# Contributing code to Sydent Everyone is welcome to contribute code to Sydent, provided you are willing to license your contributions under the same license as the project itself. In this case, the [Apache Software License v2](LICENSE). ## Set up your development environment ### Create a virtualenv To contribute to Sydent, ensure you have Python 3.7 or newer and then run: ```bash python3 -m venv venv ./venv/bin/pip install -e '.[dev]' ``` This creates an isolated virtual Python environment ("virtualenv") just for use with Sydent, then installs Sydent along with its dependencies, and lastly installs a handful of useful tools If you get `ConnectTimeoutError`, this is caused by slow internet whereby `pip` has a default time out of _15 sec_. You can specify a larger timeout by passing `--timeout 120` to the `pip install` command above. Finally, activate the virtualenv by running: ```bash source ./venv/bin/activate ``` Be sure to do this _every time_ you open a new terminal window for working on Sydent. Activating the venv ensures that any Python commands you run (`pip`, `python`, etc.) use the versions inside your venv, and not your system Python. When you're done, you can close your terminal or run `deactivate` to disable the virtualenv. ### Run the unit tests To make sure everything is working as expected, run the unit tests: ```bash trial tests ``` If you see a message like: ``` ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ran 25 tests in 0.324s PASSED (successes=25) ``` Then all is well and you're ready to work! If `trial tests` fails but `python -m twisted.trial tests` succeeds, try ensuring your venv is activated and re-installing using `pip install -e '.[dev]'`, making sure to remember the `-e` flag. ### Run the black-box tests Sydent uses [matrix-is-tester](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-is-tester/) to provide black-box testing of compliance with the [Matrix Identity Service API](https://matrix.org/docs/spec/identity_service/latest). (Features that are Sydent-specific belong in unit tests rather than the black-box test suite.) If you have set up a venv using the steps above, you can install `matrix-is-tester` as follows: ``` pip install git+https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-is-tester.git ``` Now, to run `matrix-is-tester`, execute: ``` trial matrix_is_tester ``` If this doesn't work, ensure that you have first activated your venv and installed Sydent with the editable (`-e`) flag: `pip install -e '.[dev]'`. #### Advanced The steps above are sufficient and describe a clean way to run the black-box tests. However, in the event that you need more control, this subsection provides more information. The `SYDENT_PYTHON` enviroment variable can be set to launch Sydent with a specific python binary: ``` SYDENT_PYTHON=/path/to/python trial matrix_is_tester ``` The `matrix_is_test` directory contains Sydent's launcher for `matrix_is_tester`: this means that Sydent's directory needs to be on the Python path (e.g. `PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/path/to/sydent`). ## How to contribute The preferred and easiest way to contribute changes is to fork the relevant project on github, and then [create a pull request]( https://help.github.com/articles/using-pull-requests/) to ask us to pull your changes into our repo. Some other points to follow: * Please base your changes on the `main` branch. * Please follow the [code style requirements](#code-style). * Please include a [changelog entry](#changelog) with each PR. * Please [sign off](#sign-off) your contribution. * Please keep an eye on the pull request for feedback from the [continuous integration system](#continuous-integration-and-testing) and try to fix any errors that come up. * If you need to [update your PR](#updating-your-pull-request), just add new commits to your branch rather than rebasing. ## Code style Sydent follows the [Synapse code style]. [Synapse code style]: https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md Please ensure your changes match the cosmetic style of the existing project, and **never** mix cosmetic and functional changes in the same commit, as it makes it horribly hard to review otherwise. ## Changelog All changes, even minor ones, need a corresponding changelog / newsfragment entry. These are managed by [Towncrier](https://github.com/hawkowl/towncrier). To create a changelog entry, make a new file in the `changelog.d` directory named in the format of `PRnumber.type`. The type can be one of the following: * `feature` * `bugfix` * `docker` (for updates to the Docker image) * `doc` (for updates to the documentation) * `removal` (also used for deprecations) * `misc` (for internal-only changes) This file will become part of our [changelog]( https://github.com/matrix-org/sydent/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md) at the next release, so the content of the file should be a short description of your change in the same style as the rest of the changelog. The file can contain Markdown formatting, and should end with a full stop (.) or an exclamation mark (!) for consistency. **PLEASE DO** add credits for yourself to your changelog entry, by writing 'Contributed by *Your Name*.' or 