Git workflows

This document is an overview of OpenIM git workflow. It includes conventions, tips, and how to maintain good repository hygiene.

• Git workflows
  • Branching model
    • Branch naming conventions
    • Backport policy
  • Git operations
    • Setting up
    • Branching out
    • Keeping local branches in sync
    • Pushing changes

Branching model

OpenIM project uses the GitHub flow as its branching model, where most of the changes come from repositories forks instead of branches within the same one.

Branch naming conventions

Every forked repository works independently, meaning that any contributor can create branches with the name they see fit. However, it is worth noting that OpenIM mirrors OpenIM version skew policy by maintaining release branches for the most recent three minor releases. The only exception is that the main branch mirrors the latest OpenIM release (3.10) instead of using a release- prefixed one.

main          -------------------------------------------. (OpenIM 3.10)
release-3.0.0            \---------------|---------------. (OpenIM 3.00)
release-2.4.0                            \---------------. (OpenIM 2.40)

Backport policy

All new work happens on the main branch, which means that for most cases, one should branch out from there and create the pull request against it. If the change involves adding a feature or patching OpenIM, the maintainers will backport it into the supported release branches.

Git operations

There are everyday tasks related to git that every contributor needs to perform, and this section elaborates on them.

Setting up

Creating a OpenIM fork, cloning it, and setting its upstream remote can be summarized on:

1. Visit https://github.com/openimsdk/open-im-server
2. Click the Fork button (top right) to establish a cloud-based fork
3. Clone fork to local storage
4. Add to your fork OpenIM remote as upstream

Once cloned, in code it would look this way:

## Clone fork to local storage
export user="your github profile name"
git clone https://github.com/$user/OpenIM.git
# or: git clone [email protected]:$user/OpenIM.git

## Add OpenIM as upstream to your fork
cd OpenIM 
git remote add upstream https://github.com/openimsdk/open-im-server.git
# or: git remote add upstream [email protected]:openimsdk/open-im-server.git

## Ensure to never push to upstream directly
git remote set-url --push upstream no_push

## Confirm that your remotes make sense:
git remote -v

Branching out

Every time one wants to work on a new OpenIM feature, we do:

1. Get local main branch up to date
2. Create a new branch from the main one (i.e.: myfeature branch )

In code it would look this way:

## Get local main up to date
# Assuming the OpenIM clone is the current working directory
git fetch upstream
git checkout main
git rebase upstream/main

## Create a new branch from main
git checkout -b myfeature

Keeping local branches in sync

Either when branching out from main or a release one, keep in mind it is worth checking if any change has been pushed upstream by doing:

git fetch upstream
git rebase upstream/main

It is suggested to fetch then rebase instead of pull since the latter does a merge, which leaves merge commits. For this, one can consider changing the local repository configuration by doing git config branch.autoSetupRebase always to change the behavior of git pull, or another non-merge option such as git pull --rebase.

Pushing changes

For commit messages and signatures please refer to the CONTRIBUTING.md document.

Nobody should push directly to upstream, even if one has such contributor access; instead, prefer Github's pull request mechanism to contribute back into OpenIM. For expectations and guidelines about pull requests, consult the CONTRIBUTING.md document.