xref: /llvm-project/llvm/docs/Contributing.rst (revision 4b6fc4934685c26f223e435d62b02b60544f76d3)
1==================================
2Contributing to LLVM
3==================================
4
5
6Thank you for your interest in contributing to LLVM! There are multiple ways to
7contribute, and we appreciate all contributions. In case you have questions,
8you can either use the `Forum`_ or, for a more interactive chat, go to our
9`Discord server`_.
10
11If you want to contribute code, please familiarize yourself with the :doc:`DeveloperPolicy`.
12
13.. contents::
14  :local:
15
16
17Ways to Contribute
18==================
19
20Bug Reports
21-----------
22If you are working with LLVM and run into a bug, we definitely want to know
23about it. Please let us know and follow the instructions in
24:doc:`HowToSubmitABug`  to create a bug report.
25
26Bug Fixes
27---------
28If you are interested in contributing code to LLVM, bugs labeled with the
29`good first issue`_ keyword in the `bug tracker`_ are a good way to get familiar with
30the code base. If you are interested in fixing a bug please comment on it to
31let people know you are working on it.
32
33Then try to reproduce and fix the bug with upstream LLVM. Start by building
34LLVM from source as described in :doc:`GettingStarted` and
35use the built binaries to reproduce the failure described in the bug. Use
36a debug build (`-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug`) or a build with assertions
37(`-DLLVM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS=On`, enabled for Debug builds).
38
39Reporting a Security Issue
40--------------------------
41
42There is a separate process to submit security-related bugs, see :ref:`report-security-issue`.
43
44Bigger Pieces of Work
45---------------------
46In case you are interested in taking on a bigger piece of work, a list of
47interesting projects is maintained at the `LLVM's Open Projects page`_. In case
48you are interested in working on any of these projects, please post on the
49`Forum`_, so that we know the project is being worked on.
50
51.. _submit_patch:
52
53How to Submit a Patch
54=====================
55Once you have a patch ready, it is time to submit it. The patch should:
56
57* include a small unit test
58* conform to the :doc:`CodingStandards`. You can use the `clang-format-diff.py`_ or `git-clang-format`_ tools to automatically format your patch properly.
59* not contain any unrelated changes
60* be an isolated change. Independent changes should be submitted as separate patches as this makes reviewing easier.
61* have a single commit, up-to-date with the upstream ``origin/main`` branch, and don't have merges.
62
63.. _format patches:
64
65Before sending a patch for review, please also try to ensure it is
66formatted properly. We use ``clang-format`` for this, which has git integration
67through the ``git-clang-format`` script. On some systems, it may already be
68installed (or be installable via your package manager). If so, you can simply
69run it -- the following command will format only the code changed in the most
70recent commit:
71
72.. code-block:: console
73
74  % git clang-format HEAD~1
75
76Note that this modifies the files, but doesn't commit them -- you'll likely want
77to run
78
79.. code-block:: console
80
81  % git commit --amend -a
82
83in order to update the last commit with all pending changes.
84
85.. note::
86  If you don't already have ``clang-format`` or ``git clang-format`` installed
87  on your system, the ``clang-format`` binary will be built alongside clang, and
88  the git integration can be run from
89  ``clang/tools/clang-format/git-clang-format``.
90
91The LLVM project has migrated to GitHub Pull Requests as its review process.
92For more information about the workflow of using GitHub Pull Requests see our
93:ref:`GitHub <github-reviews>` documentation. We still have an read-only
94`LLVM's Phabricator <https://reviews.llvm.org>`_ instance.
95
96To make sure the right people see your patch, please select suitable reviewers
97and add them to your patch when requesting a review.
98
99Suitable reviewers are the maintainers of the project you are modifying, and
100anyone else working in the area your patch touches. To find maintainers, look for
101the ``Maintainers.md`` or ``Maintainers.rst`` file in the root of the project's
102sub-directory. For example, LLVM's is ``llvm/Maintainers.md`` and Clang's is
103``clang/Maintainers.rst``.
