github.com/yoctocloud/packer@v0.6.2-0.20160520224004-e11a0a18423f/CONTRIBUTING.md (about)

     1  # Contributing to Packer
     2  
     3  **First:** if you're unsure or afraid of _anything_, just ask
     4  or submit the issue or pull request anyways. You won't be yelled at for
     5  giving your best effort. The worst that can happen is that you'll be
     6  politely asked to change something. We appreciate any sort of contributions,
     7  and don't want a wall of rules to get in the way of that.
     8  
     9  However, for those individuals who want a bit more guidance on the
    10  best way to contribute to the project, read on. This document will cover
    11  what we're looking for. By addressing all the points we're looking for,
    12  it raises the chances we can quickly merge or address your contributions.
    13  
    14  ## Issues
    15  
    16  ### Reporting an Issue
    17  
    18  * Make sure you test against the latest released version. It is possible
    19    we already fixed the bug you're experiencing.
    20  
    21  * Run the command with debug ouput with the environment variable
    22    `PACKER_LOG`. For example: `PACKER_LOG=1 packer build template.json`. Take
    23    the *entire* output and create a [gist](https://gist.github.com) for linking
    24    to in your issue. Packer should strip sensitive keys from the output,
    25    but take a look through just in case.
    26  
    27  * Provide a reproducible test case. If a contributor can't reproduce an
    28    issue, then it dramatically lowers the chances it'll get fixed. And in
    29    some cases, the issue will eventually be closed.
    30  
    31  * Respond promptly to any questions made by the Packer team to your issue.
    32    Stale issues will be closed.
    33  
    34  ### Issue Lifecycle
    35  
    36  1. The issue is reported.
    37  
    38  2. The issue is verified and categorized by a Packer collaborator.
    39     Categorization is done via tags. For example, bugs are marked as "bugs"
    40     and easy fixes are marked as "easy".
    41  
    42  3. Unless it is critical, the issue is left for a period of time (sometimes
    43     many weeks), giving outside contributors a chance to address the issue.
    44  
    45  4. The issue is addressed in a pull request or commit. The issue will be
    46     referenced in the commit message so that the code that fixes it is clearly
    47     linked.
    48  
    49  5. The issue is closed.
    50  
    51  ## Setting up Go to work on Packer
    52  
    53  If you have never worked with Go before, you will have to complete the
    54  following steps in order to be able to compile and test Packer. These instructions target POSIX-like environments (Mac OS X, Linux, Cygwin, etc.) so you may need to adjust them for Windows or other shells.
    55  
    56  1. [Download](https://golang.org/dl) and install Go. The instructions below
    57     are for go 1.6. Earlier versions of Go are no longer supported.
    58  
    59  2. Set and export the `GOPATH` environment variable and update your `PATH`. For
    60     example, you can add to your `.bash_profile`.
    61  
    62      ```
    63      export GOPATH=$HOME/go
    64      export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin
    65      ```
    66  
    67  3. Download the Packer source (and its dependencies) by running `go get
    68     github.com/mitchellh/packer`. This will download the Packer source to
    69     `$GOPATH/src/github.com/mitchellh/packer`.
    70  
    71  4. When working on packer `cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/mitchellh/packer` so you
    72     can run `make` and easily access other files.
    73  
    74  5. Make your changes to the Packer source. You can run `make` in
    75     `$GOPATH/src/github.com/mitchellh/packer` to run tests and build the packer
    76     binary. Any compilation errors will be shown when the binaries are
    77     rebuilding. If you don't have `make` you can simply run `go build -o bin/packer .` from the project root.
    78  
    79  6. After running building packer successfully, use
    80     `$GOPATH/src/github.com/mitchellh/packer/bin/packer` to build a machine and
    81     verify your changes work. For instance: `$GOPATH/src/github.com/mitchellh/packer/bin/packer build template.json`.
    82  
    83  7. If everything works well and the tests pass, run `go fmt` on your code
    84     before submitting a pull-request.
    85  
    86  ### Tips for Working on Packer
    87  
    88  #### Godeps
    89  
    90  If you are submitting a change that requires new or updated dependencies, please include them in `Godeps/Godeps.json` and in the `vendor/` folder.  This helps everything get tested properly in CI.
    91  
    92  Note that you will need to use [Godep](https://github.com/tools/godep) to do this. This step is recommended but not required; if you don't use Godep please indicate in your PR which dependencies have changed and to what versions.
    93  
    94  Please only apply the minimal vendor changes to get your PR to work. Packer does not attempt to track the latest version for each dependency.
    95  
    96  #### Running Unit Tests
    97  
    98  You can run tests for individual packages using commands like this:
    99  
   100      $ make test TEST=./builder/amazon/...
   101  
   102  #### Running Acceptance Tests
   103  
   104  Packer has [acceptance tests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance_testing)
   105  for various builders. These typically require an API key (AWS, GCE), or
   106  additional software to be installed on your computer (VirtualBox, VMware).
   107  
   108  If you're working on a new builder or builder feature and want verify it is functioning (and also hasn't broken anything else), we recommend running the
   109  acceptance tests.
   110  
   111  **Warning:** The acceptance tests create/destroy/modify *real resources*, which
   112  may incur costs for real money. In the presence of a bug, it is possible that resources may be left behind, which can cost money even though you were not using them. We recommend running tests in an account used only for that purpose so it is easy to see if there are any dangling resources, and so production resources are not accidentally destroyed or overwritten during testing.
   113  
   114  To run the acceptance tests, invoke `make testacc`:
   115  
   116      $ make testacc TEST=./builder/amazon/ebs
   117      ...
   118  
   119  The `TEST` variable lets you narrow the scope of the acceptance tests to a
   120  specific package / folder. The `TESTARGS` variable is recommended to filter
   121  down to a specific resource to test, since testing all of them at once can
   122  sometimes take a very long time.
   123  
   124  Acceptance tests typically require other environment variables to be set for
   125  things such as access keys. The test itself should error early and tell you
   126  what to set, so it is not documented here.