diplodocus.org Git - nmh/blob - docs/README.developers

   1 #
   2 # README.developers
   3 #
   4
   5 This file is intended to provide a few tips for anyone doing development on nmh.
   6 Developers who learn things "the hard way" about the nmh codebase (as opposed to
   7 local info best encoded in a comment) are encouraged to share their wisdom here.
   8
   9 The topics are organized alphabetically.
  10
  11
  12 --------------
  13 autoconf files
  14 --------------
  15
  16 If you wish to change the `configure' script or its related files, you'll need
  17 to first install GNU m4, available from <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/m4/> and then
  18 GNU autoconf (<ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/autoconf/>).  Nmh is currently using
  19 a minimum of autoconf 2.54.
  20
  21 Most of the configure-related files are automatically generated.  The only files
  22 you should need to manually edit are acconfig.h and configure.in.  Don't, for
  23 instance, edit config.h.in.  Though it is an input file from the point of view
  24 of the users (and the configure script) it is an output file from the point of
  25 view of the developers (and the autoconf script).
  26
  27 Note that the automatically generated autoconf files (such as config.h.in,
  28 stamp-h.in, and configure), are NOT kept in git.  Thus, when you check out
  29 a git tree, you need to run the autogen.sh script before you can build
  30 anything:
  31
  32         % ./autogen.sh
  33
  34 -------------------
  35 directory structure
  36 -------------------
  37
  38 Following is a list of nmh's directories along with a brief description of the
  39 purpose of each one.  Meanings are given for the abbreviations, but note that
  40 these meanings are just informed guesses as to what the MH developers were
  41 thinking.
  42
  43 ./
  44     The top-level directory.  Contains files like README and INSTALL.
  45
  46 config/
  47     Contains utility files for the `configure' process.  Ordinarily nothing in
  48     here needs to be messed with.
  49
  50 doc/
  51     Contains more specialized documentation, such as this file and
  52     the FAQ.
  53
  54 etc/
  55     Contains files, file templates, and scripts to generate files that will be
  56     installed in the ${prefix}/etc directory.  Stuff like replcomps.
  57
  58 h/
  59     Most of nmh's header (.h) files are kept not in the individual source
  60     directories, but in this central location.
  61
  62 man/
  63     Contains all the input files that are processed to generate nmh's manual
  64     pages.
  65
  66 mts/
  67     "mts" stands for "Message Transfer Service".  Source files specific to the
  68     different MTSs go in the subdirectories.
  69
  70 mts/mmdf/ (deprecated)
  71     "mmdf" stands for "Multichannel Memorandum Distribution Facility".  It is an
  72     alternative to sendmail used primarily on SCO UNIX.
  73
  74 mts/sendmail/ (deprecated: handled by mts.conf)
  75     When nmh is configured --with-mts=sendmail, the files in this directory are
  76     used.
  77
  78 mts/smtp/
  79     When nmh is configured to just talk to an SMTP server over TCP/IP, the
  80     source in this directory is compiled.
  81
  82 sbr/
  83     "sbr" stands for "subroutine(s)".  For the most part, each source file in
  84     this directory contains a single function with the same name as the source
  85     file.  These functions are of general use and are called from throughout
  86     nmh.
  87
  88 uip/
  89     "uip" stands for "User Interface Programs".  Most nmh commands have a file
  90     in this directory named <command>.c containing the code for that command
  91     (e.g. repl.c).  In some cases there is also an auxiliary file called
  92     <command>sbr.c which contains additional subroutines called from <command>.c
  93     (which would contain not much else besides main()).
  94
  95 zotnet/ (deprecated)
  96     Files in this hierarchy were either written by or moved here by UCI
  97     (University of California, Irvine) after they took over MH from the Rand
  98     Corporation.  "Zot!" is the sound effect made by the anteater in the "B.C."
  99     comic strip when its tongue lashes out at ants.  The anteater is UCI's
 100     official mascot.  Not sure whether UCInet was once called ZotNet...
 101
 102 zotnet/bboards/ (deprecated)
 103     UCI added Bulletin Board functionality to MH with the `bbc' command.  This
 104     functionality has been removed from nmh but apparently files in this
 105     directory are still needed for other purposes.
 106
 107 zotnet/mf/ (deprecated, now in sbr/)
 108     "mf" stands for "Mail Filter".  The filtering in this case apparently refers
 109     to translation between different address and mailbox formats.
 110
 111 zotnet/mts/ (deprecated, now in sbr/)
 112     MTS code not specific to any single MTS apparently goes here.
 113
 114 zotnet/tws/ (deprecated, now in sbr/)
 115     "tws" apparently stands for "time with structure", a rather odd phrase.
 116     This directory used to be the place for date and time manipulation code, but
 117     currently nothing in here is compiled.  There are new, more portable
 118     versions of the key files in h/ and sbr/, and this directory will soon go
 119     away completely.
