1XFS Maintainer Entry Profile
2============================
3
4Overview
5--------
6XFS is a well known high-performance filesystem in the Linux kernel.
7The aim of this project is to provide and maintain a robust and
8performant filesystem.
9
10Patches are generally merged to the for-next branch of the appropriate
11git repository.
12After a testing period, the for-next branch is merged to the master
13branch.
14
15Kernel code are merged to the xfs-linux tree[0].
16Userspace code are merged to the xfsprogs tree[1].
17Test cases are merged to the xfstests tree[2].
18Ondisk format documentation are merged to the xfs-documentation tree[3].
19
20All patchsets involving XFS *must* be cc'd in their entirety to the mailing
21list linux-xfs@vger.kernel.org.
22
23Roles
24-----
25There are eight key roles in the XFS project.
26A person can take on multiple roles, and a role can be filled by
27multiple people.
28Anyone taking on a role is advised to check in with themselves and
29others on a regular basis about burnout.
30
31- **Outside Contributor**: Anyone who sends a patch but is not involved
32  in the XFS project on a regular basis.
33  These folks are usually people who work on other filesystems or
34  elsewhere in the kernel community.
35
36- **Developer**: Someone who is familiar with the XFS codebase enough to
37  write new code, documentation, and tests.
38
39  Developers can often be found in the IRC channel mentioned by the ``C:``
40  entry in the kernel MAINTAINERS file.
41
42- **Senior Developer**: A developer who is very familiar with at least
43  some part of the XFS codebase and/or other subsystems in the kernel.
44  These people collectively decide the long term goals of the project
45  and nudge the community in that direction.
46  They should help prioritize development and review work for each release
47  cycle.
48
49  Senior developers tend to be more active participants in the IRC channel.
50
51- **Reviewer**: Someone (most likely also a developer) who reads code
52  submissions to decide:
53
54  0. Is the idea behind the contribution sound?
55  1. Does the idea fit the goals of the project?
56  2. Is the contribution designed correctly?
57  3. Is the contribution polished?
58  4. Can the contribution be tested effectively?
59
60  Reviewers should identify themselves with an ``R:`` entry in the kernel
61  and fstests MAINTAINERS files.
62
63- **Testing Lead**: This person is responsible for setting the test
64  coverage goals of the project, negotiating with developers to decide
65  on new tests for new features, and making sure that developers and
66  release managers execute on the testing.
67
68  The testing lead should identify themselves with an ``M:`` entry in
69  the XFS section of the fstests MAINTAINERS file.
70
71- **Bug Triager**: Someone who examines incoming bug reports in just
72  enough detail to identify the person to whom the report should be
73  forwarded.
74
75  The bug triagers should identify themselves with a ``B:`` entry in
76  the kernel MAINTAINERS file.
77
78- **Release Manager**: This person merges reviewed patchsets into an
79  integration branch, tests the result locally, pushes the branch to a
80  public git repository, and sends pull requests further upstream.
81  The release manager is not expected to work on new feature patchsets.
82  If a developer and a reviewer fail to reach a resolution on some point,
83  the release manager must have the ability to intervene to try to drive a
84  resolution.
85
86  The release manager should identify themselves with an ``M:`` entry in
87  the kernel MAINTAINERS file.
88
89- **Community Manager**: This person calls and moderates meetings of as many
90  XFS participants as they can get when mailing list discussions prove
91  insufficient for collective decisionmaking.
92  They may also serve as liaison between managers of the organizations
93  sponsoring work on any part of XFS.
94
95- **LTS Maintainer**: Someone who backports and tests bug fixes from
96  uptream to the LTS kernels.
97  There tend to be six separate LTS trees at any given time.
98
99  The maintainer for a given LTS release should identify themselves with an
100  ``M:`` entry in the MAINTAINERS file for that LTS tree.
101  Unmaintained LTS kernels should be marked with status ``S: Orphan`` in that
102  same file.
103
104Submission Checklist Addendum
105-----------------------------
106Please follow these additional rules when submitting to XFS:
107
108- Patches affecting only the filesystem itself should be based against
109  the latest -rc or the for-next branch.
110  These patches will be merged back to the for-next branch.
111
112- Authors of patches touching other subsystems need to coordinate with
113  the maintainers of XFS and the relevant subsystems to decide how to
114  proceed with a merge.
115
116- Any patchset changing XFS should be cc'd in its entirety to linux-xfs.
117  Do not send partial patchsets; that makes analysis of the broader
118  context of the changes unnecessarily difficult.
119
120- Anyone making kernel changes that have corresponding changes to the
121  userspace utilities should send the userspace changes as separate
122  patchsets immediately after the kernel patchsets.
123
124- Authors of bug fix patches are expected to use fstests[2] to perform
125  an A/B test of the patch to determine that there are no regressions.
126  When possible, a new regression test case should be written for
127  fstests.
128
129- Authors of new feature patchsets must ensure that fstests will have
130  appropriate functional and input corner-case test cases for the new
131  feature.
132
133- When implementing a new feature, it is strongly suggested that the
134  developers write a design document to answer the following questions:
135
136  * **What** problem is this trying to solve?
137
138  * **Who** will benefit from this solution, and **where** will they
139    access it?
140
141  * **How** will this new feature work?  This should touch on major data
142    structures and algorithms supporting the solution at a higher level
143    than code comments.
144
145  * **What** userspace interfaces are necessary to build off of the new
146    features?
147
148  * **How** will this work be tested to ensure that it solves the
149    problems laid out in the design document without causing new
150    problems?
151
152  The design document should be committed in the kernel documentation
153  directory.
154  It may be omitted if the feature is already well known to the
155  community.
156
157- Patchsets for the new tests should be submitted as separate patchsets
158  immediately after the kernel and userspace code patchsets.
159
160- Changes to the on-disk format of XFS must be described in the ondisk
161  format document[3] and submitted as a patchset after the fstests
162  patchsets.
163
164- Patchsets implementing bug fixes and further code cleanups should put
165  the bug fixes at the beginning of the series to ease backporting.
166
167Key Release Cycle Dates
168-----------------------
169Bug fixes may be sent at any time, though the release manager may decide to
170defer a patch when the next merge window is close.
171
172Code submissions targeting the next merge window should be sent between
173-rc1 and -rc6.
174This gives the community time to review the changes, to suggest other changes,
175and for the author to retest those changes.
176
177Code submissions also requiring changes to fs/iomap and targeting the
178next merge window should be sent between -rc1 and -rc4.
179This allows the broader kernel community adequate time to test the
180infrastructure changes.
181
182Review Cadence
183--------------
184In general, please wait at least one week before pinging for feedback.
185To find reviewers, either consult the MAINTAINERS file, or ask
186developers that have Reviewed-by tags for XFS changes to take a look and
187offer their opinion.
188
189References
190----------
191| [0] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/fs/xfs/xfs-linux.git/
192| [1] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/fs/xfs/xfsprogs-dev.git/
193| [2] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/fs/xfs/xfstests-dev.git/
194| [3] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/fs/xfs/xfs-documentation.git/
195