| Version 15 (modified by dclark, 16 years ago) (diff) |
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Contributing to Bcfg2
There are several ways users can contribute to the Bcfg2 project.
- Developing code
- Testing prereleases
- Adding to the common repository
- Improving the wiki
Development
Send patches to the bcfg mailing list. In order to be considered for mainline inclusion, patches need to be BSD licensed. The most convenient way to prepare patches is by using svn diff inside of a source tree checked out of subversion. The source tree can be checked out by running:
$ svn co https://svn.mcs.anl.gov/repos/bcfg/trunk/bcfg2
Users wishing to contribute on a regular basis can apply for direct subversion access. Mail the mailing list for details.
Several resources for developers exist in the wiki:
Bcfg2 is the result of a lot of work by many different people. They are listed on the contributors page.
Testing Prereleases
Before each release, several prereleases will be tagged. It is helpful to have users test these releases (when feasible) because it is hard to replicate the full range of potential reconfiguration situations; between different operating systems, system management tools, and configuration specification variation, there can be large differences between sites.
Adding to the Common Repository
The Bcfg2 common repository is a set of portable examples that new repositories can be based on. This repo has several parts. The first is a series of group definitions that describe a wide range of client systems. The second is a set of portable bundles that have been ported to use these groups. This makes these bundles transparently portable across new client architectures.
This approach has several benefits to users
- Configuration specification can be shared across sites where appropriate
- This common configuration specification can be reused, allowing sites to migrate to new systems that other sites have already ported the common repository to
- Setup of new systems becomes a lot easier.
Improving the wiki
Mail the mailing list for an account on the wiki. While you are waiting for an account, you can use the Bcfg2 Scratch Wiki, and then bug someone to get your documentation incorporated into this wiki (the #bcfg2 IRC channel works well for this).
