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7 <title>MITgcm CVS policy</title>
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11 <center>
12 <h1>
13 MITgcm CVS policy</h1></center>
14
15 <h2>
16 Introduction</h2>
17 This note describes policies that apply to the MITGCM CVS repository.
18 <h2>
19 Why have a policy?</h2>
20 CVS itself is a liberal free-for-all product that can be used in a variety
21 of ways. It is designed to provide a system for storing arbitrary files
22 in a way that allows the change history of the individual files to be tracked.
23 If CVS is used without any other policy the result can be a collection
24 of files each of which has complex, multiply branched set of inter-related
25 versions. This sort of CVS repository can be come like a library where
26 books are simply stored in a huge heap. Although nothing is actually lost,
27 the task of finding a coherent collection of material soon becomes impossible.
28 <p>The policies we employ address tree areas
29 <ol>
30 <li>
31 Maintaining an orderly and easily identifiable, coherent set of evolving
32 "products".</li>
33
34 <li>
35 Allowing concurrent, on-going development of product components.</li>
36
37 <li>
38 Making the integration&nbsp; of achieved developments easy, rapid, organized
39 and clear.</li>
40 </ol>
41
42 <h2>
43 Development trees and checkpoint trees</h2>
44 A directory within the MITGCM repository resides under either the development
45 branch or the checkpoint branch. Files within each branch follow different
46 policies.
47 <h2>
48 Development tree policies</h2>
49 Development trees are intended to be flexible areas where arbitrary files
50 can be stored with multiple versions, many branches supporting multiple
51 ongoing streams of development. Development trees have no policies in place
52 to control complexity. Development trees might be associated with a particular
53 person, a certain project or a particular special piece of work. These
54 trees are intended to be useful areas for storing current work and for
55 archiving partially finished work so that it doesn't get mislaid and so
56 that some record of the development history can be easily maintained. The
57 only policy that applies to development trees is that this style of tree
58 is not intended to be used for providing a "checkpoint" distribution. Tagged
59 configurations of tools built from this style of tree can be distributed,
60 but because these trees do not have any policies regarding testing of functionality,
61 platform coverage or documentation these trees are not allowed to form
62 the basis of "checkpoint" distributions or formal "releases". Other policies
63 can be defined by individuals users of these trees but there are no further
64 global policies. The MITGCM repository development_tree/ sub-directory
65 is reserved for holding development trees. Development trees also serve
66 as experimental areas for exploring new code management policies.
67 <h2>
68 Checkpoint tree policies</h2>
69 Checkpoint trees are intended to provide structured storage areas for holding
70 code that is intended for open distribution and is to be readily downloaded.
71 There are policies governing the operation of these trees which are designed
72 to ensure that distributed codes are early identified and meet certain
73 levels of quality.
74 <ol>
75 <li>
76 Check-out</li>
77
78 <br>Just do it! Two mechanisms are available. cvsanon for read only access
79 and regular cvs co .... for read/write access.
80 <li>
81 Check-in</li>
82
83 <br>The code check in procedure for a "checkpoint" tree is as follows
84 <ol>
85 <li>
86 Check out the latest main branch revision.</li>
87
88 <li>
89 Merge your changes into that revision.</li>
90
91 <li>
92 Build and validate new code.</li>
93
94 <li>
95 Check that there have been no further changes to the repository. Repeat
96 from 2.1 if repository has changed.</li>
97
98 <li>
99 Get clearance from other developers to check in your changes.</li>
100
101 <li>
102 Check in your changed main branch.</li>
103
104 <li>
105 Build and validate the new changes.</li>
106
107 <li>
108 Tag code as "checkpointNN". Add records to docs/tag-index.</li>
109
110 <li>
111 Build and validate test cases (see testing).</li>
112
113 <li>
114 Create and install checkpointNN.tar.gz</li>
115 </ol>
116
117 <li>
118 Testing</li>
119
120 <br>Things in a checkpoint tree require a test case that can be used to
121 validate the component.
122 <li>
123 Checkpoint tagging</li>
124
125 <br>No code should be left in limbo (un-tagged) for extended periods. On
126 the other hand it's unnecessary to create a checkpoint tag for every little
127 change. Checkpoint tags should be made after a particularly significant
128 code modification or otherwise on a regular basis, say bi-weekly. Very
129 often we set a list of goals to be reached by the next checkpoint which
130 sometimes takes more than two weeks to achieve. Obviously, in this case
131 a bi-weekly checkpoint would not be useful.
132 <li>
133 Release tagging</li>
134
135 <br>Releases are only based on checkpoint tree code. Maintenance fixes
136 to releases are also maintained within the checkpoint tree. Files within
137 a release must have accompanying documentation. The form of this documentation
138 depends on the file type.
139 <li>
140 Branches</li>
141
142 <br>Branches are a useful tool for making changes prior to checkpoints
143 without breaking other working versions but it must be understood that
144 branches are short-lived and that releases and checkpoints not be made
145 from a branch. Branches are especially useful for adding totally
146 <br>new features. bug-fixes to checkpoints are introduced by moving checkpoint
147 levels forward. The only historical code maintenance that s employed is
148 for fixes and patches to formal releases - not checkpoints.</ol>
149
150 <h2>
151 Someone checked-in broken code so not my code doesn't work?</h2>
152 You have several options:
153 <ol>
154 <li>
155 Politely email everyone at support@mitgcm.org asking what&nbsp; has happened
156 and that it be fixed?</li>
157
158 <li>
159 Figure out why the new code is broken, fix it, check it in and proudly
160 send a message to support@mitgcm.org to show how constructive you are.</li>
161
162 <li>
163 Complain that the quality of work is too low and then do nothing to fix
164 the code.<br>
165 <BR></li>
166
167 <br>We advise you to only use the third option if you are confident that
168 your own contributions to the code are bug-free, well written, documented
169 and fool proof.&nbsp; :)</ol>
170
171 <h2>
172 These policies are causing me a big problem, what can I do?</h2>
173 The policies are not enforced by any mechanism other than mutual agreement!
174 If you think the policies are not appropriate then let us know and we can
175 discuss changing them. However, if you simply ignore the policies regarding
176 the checkpoint_release trees then your code may be removed and/or your
177 access revoked.
178 <h2>
179 What about bitkeeper</h2>
180 We are looking at bitkeeper (www.bitkeeper.com). It looks cool, but policies
181 are still important. Any experience, suggestions let us know. Watch this
182 space!
183 <p>Questions, comments e-mail: code.czars@mitgcm.org
184 <br>
185 <hr WIDTH="100%">
186 <table CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 WIDTH="100%" NOSAVE >
187 <tr NOSAVE>
188 <td><font size=-1>Last modified on $Date: 2001/02/17 17:08:40 $</font></td>
189
190 <td>
191 <div align=right><font size=-1>CVS: $Source: /u/gcmpack/mitgcm.org/../cvspolicy.html,v
192 $Revision: 1.10 $</font></div>
193 </td>
194 </tr>
195 </table>
196
197 </body>
198 </html>

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