'Contributed by @*your-github-username*.' at the end of your changelog entry, unless you would prefer not to. We value your contributions and would like to have you shouted out in the release notes! For example, a fix in PR #1234 would have its changelog entry in `changelog.d/1234.bugfix`, and contain content like: > The security levels of Florbs are now validated when received > via the `/federation/florb` endpoint. Contributed by Jane Matrix. If there are multiple pull requests involved in a single bugfix/feature/etc, then the content for each `changelog.d` file should be the same. Towncrier will merge the matching files together into a single changelog entry when we come to release. ### How do I know what to call the changelog file before I create the PR? Obviously, you don't know if you should call your newsfile `1234.bugfix` or `5678.bugfix` until you create the PR, which leads to a chicken-and-egg problem. There are two options for solving this: 1. Open the PR without a changelog file, see what number you got, and *then* add the changelog file to your branch (see [Updating your pull request](#updating-your-pull-request)), or: 2. Look at the [list of all issues/PRs](https://github.com/matrix-org/sydent/issues?q=), add one to the highest number you see, and quickly open the PR before somebody else claims your number. [This script](https://github.com/richvdh/scripts/blob/master/next_github_number.sh) might be helpful if you find yourself doing this a lot. Sorry, we know it's a bit fiddly, but it's *really* helpful for us when we come to put together a release! ## Sign off In order to have a concrete record that your contribution is intentional and you agree to license it under the same terms as the project's license, we've adopted the same lightweight approach that the Linux Kernel [submitting patches process]( https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/submitting-patches.html#sign-your-work-the-developer-s-certificate-of-origin>), [Docker](https://github.com/docker/docker/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md), and many other projects use: the DCO (Developer Certificate of Origin: https://developercertificate.org/). This is a simple declaration that you wrote the contribution or otherwise have the right to contribute it to Matrix: ``` Developer Certificate of Origin Version 1.1 Copyright (C) 2004, 2006 The Linux Foundation and its contributors. 660 York Street, Suite 102, San Francisco, CA 94110 USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed. Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1 By making a contribution to this project, I certify that: (a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I have the right to submit it under the open source license indicated in the file; or (b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source license and I have the right under that license to submit that work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part by me, under the same open source license (unless I am permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated in the file; or (c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified it. (d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution are public and that a record of the contribution (including all personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with this project or the open source license(s) involved. ``` If you agree to this for your contribution, then all that's needed is to include the line in your commit or pull request comment: ``` Signed-off-by: Your Name ``` We accept contributions under a legally identifiable name, such as your name on government documentation or common-law names (names claimed by legitimate usage or repute). Unfortunately, we cannot accept anonymous contributions at this time. Git allows you to add this signoff automatically when using the `-s` flag to `git commit`, which uses the name and email set in your `user.name` and `user.email` git configs. ## Continuous integration and testing *GitHub Actions* will automatically run a series of checks and tests against any PR which is opened against the project; if your change breaks the build, this will be shown in GitHub, with links to the build results. If your build fails, please try to fix the errors and update your branch. ## Updating your pull request If you decide to make changes to your pull request - perhaps to address issues raised in a review, or to fix problems highlighted by [continuous integration](#continuous-integration-and-testing) - just add new commits to your branch, and push to GitHub. The pull request will automatically be updated. Please **avoid** rebasing your branch, especially once the PR has been reviewed: doing so makes it very difficult for a reviewer to see what has changed since a previous review. ## Conclusion That's it! Matrix is a very open and collaborative project as you might expect given our obsession with open communication. If we're going to successfully matrix together all the fragmented communication technologies out there we are reliant on contributions and collaboration from the community to do so. So please get involved - and we hope you have as much fun hacking on Matrix as we do!