Thank you for your interest in contributing! Please see the Mattermost Contribution Guide which describes the process for making code contributions across Mattermost projects.
When you submit a pull request, it goes through the review process outlined below. We aim to start reviewing pull requests in this repo the week they are submitted, but the length of time to complete the process will vary depending on the pull request.
The one exception may be around release time, where the review process may take longer as the team focuses on our release process.
After a PR is submitted, a core committer applies labels and notifies product managers (PMs) that there is a PR awaiting review by posting in the PM/Docs PR Review channel, which is a channel to discuss community pull requests that need review by PMs.
Then, one or more of the labels is applied:
Awaiting PR
: Applied if the PR is awaiting another to be merged. For example, when a client PR is awaiting a server PR to be merged first. Once the PR is no longer blocked, the core committer removes theAwaiting PR
label1: PM Review
: Applied if the PR has UI changes or functionality that PMs can test on test servers called "spinmints"Major Change
: Applied if the PR is a major feature or affects large areas of the code base, e.g. moving channel store and actions to ReduxSetup Test Server
: Applied if the PR is queued for PM testingWork in Progress
: Applied if the PR is unfinished and needs further work before it's ready for review
A product manager will review the pull request to make sure it:
- Fits with our product roadmap
- Works as described in the ticket
- Meets user experience guidelines
This step is sometimes skipped for bugs or small improvements with a well defined ticket.
When the review process begins, the PM applies a milestone:
- Set for next release if the PM thinks there is enough time for the PR to be merged and sufficiently tested on
master
before code complete. - Set for a future release if PR is too large to test prior to the code complete date
- PM responds to submitter letting them know that PR may have a delay in review due to the release cycle
Next, the PM tests changes on the spinmint:
- If changes are required, PM submits review as "Changes Requested", with a comment on the areas that require updates. Comment explains why changes are needed linking back to design principles.
- PM applies
Awaiting Submitter Action
label to more easily query the PR queue - Once changes are made, PM regenerates test server and repeats testing.
- PM applies
- If bugs are found that are also on
master
, a new bug report is submitted in JIRA and linked to the PR. Bugs that are also found onmaster
will typically not block merging of PRs. - If PR is approved, PM submits review as "Approved" commenting with areas that were tested. Then:
- PM removes
1: PM Review
andSetup Test Server
labels - PM applies the
Stage 2: Dev Review
label, which moves the PR to Stage 2
- PM removes
Two developers will review the pull request and either give feedback or approve the PR. If changes are required:
- Dev submits review as "Changes Requested", with a comment on the areas that require tweaks.
- Once changes are made, dev reviews code changes
Any comments should be addressed before the pull request moves on to the last stage.
The review process is complete, and the pull request will be merged.
After a PR is merged:
- External Contributions: PM closes the [Help Wanted] issue and related Jira ticket
- Internal Contributions: Core committer resolves the JIRA ticket
- PM follows up for docs, changelog and release tests when working through the PR tracking spreadsheet