|
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
|
|
|
+# The Docker maintainer manual
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+## Introduction
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+Dear maintainer. Thank you for investing the time and energy to help make Docker as
|
|
|
+useful as possible. Maintaining a project is difficult, sometimes unrewarding work.
|
|
|
+Sure, you will get to contribute cool features to the project. But most of your time
|
|
|
+will be spent reviewing, cleaning up, documenting, andswering questions, justifying
|
|
|
+design decisions - while everyone has all the fun! But remember - the quality of the
|
|
|
+maintainers work is what distinguishes the good projects from the great.
|
|
|
+So please be proud of your work, even the unglamourous parts, and encourage a culture
|
|
|
+of appreciation and respect for *every* aspect of improving the project - not just the
|
|
|
+hot new features.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+This document is a manual for maintainers old and new. It explains what is expected of
|
|
|
+maintainers, how they should work, and what tools are available to them.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+This is a living document - if you see something out of date or missing, speak up!
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+## What are a maintainer's responsibility?
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+It is every maintainer's responsibility to:
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+* 1) Expose a clear roadmap for improving their component.
|
|
|
+* 2) Deliver prompt feedback and decisions on pull requests.
|
|
|
+* 3) Be available to anyone with questions, bug reports, criticism etc. on their component. This includes irc, github requests and the mailing list.
|
|
|
+* 4) Make sure their component respects the philosophy, design and roadmap of the project.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+## How are decisions made?
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+Short answer: with pull requests to the docker repository.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+Docker is an open-source project with an open design philosophy. This means that the repository is the source of truth for EVERY aspect of the project,
|
|
|
+including its philosophy, design, roadmap and APIs. *If it's part of the project, it's in the repo. It's in the repo, it's part of the project.*
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+As a result, all decisions can be expressed as changes to the repository. An implementation change is a change to the source code. An API change is a change to
|
|
|
+the API specification. A philosophy change is a change to the philosophy manifesto. And so on.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+All decisions affecting docker, big and small, follow the same 3 steps:
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+* Step 1: Open a pull request. Anyone can do this.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+* Step 2: Discuss the pull request. Anyone can do this.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+* Step 3: Accept or refuse a pull request. The relevant maintainer does this (see below "Who decides what?")
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+## Who decides what?
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+So all decisions are pull requests, and the relevant maintainer makes the decision by accepting or refusing the pull request.
|
|
|
+But how do we identify the relevant maintainer for a given pull request?
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+Docker follows the timeless, highly efficient and totally unfair system known as [Benevolent dictator for life](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_Dictator_for_Life),
|
|
|
+with yours truly, Solomon Hykes, in the role of BDFL.
|
|
|
+This means that all decisions are made by default by me. Since making every decision myself would be highly unscalable, in practice decisions are spread across multiple maintainers.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+The relevant maintainer for a pull request is assigned in 3 steps:
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+* Step 1: Determine the subdirectory affected by the pull request. This might be src/registry, docs/source/api, or any other part of the repo.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+* Step 2: Find the MAINTAINERS file which affects this directory. If the directory itself does not have a MAINTAINERS file, work your way up the the repo hierarchy until you find one.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+* Step 3: The first maintainer listed is the primary maintainer. The pull request is assigned to him. He may assign it to other listed maintainers, at his discretion.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+### I'm a maintainer, should I make pull requests too?
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+Primary maintainers are not required to create pull requests when changing their own subdirectory, but secondary maintainers are.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+### Who assigns maintainers?
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+Solomon.
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+### How is this process changed?
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
+Just like everything else: by making a pull request :)
|