104
105If you are a new contributor, you will not be able to select reviewers in such a
106way, in which case you can still get the attention of potential reviewers by CC'ing
107them in a comment -- just @name them.
108
109If you have received no comments on your patch for a week, you can request a
110review by 'ping'ing the GitHub PR with "Ping" in a comment. The common courtesy 'ping' rate
111is once a week. Please remember that you are asking for valuable time from
112other professional developers.
113
114After your PR is approved, ensure that:
115
116  * The PR title and description describe the final changes. These will be used
117    as the title and message of the final squashed commit. The titles and
118    messages of commits in the PR will **not** be used.
119  * You have set a valid email address in your GitHub account, see :ref:`github-email-address`.
120
121Now you can merge your PR. If you do not have the ability to merge the PR, ask your
122reviewers to merge it on your behalf. You must do this explicitly, as reviewers'
123default assumption is that you are able to merge your own PR.
124
125For more information on LLVM's code-review process, please see
126:doc:`CodeReview`.
127
128.. _commit_from_git:
129
130For developers to commit changes from Git
131-----------------------------------------
132
133Once a patch is reviewed, you can select the "Squash and merge" button in the
134GitHub web interface.
135
136When pushing directly from the command-line to the ``main`` branch, you will need
137to rebase your change. LLVM has a linear-history policy, which means
138that merge commits are not allowed and the ``main`` branch is configured to reject
139pushes that include merges.
140
141GitHub will display a message that looks like this:
142
143.. code-block:: console
144
145  remote: Bypassed rule violations for refs/heads/main:
146  remote:
147  remote: - Required status check “buildkite/github-pull-requests” is expected.
148
149This can seem scary, but this is just an artifact of the GitHub setup: it is
150intended as a warning for people merging pull-requests with failing CI. We can't
151disable it for people pushing on the command-line.
152
153Please ask for help if you're having trouble with your particular git workflow.
154
155.. _git_pre_push_hook:
156
157Git pre-push hook
158^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
159
160We include an optional pre-push hook that run some sanity checks on the revisions
161you are about to push and ask confirmation if you push multiple commits at once.
162You can set it up (on Unix systems) by running from the repository root:
163
164.. code-block:: console
165
166  % ln -sf ../../llvm/utils/git/pre-push.py .git/hooks/pre-push
167
168Helpful Information About LLVM
169==============================
170:doc:`LLVM's documentation <index>` provides a wealth of information about LLVM's internals as
171well as various user guides. The pages listed below should provide a good overview
172of LLVM's high-level design, as well as its internals:
173
174:doc:`GettingStarted`
175   Discusses how to get up and running quickly with the LLVM infrastructure.
176   Everything from unpacking and compilation of the distribution to execution
177   of some tools.
178
179:doc:`LangRef`
180  Defines the LLVM intermediate representation.
181
182:doc:`ProgrammersManual`
183  Introduction to the general layout of the LLVM sourcebase, important classes
184  and APIs, and some tips & tricks.
185
186`LLVM for Grad Students`__
187  This is an introduction to the LLVM infrastructure by Adrian Sampson. While it
188  has been written for grad students, it provides  a good, compact overview of
189  LLVM's architecture, LLVM's IR and how to write a new pass.
190
191  .. __: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~asampson/blog/llvm.html
192
193`Intro to LLVM`__
194  Book chapter providing a compiler hacker's introduction to LLVM.
195
196  .. __: http://www.aosabook.org/en/llvm.html
197
198.. _Forum: https://discourse.llvm.org
199.. _Discord server: https://discord.gg/xS7Z362
200.. _irc.oftc.net: irc://irc.oftc.net/llvm
201.. _good first issue: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22
202.. _bug tracker: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues
203.. _clang-format-diff.py: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/main/clang/tools/clang-format/clang-format-diff.py
204.. _git-clang-format: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/main/clang/tools/clang-format/git-clang-format
205.. _LLVM's GitHub: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project
206.. _LLVM's Phabricator (read-only): https://reviews.llvm.org/
207.. _LLVM's Open Projects page: https://llvm.org/OpenProjects.html#what
208