Contribution Guide

This document is intented for developers who want to add new features or bugfixes to CHAI. It assumes you have some familiarity with git and GitHub. It will discuss what a good pull request (PR) looks like, and the tests that your PR must pass before it can be merged into CHAI.

Forking CHAI

If you aren’t a CHAI deveolper at LLNL, then you won’t have permission to push new branches to the repository. First, you should create a fork. This will create a copy of the CHAI repository that you own, and will ensure you can push your changes up to GitHub and create pull requests.

Developing a New Feature

New features should be based on the develop branch. When you want to create a new feature, first ensure you have an up-to-date copy of the develop branch:

$ git checkout develop
$ git pull origin develop

You can now create a new branch to develop your feature on:

$ git checkout -b feature/<name-of-feature>

Proceed to develop your feature on this branch, and add tests that will exercise your new code. If you are creating new methods or classes, please add Doxygen documentation.

Once your feature is complete and your tests are passing, you can push your branch to GitHub and create a PR.

Developing a Bug Fix

First, check if the change you want to make has been fixed in develop. If so, we suggest you either start using the develop branch, or temporarily apply the fix to whichever version of CHAI you are using.

Assuming there is an unsolved bug, first make sure you have an up-to-date copy of the develop branch:

$ git checkout develop
$ git pull origin develop

Then create a new branch for your bugfix:

$ git checkout -b bugfix/<name-of-bug>

First, add a test that reproduces the bug you have found. Then develop your bugfix as normal, and ensure to make test to check your changes actually fix the bug.

Once you are finished, you can push your branch to GitHub, then create a PR.

Creating a Pull Request

You can create a new PR here. GitHub has a good guide to PR basics if you want some more information. Ensure that your PR base is the develop branch of CHAI.

Add a descriptive title explaining the bug you fixed or the feature you have added, and put a longer description of the changes you have made in the comment box.

Once your PR has been created, it will be run through our automated tests and also be reviewed by RAJA team members. Providing the branch passes both the tests and reviews, it will be merged into RAJA.

Tests

CHAI’s tests are all in the test directory, and your PR must pass all these tests before it is merged. If you are adding a new feature, add new tests.