This document is an outline of the things we tell new Collaborators at their onboarding session.
- If the new Collaborator is not yet a member of the nodejs GitHub organization, confirm that they are using two-factor authentication. It will not be possible to add them to the organization if they are not using two-factor authentication. If they cannot receive SMS messages from GitHub, try using a TOTP mobile app.
- Announce the accepted nomination in a TSC meeting and in the TSC mailing list.
- Suggest the new Collaborator install
node-core-utils
and set up the credentials for it.
- Prior to the onboarding session, add the new Collaborator to the Collaborators team.
- Ask them if they want to join any subsystem teams. See Who to CC in the issue tracker.
- This session will cover:
-
git:
- Make sure you have whitespace=fix:
git config --global --add apply.whitespace fix
- Always continue to PR from your own GitHub fork
- Branches in the
nodejs/node
repository are only for release lines
- Branches in the
- Add the canonical nodejs repository as
upstream
remote:git remote add upstream git://github.com/nodejs/node.git
- To update from
upstream
:git checkout master
git remote update -p
ORgit fetch --all
git merge --ff-only upstream/master
(orREMOTENAME/BRANCH
)
- Make a new branch for each PR you submit.
- Membership: Consider making your membership in the Node.js GitHub organization public. This makes it easier to identify Collaborators. Instructions on how to do that are available at Publicizing or hiding organization membership.
- Make sure you have whitespace=fix:
-
Notifications:
- Use https://github.com/notifications or set up email
- Watching the main repo will flood your inbox (several hundred notifications on typical weekdays), so be prepared
-
#node-dev
on webchat.freenode.net is the best place to interact with the TSC / other Collaborators- If there are any questions after the session, a good place to ask is there!
- Presence is not mandatory, but please drop a note there if force-pushing to
master
-
Collaborators are the collective owners of the project
- The project has the goals of its contributors
-
There are some higher-level goals and values
- Empathy towards users matters (this is in part why we onboard people)
- Generally: try to be nice to people!
- The best outcome is for people who come to our issue tracker to feel like they can come back again.
-
You are expected to follow and hold others accountable to the Code of Conduct.
-
You have (mostly) free rein; don't hesitate to close an issue if you are confident that it should be closed
- Be nice about closing issues! Let people know why, and that issues and PRs can be reopened if necessary
-
- There is a bot that
applies subsystem labels (for example,
doc
,test
,assert
, orbuffer
) so that we know what parts of the code base the pull request modifies. It is not perfect, of course. Feel free to apply relevant labels and remove irrelevant labels from pull requests and issues. - Use the
tsc-review
label if a topic is controversial or isn't coming to a conclusion after an extended time. semver-{minor,major}
:- If a change has the remote chance of breaking something, use the
semver-major
label - When adding a
semver-*
label, add a comment explaining why you're adding it. Do it right away so you don't forget!
- If a change has the remote chance of breaking something, use the
- Please add the
author-ready
label for PRs where:- the CI has been started (not necessarily finished),
- no outstanding review comments exist and
- at least two Collaborators approved the PR (one Collaborator approval is enough if the pull request has been open for more than 7 days).
- There is a bot that
applies subsystem labels (for example,
-
See Who to CC in the issue tracker.
- This will come more naturally over time
- For many of the teams listed there, you can ask to be added if you are
interested
- Some are WGs with some process around adding people, others are only there for notifications
-
When a discussion gets heated, you can request that other Collaborators keep an eye on it by opening an issue at the private nodejs/moderation repository.
- This is a repository to which all members of the
nodejs
GitHub organization (not just Collaborators on Node.js core) have access. Its contents should not be shared externally. - You can find the full moderation policy here.
- This is a repository to which all members of the
-
The primary goal is for the codebase to improve.
-
Secondary (but not far off) is for the person submitting code to succeed. A pull request from a new contributor is an opportunity to grow the community.
-
Review a bit at a time. Do not overwhelm new contributors.
- It is tempting to micro-optimize. Don't succumb to that temptation. We change V8 often. Techniques that provide improved performance today may be unnecessary in the future.
-
Be aware: Your opinion carries a lot of weight!
-
Nits (requests for small changes that are not essential) are fine, but try to avoid stalling the pull request.
- Note that they are nits when you comment:
Nit: change foo() to bar().
- If they are stalling the pull request, fix them yourself on merge.
