So You Want to Contribute…

For general information on contributing to OpenStack, please check out the contributor guide to get started. It covers all the basics that are common to all OpenStack projects: the accounts you need, the basics of interacting with our Gerrit review system, how we communicate as a community, etc.

Below will cover the more project specific information you need to get started with the skyline-apiserver project, which is responsible for the following OpenStack deliverables:

skyline-apiserver
The OpenStack Modern Dashboard - back-end.
code: https://opendev.org/openstack/skyline-apiserver
docs: https://docs.openstack.org/skyline-apiserver/latest/
Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/skyline-apiserver

Communication

IRC

We use IRC a lot. You will, too. You can find infomation about what IRC network OpenStack uses for communication (and tips for using IRC) in the Setup IRC section of the main OpenStack Contributor Guide.

People working on the Skyline APIServer project may be found in the #openstack-skyline IRC channel during working hours in their timezone. The channel is logged, so if you ask a question when no one is around, you can check the log to see if it’s been answered: http://eavesdrop.openstack.org/irclogs/%23openstack-skyline/

weekly meeting

Note

Now we have not weekly meeting, we will have it in the future.

mailing list

We use the openstack-discuss@lists.openstack.org mailing list for asynchronous discussions or to communicate with other OpenStack teams. Use the prefix [skyline] in your subject line (it’s a high-volume list, so most people use email filters).

More information about the mailing list, including how to subscribe and read the archives, can be found at: http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-discuss

Contacting the Core Team

The skyline-core team is an active group of contributors who are responsible for directing and maintaining the skyline-apiserver project. As a new contributor, your interaction with this group will be mostly through code reviews, because only members of skyline-core can approve a code change to be merged into the code repository.

You can learn more about the role of core reviewers in the OpenStack governance documentation: https://docs.openstack.org/contributors/common/governance.html#core-reviewer

The membership list of skyline-core is maintained in gerrit: https://review.opendev.org/admin/groups/1fe65032c39f1d459327b010730627a904d7b793,members

Project Team Lead

For each development cycle, Skyline APIServer project Active Technical Contributors (ATCs) elect a Project Team Lead who is responsible for running midcycles, and skyline-apiserver sessions at the Project Team Gathering for that cycle (and who is also ultimately responsible for everything else the project does).

  • You automatically become an ATC by making a commit to one of the skyline-apiserver deliverables. Other people who haven’t made a commit, but have contributed to the project in other ways (for example, making good bug reports) may be recognized as “extra-ATCs” and obtain voting privileges. If you are such a person, contact the current PTL before the “Extra-ATC freeze” indicated on the current development cycle schedule (which you can find from the OpenStack Releases homepage .

The current Skyline APIServer project Project Team Lead (PTL) is listed in the Skyline APIServer project reference maintained by the OpenStack Technical Committee.

All common PTL duties are enumerated in the PTL guide.

New Feature Planning

The Skyline APIServer project uses “blueprints” to track new features. Here’s a quick rundown of what they are and how the Skyline APIServer project uses them.

blueprints
Exist in Launchpad, where they can be targeted to release milestones.
You file one at https://blueprints.launchpad.net/skyline-apiserver
Examples of changes that can be covered by a blueprint only are:

  • adding a new api

Feel free to ask in #openstack-skyline if you have an idea you want to develop and you’re not sure whether it requires a blueprint and a spec or simply a blueprint.

The Skyline APIServer project observes the following deadlines. For the current development cycle, the dates of each (and a more detailed description) may be found on the release schedule, which you can find from: https://releases.openstack.org/

  • bp freeze (all bps must be approved by this date)

  • new feature status checkpoint

Task Tracking

We track our tasks in Launchpad. See the top of the page for the URL of Skyline APIServer project deliverable.

If you’re looking for some smaller, easier work item to pick up and get started on, search for the ‘low-hanging-fruit’ tag in the Bugs section.

When you start working on a bug, make sure you assign it to yourself. Otherwise someone else may also start working on it, and we don’t want to duplicate efforts. Also, if you find a bug in the code and want to post a fix, make sure you file a bug (and assign it to yourself!) just in case someone else comes across the problem in the meantime.

Reporting a Bug

You found an issue and want to make sure we are aware of it? You can do so in the Launchpad space for the affected deliverable:

Getting Your Patch Merged

Before your patch can be merged, it must be reviewed and approved.

The Skyline APIServer project policy is that a patch must have two +2s before it can be merged. (Exceptions are documentation changes, which require only a single +2, for which the PTL may require more than two +2s, depending on the complexity of the proposal.) Only members of the skyline-core team can vote +2 (or -2) on a patch, or approve it.

Note

Although your contribution will require reviews by members of skyline-core, these aren’t the only people whose reviews matter. Anyone with a gerrit account can post reviews, so you can ask other developers you know to review your code … and you can review theirs. (A good way to learn your way around the codebase is to review other people’s patches.)

If you’re thinking, “I’m new at this, how can I possibly provide a helpful review?”, take a look at How to Review Changes the OpenStack Way.

There are also some Skyline APIServer project specific reviewing guidelines in the Code Reviews section of the Skyline APIServer Contributor Guide.

In addition, some changes may require a release note. Any patch that changes functionality, adds functionality, or addresses a significant bug should have a release note. You can find more information about how to write a release note in the Release notes section of the Skyline APIServer Contributors Guide.

Note

Keep in mind that the best way to make sure your patches are reviewed in a timely manner is to review other people’s patches. We’re engaged in a cooperative enterprise here.

If your patch has a -1 from Zuul, you should fix it right away, because people are unlikely to review a patch that is failing the CI system.

  • If it’s a pep8 issue, the job leaves sufficient information for you to fix the problems yourself.

  • If you are failing unit or functional tests, you should look at the failures carefully. These tests guard against regressions, so if your patch causing failures, you need to figure out exactly what is going on.

  • The unit, functional, and pep8 tests can all be run locally before you submit your patch for review. By doing so, you can help conserve gate resources.

How long it may take for your review to get attention will depend on the current project priorities. For example, the feature freeze is at the third milestone of each development cycle, so feature patches have the highest priority just before M-3. These dates are clearly noted on the release schedule for the current release, which you can find from https://releases.openstack.org/

You can see who’s been doing what with Skyline APIServer recently in Stackalytics: https://www.stackalytics.io/report/activity?module=skyline-group