12.2. GitHub, Git, and related topics

12.2.1. GitHub

PMIx’s Git repository is hosted at GitHub.

1. First, you will need a Git client. We recommend getting the latest version available. If you do not have the command git in your path, you will likely need to download and install Git.

2. openpmix is the main PMIx repository where most active development is done. Git clone this repository. Note that the use of the --recursive CLI option is necessary because PMIx uses Git submodules:

   shell$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/openpmix/openpmix.git
   

Note that Git is natively capable of using many forms of web proxies. If your network setup requires the user of a web proxy, consult the Git documentation for more details.

12.2.2. Git commits: open source / contributor’s declaration

In order to remain open source, all new commits to the PMIx repository must include a Signed-off-by: line, indicating the submitter’s agreement to the PMIx Contributor’s Declaration.

Tip

You can use the -s option to git commit to automatically add the Signed-off-by: line to your commit message.

12.2.3. Git branch scheme

Generally, PMIx has two types of branches in its Git repository:

1. master:

   • All active development occurs on the master branch (new features, bug fixes, etc.).

2. Release branches of the form vMAJOR.MINOR.x (e.g., v4.0.x, v4.1.x, v5.0.x).

   • The .x suffix indicates that this branch is used to create all releases in the PMIx vMAJOR.MINOR series.

   • Periodically, the PMIx community will make a new release branch, typically from master.

   • A Git tag of the form vMAJOR.MINOR.RELEASE is used to indicate the specific commit on a release branch from where official PMIx release tarball was created (e.g., v4.1.0, v4.1.1, v4.1.2, etc.).

Once a bug is fixed or a new feature is implemented on master, it is cherry-picked over to the relevant release branch(es).

Attention

It may seem odd to some, but the PMIx community development model does not PR bug fixes or new features directly to release branches. Instead, initial bug-fix / feature PRs are generally first made to master.

This helps us ensure that future releases (with master as a Git ancestor) will contain the bug fix / feature.

For example:

shell$ git checkout master
shell$ git pull --rebase
shell$ git checkout pr/bug-fix

# ... make changes / fix a bug / etc. ...

shell$ git add ...
shell$ git commit -s ...
shell$ git push myfork

At this point, you go create a PR from your fork’s pr/bug-fix branch to the PMIx community GitHub repo master branch. Work with the community to get the PR completed and merged. Then you can open a new PR to cherry pick the Git commits from that bug fix to each of the relevant release branches.

Depending on how far the release branch has diverged from master, there may be some porting effort involved in the cherry-pick.

For example, if your bug fix on master is comprised of a single Git commit hash 123abc:

# Fetch all upstream git activity, including the merge of the "master" PR.
shell$ get fetch --all

# Check out the target release branch, and advance to the most recent commit.
shell$ git checkout v5.0.x
shell$ git pull --rebase

# Make a branch for your bug fix
shell$ git checkout -b pr/v5.0.x/bug-fix
# Cherry pick the commit from the "master" branch
shell$ git cherry-pick -x 123abc
# Push to your fork
shell$ git push myfork

The PMIx development community requires adding the following line to the commit message of cherry-picked commits on release branches:

(cherry picked from commit [git_hash_of_original_commit])

Note

Note the use of the -x option to git cherry-pick. This option automatically adds the (cherry picked from ...) line to your commit message.

Rationale

Git does not actually store any meta data about Git cherry-picks in the commit. Having a standardized text line containing the source Git commit hash in the commit messages helps the PMIx development community track where commits came from on release branches, and therefore allows us to check whether all relevant commits have been ported to a given release branch.

Once your commits are ready and pushed up to your fork, make a PR to the target release branch.

Warning

A GitHub PR CI job checks all commits on release branches for the (cherry picked from...) line. It will also ensure that the Git hash cited in that line actually exists on the master branch.

This check ensures that commits are not made to release branches before their corresponding master PR was merged.

All this being said, sometimes there is a need for a non-cherry-picked commit on a release branch. E.g., sometimes a release branch has diverged so much that the bug no longer exists on master. It would therefore not make sense — or even be impossible — to commit the bug fix in question to master.

In such cases, make a regular PR to the target branch (with commits that do not include (cherry picked from ...) lines). In the PR description, add a line with the following token:

bot:notacherrypick

This tells the GitHub CI job that this PR contains commits that are not cherry-picked from master.

Warning

bot:notacherrypick should only be used when absolutely necessary. It is not a license to avoid the process of PR’ing to master first.

12.2.4. CI (testing)

The PMIx community generally runs a bunch of tests on each PR (Continuous Integration / CI). These tests are a mixture of GitHub Actions and other CI systems (e.g., Jenkins). Examples include (but are not limited to):

• Check each Git commit for bozo email addresses

• Check that each Git commit contains a Signed-off-by line

• Check that commits on release branches contain a cherry-pick notice

• Build and publish the docs

• Build PMIx in a variety of environments and run sanity tests with that installation