Contributing

Contributions to the jMetal project are welcome. Please, take into account the following guidelines (all developers should follow these guidelines):

Git WorkFlow

We have a set of branches on the remote Git server. Some branches are temporary, and others are constant throughout the life of the repository.

• Branches always present in the repository:

  • master: You have the latest released to production, receive merges from the develop branch, or merge from a hotfix branch (emergency).

    • Do I have to put a TAG when doing a merge from develop to master? yes
    • Do I have to put a TAG when doing a merge from a hotfix branch to master? yes
    • After merge from a hotfix to master, do I have to merge from master to develop? yes

  • develop: It is considered the “Next Release”, receives merges from branches of each developer, either corrections (fix) or new features (feature).

• Temporary branches:

  • feature/<task-id>-<description>: When we are doing a development, we create a local branch with the prefix “feature/”, then only if there is a task id, we indicate it and we add a hyphen. The following we indicate a description according to the functionality that we are developing. The words are separated by hyphens.

    • Where does this branch emerge? This branch always emerge from the develop branch
    • When I finish the development in my feature branch, which branch to merge into?: You always merge feature branch into develop branch

  • fix/<task-id>-<description>: When we are making a correction, we create a local branch with the prefix “fix/”, then only if there is a task id, we indicate it and we add a hyphen. The following we indicate a description according to the functionality that we are correcting. The words are separated by hyphens.

    • Where does this branch emerge? This branch always emerge from the develop branch
    • When I finish the correction in my fix branch, which branch to merge into?: You always merge feature branch into develop branch

  • hotfix/<task-id>-<description>: When we are correcting an emergency incidence in production, we create a local branch with the prefix “hotfix/”, then only if there is a task id, we indicate it and we add a hyphen. The following we indicate a description according to the functionality that we are correcting. The words are separated by hyphens.

    • Where does this branch emerge?: This branch always emerge from the master branch
    • When I finish the correction in my hotfix branch, which branch to merge into?: This branch always emerge from the master and develop branch

• Steps to follow when you are creating or going to work on a branch of any kind (feature / fix / hotfix):

  1. After you create your branch (feature / fix / hotfix) locally, upload it to the remote Git server. The integration system will verify your code from the outset.
  2. Each time you commit, as much as possible, you send a push to the server. Each push will trigger the automated launch of the tests, etc.
  3. Once the development is finished, having done a push to the remote Git server, and that the test phase has passed without problem, you create an pull request.

Note

Do not forget to remove your branch (feature / fix / hotfix) once the merge has been made.

Some useful Git commands:

• git fetch –prune: Cleaning branches removed and bringing new branches