consistent pattern within our community as to where to find
+design discussion.
+
+Getting the support of three or more of the AGL maintainers for the new feature
+will greatly enhance the probability that the feature's related CRs will be
+merged.
+
+## What makes a good change request?
+
+- One change at a time. Not five, not three, not ten. One and only one. Why?
+ Because it limits the blast area of the change. If we have a regression, it
+ is much easier to identify the culprit commit than if we have some composite
+ change that impacts more of the code.
+
+- Include a link to the JIRA story for the change. Why? Because a) we want to
+ track our velocity to better judge what we think we can deliver and when and
+ b) because we can justify the change more effectively. In many cases, there
+ should be some discussion around a proposed change and we want to link back
+ to that from the change itself.
+
+- Include unit and integration tests (or changes to existing tests) with every
+ change. This does not mean just happy path testing, either. It also means
+ negative testing of any defensive code that it correctly catches input
+ errors. When you write code, you are responsible to test it and provide the
+ tests that demonstrate that your change does what it claims. Why? Because
+ without this we have no clue whether our current code base actually works.
+
+- Minimize the lines of code per CR. Why? If you send a 1,000 or 2,000 LOC
+ change, how long do you think it takes to review all of that code? Keep your
+ changes to < 200-300 LOC, if possible. If you have a larger change, decompose
+ it into multiple independent changess. If you are adding a bunch of new
+ functions to fulfill the requirements of a new capability, add them
+ separately with their tests, and then write the code that uses them to
+ deliver the capability. Of course, there are always exceptions. If you add a
+ small change and then add 300 LOC of tests, you will be forgiven;-) If you
+ need to make a change that has broad impact or a bunch of generated code
+ (protobufs, etc.). Again, there can be exceptions.
+
+ **NOTE:** Large change requests, e.g. those with more than 300 LOC are
+ more likely than not going to receive a -2, and you'll be asked to
+ refactor the change to conform with this guidance.
+
+- Do not stack change requests (e.g. submit a CR from the same local branch as
+ your previous CR) unless they are related. This will minimize merge conflicts
+ and allow changes to be merged more quickly. If you stack requests your
+ subsequent requests may be held up because of review comments in the
+ preceding requests.
+
+- Write a meaningful commit message. Include a meaningful 50 (or less)
+ character title, followed by a blank line, followed by a more comprehensive
+ description of the change. Each change MUST include the JIRA identifier
+ corresponding to the change (e.g. [SPEC-1234]). This can be in the title but
+ should also be in the body of the commit message. See the [complete
+ requirements](./4_Submitting_Changes.md) for an acceptable change request.
+
+ **NOTE:** That Gerrit will automatically create a hyperlink to the JIRA item.
+
+ ```sh
+ Bug-AGL: [SPEC-<JIRA-ID>] ....
+
+ Fix [SPEC-<JIRA-ID>] ....
+ ```
+
+Finally, be responsive. Don't let a change request fester with review comments
+such that it gets to a point that it requires a rebase. It only further delays
+getting it merged and adds more work for you - to remediate the merge conflicts.
+
+## Legal stuff
+
+We have tried to make it as easy as possible to make contributions. This applies
+to how we handle the legal aspects of contribution.
+
+We simply ask that when submitting a patch for review, the developer must
+include a sign-off statement in the commit message. This is done to ensure that
+the author of the change adhere to follow [**DCO**](https://developercertificate.org/).
+
+```sh
+Signed-off-by: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
+```
+
+You can include this automatically when you commit a change to your local git
+repository using ``git commit -s``.
Code Review / AGL / documentation.git / blobdiff