docs/getting_started/commit-style.rst

Commits Style
=============

When writing commit messages, please think carefully about the purpose and scope
of the change you are making: describe briefly what the change does, and
describe in details why it does it. This helps to ensure that changes to the
code-base are transparent and approachable to reviewers, and it allows maintainers
to keep a more accurate changelog. You may use Markdown in commit messages.

A good commit message provides all the background information needed for
reviewers to understand the intent and rationale of the patch. This information
is also useful for future reference.

For example:

- What does the patch do?
- What motivated it?
- What impact does it have?
- How was it tested?
- Have alternatives been considered? Why did you choose this approach over
  another one?
- If it fixes an issue, detail what the issue is and provide any pointers/resources
  that are found necessary.

Hafnium follows the `Conventional Commits`_ specification. All commits to the
main repository and its submodules are expected to adhere to these guidelines,
so it is **strongly** recommended that you read at least the `quick summary`_
of the specification.

To briefly summarize, commit messages are expected to be of the form:

.. code::

    <type>[optional scope]: <description>

    [optional body]

    [optional footer(s)]

    Signed-off-by: Contributor <contributor@email.com>
    Change-Id: 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The maximum character counts per line are:

* 50 for the commit title.
* 72 for the commit body.

The following `types` are permissible and are strictly enforced:

+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| Type         | Description                                                   |
+==============+===============================================================+
| ``feat``     | A new feature                                                 |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| ``fix``      | A bug fix                                                     |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| ``build``    | Changes that affect the build system or external dependencies |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| ``ci``       | Changes to CI configuration files and scripts                 |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| ``docs``     | Documentation-only changes                                    |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| ``perf``     | A code change that improves performance                       |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| ``refactor`` | A code change that neither fixes a bug nor adds a feature     |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| ``revert``   | Changes that revert a previous change                         |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| ``style``    | Changes that do not affect the meaning of the code            |
|              | (white-space, formatting, missing semi-colons, etc.)          |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| ``test``     | Adding missing tests or correcting existing tests             |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| ``chore``    | Any other change                                              |
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+

While we don't enforce scopes strictly, we do ask that commits use these if they
can. These should reference the functionality the patch relates to.

Mandated Trailers
-----------------

Commits are expected to be signed off with the ``Signed-off-by:`` trailer using
your real name and email address. You can do this automatically by committing
with Git's ``-s`` flag.

There may be multiple ``Signed-off-by:`` lines depending on the history of the
patch, but one **must** be the committer. More details may be found in the
`Gerrit Signed-off-by Lines guidelines`_.

Ensure that each commit also has a unique ``Change-Id:`` line.

If you have followed optional steps in the prerequisites to install the clone the
repository using the "`Clone with commit-msg hook`" clone method, then this should
be done automatically for you.

More details may be found in the `Gerrit Change-Ids documentation`_.

.. _Conventional Commits: https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0
.. _Gerrit Change-Ids documentation: https://review.trustedfirmware.org/Documentation/user-changeid.html
.. _Gerrit Signed-off-by Lines guidelines: https://review.trustedfirmware.org/Documentation/user-signedoffby.html
.. _quick summary: https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/#summary

Commit Linting
--------------

`Commitlint`_ helps enforce the conventional commits specification by
providing commit message linting capabilities.

Navigate to the Hafnium root directory. Node Version Manager (nvm) is
required to install the Node.js dependency for Commitlint. To install
nvm run the following command:

.. code:: shell

  wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash

To install Node.js, first reload the shell configuration to ensure that nvm is
available.

.. code:: shell

  source ~/.bashrc

Run the following command to install Node.js:

.. code:: shell

  nvm install 20

To test that commit linting is working, navigate to the Hafnium root
directory and run the following:

.. code:: shell

  make commitlint

By default this will apply linting to the most recent commit message.

Additionally, you can lint any range of commit messages by setting the ``COMMITLINT_FROM`` and ``COMMITLINT_TO`` arguments.
An example of this is as follows:

.. code:: shell

  make commitlint COMMITLINT_FROM=HEAD~3 COMMITLINT_TO=HEAD

.. _Commitlint: https://commitlint.js.org
--------------

*Copyright (c) 2023, Arm Limited and Contributors. All rights reserved.*