Development Resources/Contributing via Git

This page is for individuals who want to make a contribution to an Eclipse project via Git or Gerrit.

There's more information for committers on the Handling Git Contributions page.

Communication

If you want to contribute to an Eclipse project, you should first communicate with that project. Communication takes many forms, but generally occurs on a project's "dev" list, or via Bugzilla.

You can find the appropriate entry points on the project's page on the forge:

• Find an Eclipse.org project
• Find a LocationTech project
• Find a PolarSys project

Eclipse Contributor Agreement

Before your contribution can be accepted by the project, you need to electronically sign the Eclipse Contributor Agreement (ECA).

To sign an ECA:

• Create an account with the Eclipse Foundation if you have not already done so;

  An Eclipse Account will grant you access to Gerrit, Bugzilla, and other Eclipse Foundation web resources.

  Use the same account to contribute to Eclipse, LocationTech, and PolarSys projects.

• Sign a ECA.
  • Log into the Eclipse Contributor Agreement page;
  • Complete the form.

Be sure to use the same email address when you register for the account that you intend to use on Git commit records.

The Commit Record

If a project supports Gerrit, you can push directly to that project's repository. Alternatively, if you have a public Git repository, a project committer can pull your contribution.

Minimally, your Git commit record must have the following:

• Your credentials (email address) captured in the "Author" field;
• A single line summary in the message field, followed by a more detailed descriptive paragraph

If applicable, a link to the Bug that is addressed by the commit should be included in the message footer. The id (bug number) of the bug should also be included in the message summary.

The email address of the committer must be associated with the Eclipse account with a signed ECA.

You can specify additional authors using one or more "Also-by" entries in the message footer.

For example:

commit 862e6ff22ad56c10df6de3385ffa4c7d02363d1d
Author: Joe Somebody <somebody@someplace.net>
Date:   Mon Jun 17 17:19:38 2013 -0700

    [410937] Auto share multiple projects in single job
    
    When multiple projects are imported together, perform all the necessary
    auto shares in a single job rather than spawning a separate job for each
    project.
    
    Bug: https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=410937
    Also-by: Some Otherperson <otherperson@someplace.net>

Note that the footer entries must occur at the bottom of the commit message, must be separated from the summary and description by a blank line, and must not include any blank lines.

Contributing a patch

via Gerrit

Many projects have enabled Gerrit to review contributions. When Gerrit is available, it uses a specific repository URL, which should be listed on the contribution page of the project. The general pattern for Gerrit at Eclipse.org URL is ssh://username@git.eclipse.org:29418/path/to/repo.git, so you can add a reference to Gerrit for your repo using git remote add gerrit ssh://username@git.eclipse.org:29418/path/to/repo.git

A rule with Gerrit is that you should push a single commit. If you wish to push another version of for an existing Gerrit review, make sure it has the same Change-Id in commit message footer so Gerrit will understand it as another version and not as a new contribution. The best way to make sure it uses the same Change-Id is to prefer using git commit --amend to modify the existing commit and then re-push it.

Then you can simply push new patches to Gerrit using git push gerrit HEAD:refs/for/master. It will check ECAs and other stuff, and if you commit gets accepted by this automatic checks, it will return you the URL for your change. Code review and developer interactions will happen on that change. You should receive notifications on each change, but in case you don't, please monitor the change at the given URL to react promptly to questions.

Gerrit first contribution FAQ:

• I have an ECA; why can't I push to Gerrit?:
  • First check the email address that you're using on the commit record. It must match the email address you use on your Eclipse Foundation account.
  • We have noticed an issue with Gerrit caching that sometimes introduces latency in the ability for Gerrit to recognize that you have an ECA. This may affect you if you've very recently signed a ECA. Please see bug 407114.

via GitHub

If the project repository is hosted on GitHub, you can issue a standard GitHub pull request. Ensure that you have a ECA and that the commit record is properly "Signed-off-by" before you issue the request.

Some git repos are mirrored to GitHub from the Eclipse Foundation gerrit server. In those cases the contribution needs to be to gerrit rather than via Pull Request. For more information see the project's individual developer resources page.

via Bugzilla

If you cannot push to a project's Gerrit repository, or do not have a public Git repository from which a project committer can pull, you can submit your contribution as a patch attachment on a Bugzilla record.

You must have a signed ECA on file.

A Word about Eclipse Foundation Accounts

The Eclipse Foundation maintains multiple separate forges. The same user account applies for all forges. If you, for example, create an account on eclipse.org, that same account can be used on LocationTech or PolarSys. A signed ECA is connected to your Eclipse Foundation account; this means that with the single valid ECA on file, you can contribute to any project on any of the forges.

This page is moderated by the EMO.