 120
 121
 122 ---
 123 git
 124 ---
 125
 126 As of December 2010, nmh has switched to using git for revision control
 127 instead of CVS.  While the topic of git is beyond the scope of this FAQ,
 128 to get started with git & nmh, you can run the following command to checkout
 129 the nmh repository:
 130
 131     % git clone git://git.savannah.nongnu.org/nmh.git
 132
 133
 134 -------------------------------------------------------
 135 nmh-local functions to use in preference to OS versions
 136 -------------------------------------------------------
 137
 138 For some system functions whose availability or behavior varies from OS to OS,
 139 nmh conditionally uses a local definition with the same name as the OS function
 140 (e.g. snprintf()).  For other functions, developers need to avoid the OS
 141 versions and always use the nmh-supplied function.  Here is a list of such
 142 functions:
 143
 144 OS function  nmh-local version to use instead
 145 ===========  ================================
 146 getpass()    nmh_getpass()
 147
 148
 149 -------------
 150 releasing nmh
 151 -------------
 152
 153 To make a public release of nmh (we'll use version 1.0.4 and my mhost.com
 154 account, danh, as examples here; the convention for release candidates
 155 is to use something like "1.0.4-RC1"):
 156
 157  1. % echo 1.0.4 > VERSION
 158     % date +"%e %B %Y" > DATE
 159     (DATE should contain something like "30 December 2000")
 160
 161  2. Put a comment like "Released nmh-1.0.4." in the ChangeLog.
 162
 163  3. % cvs commit ChangeLog VERSION DATE
 164
 165  4. % cvs tag nmh-1_0_4
 166     (cvs treats dots specially, so underscores are substituted here.)
 167
 168  5. % make nmhdist
 169
 170  6. Untar nmh-1.0.4.tar.gz and `diff -r' it vs. your CVS tree.  Make sure no
 171     files got left out of the distribution that should be in it (due to someone
 172     forgetting to update the DIST variables in the Makefiles).
 173
 174  7. If you have root access on your machine, it's good at this point to do:
 175
 176     % chown -R 0:0 nmh-1.0.4
 177     % tar cvf nmh-1.0.4.tar nmh-1.0.4
 178     % gzip nmh-1.0.4.tar
 179
 180     If you leave the files in the archive as being owned by yourself, your UID
 181     may coincide with one of a user on a machine where nmh is being installed,
 182     making it possible for that user to Trojan the nmh code before the system
 183     administrator finishes installing it.
 184
 185  8. Make sure your new tarball uncompresses and untars with no problem.  Make
 186     sure you can configure, make, and install nmh from it.
 187
 188  9. If all is well and your tarball is final, go back to your CVS tree and do:
 189
 190     % echo 1.0.4+dev > VERSION
 191
 192 10. Put a comment like "Upped the version number to 1.0.4+dev until the next nmh
 193     release." in the ChangeLog.
 194
 195 11. % cvs commit ChangeLog VERSION
 196
 197 12. If possible, make an MD5 hash and/or a PGP signature of nmh-1.0.4.tar.gz.
 198     Assuming you have gpg set up, this should be:
 199     % gpg --output nmh-1.0.4.tar.gz.sig --detach-sig nmh-1.0.4.tar.gz
 200
 201     You can verify the signature with
 202     % gpg --verify nmh-1.0.4.tar.gz.sig nmh-1.0.4.tar.gz
 203
 204 13. Upload the files to savannah. First make sure they are mode 664 so
 205     they will have the right permissions on the server end
 206     (see https://savannah.gnu.org/maintenance/SharedDownloadArea)
 207     % chmod 664 nmh-1.0.4.tar.gz*
 208
 209     Then scp them across:
 210     % scp -p nmh-1.0.4.tar.gz* youruser@dl.sv.nongnu.org:/releases/nmh/
 211
 212 14. Update the http://www.nongnu.org/nmh/ homepage. (It lives in the 'webpages
 213     repository'; see https://savannah.nongnu.org/cvs/?group=nmh)
 214
 215 15. Add a news item to the savannah nmh page. You'll have to submit it first
 216     and then separately approve it (under News->Manage).
 217
 218 16. Send the release announcement email to the following places:
 219      nmh-workers@nongnu.org
 220      nmh-announce@nongnu.org
 221      exmh-users@redhat.com
 222      exmh-workers@redhat.com
 223      mh-e-users@lists.sourceforge.net
 224      mh-users@ics.uci.edu *or* comp.mail.mh (there is a bidirectional gateway)
 225
 226     If the release fixes significant security holes, also send an announcement
 227     to bugtraq@securityfocus.com.  The exmh lists require you to be subscribed
 228     in order to post.  Note that you don't need to post separately to
 229     comp.mail.mh, as the mh-users mailing list is apparently bidirectionally
 230     gatewayed to it.
 231
 232     Preferably, the announcement should contain the MD5 hash generated above,
 233     and should be PGP-signed.  It should include the URL for the tarball as
 234     well as the URL of the website.  It should contain a brief summary of
 235     visible changes, as well as the URL of the cvsweb diff page that would show
 236     a detailed list of changes.  The changes between 1.2 and 1.3 would be
 237     shown by:
 238
 239         http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/nmh/ChangeLog?root=nmh&r1=1.215&r2=1.254.2.13
 240