- Note that they are nits when you comment:
-
Insofar as possible, issues should be identified by tools rather than human reviewers. If you are leaving comments about issues that could be identified by tools but are not, consider implementing the necessary tooling.
-
Minimum wait for comments time
- There is a minimum waiting time which we try to respect for non-trivial changes so that people who may have important input in such a distributed project are able to respond.
- For non-trivial changes, leave the pull request open for at least 48 hours.
- If a pull request is abandoned, check if they'd mind if you took it over (especially if it just has nits left).
-
Approving a change
- Collaborators indicate that they have reviewed and approve of the changes in a pull request using GitHub’s approval interface
- Some people like to comment
LGTM
(“Looks Good To Me”) - You have the authority to approve any other collaborator’s work.
- You cannot approve your own pull requests.
- When explicitly using
Changes requested
, show empathy – comments will usually be addressed even if you don’t use it.- If you do, it is nice if you are available later to check whether your comments have been addressed
- If you see that the requested changes have been made, you can clear
another collaborator's
Changes requested
review. - Use
Changes requested
to indicate that you are considering some of your comments to block the PR from landing.
-
What belongs in Node.js:
- Opinions vary – it’s good to have a broad collaborator base for that reason!
- If Node.js itself needs it (due to historical reasons), then it belongs in
Node.js.
- That is to say,
url
is there because ofhttp
,freelist
is there because ofhttp
, etc.
- That is to say,
- Things that cannot be done outside of core, or only with significant pain
such as
async_hooks
.
-
Continuous Integration (CI) Testing:
- https://ci.nodejs.org/
- It is not automatically run. You need to start it manually.
- Log in on CI is integrated with GitHub. Try to log in now!
- You will be using
node-test-pull-request
most of the time. Go there now!- Consider bookmarking it: https://ci.nodejs.org/job/node-test-pull-request/
- To get to the form to start a job, click on
Build with Parameters
. (If you don't see it, that probably means you are not logged in!) Click it now! - To start CI testing from this screen, you need to fill in two elements on
the form:
- The
CERTIFY_SAFE
box should be checked. By checking it, you are indicating that you have reviewed the code you are about to test and you are confident that it does not contain any malicious code. (We don't want people hijacking our CI hosts to attack other hosts on the internet, for example!) - The
PR_ID
box should be filled in with the number identifying the pull request containing the code you wish to test. For example, if the URL for the pull request ishttps://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/7006
, then put7006
in thePR_ID
. - The remaining elements on the form are typically unchanged.
- The
- If you need help with something CI-related:
- Use #node-dev (IRC) to talk to other Collaborators.
- Use #node-build (IRC) to talk to the Build WG members who maintain the CI infrastructure.
- Use the Build WG repo to file issues for the Build WG members who maintain the CI infrastructure.
- https://ci.nodejs.org/
See the Collaborator Guide: Landing Pull Requests.
Note that commits in one PR that belong to one logical change should be squashed. It is rarely the case in onboarding exercises, so this needs to be pointed out separately during the onboarding.
- Example:
https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/ce986de829457c39257cd205067602e765768fb0
- For raw commit message:
git log ce986de829457c39257cd205067602e765768fb0 -1
- For raw commit message:
- Collaborators are in alphabetical order by GitHub username.
- Optionally, include your personal pronouns.
- Label your pull request with the
doc
,notable-change
, andfast-track
labels. - Run CI on the PR. Because the PR does not affect any code, use the
node-test-pull-request-lite-pipeline
CI task. - After two Collaborator approvals for the change and two Collaborator approvals
for fast-tracking, land the PR.
- Be sure to add the
PR-URL: <full-pr-url>
and appropriateReviewed-By:
metadata. node-core-utils
automates the generation of metadata and the landing process. See the documentation ofgit-node
.core-validate-commit
automates the validation of commit messages. This will be run duringgit node land --final
of thegit-node
command.
- Be sure to add the
- Don't worry about making mistakes: everybody makes them, there's a lot to internalize and that takes time (and we recognize that!)
- Almost any mistake you could make can be fixed or reverted.
- The existing Collaborators trust you and are grateful for your help!
- Other repositories:
- The Node.js Foundation hosts regular summits for active contributors to the Node.js project, where we have face-to-face discussions about our work on the project. The Foundation has travel funds to cover participants' expenses including accommodations, transportation, visa fees, etc. if needed. Check out the summit repository for details.