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306 changes: 8 additions & 298 deletions CONTRIBUTING.md
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Contributing to Bitcoin Core
Contributing to Vertcoin Core
============================

The Bitcoin Core project operates an open contributor model where anyone is
The Vertcoin Core project operates an open contributor model where anyone is
welcome to contribute towards development in the form of peer review, testing
and patches. This document explains the practical process and guidelines for
contributing.
Expand All @@ -15,62 +15,16 @@ merging pull requests, as well as a "lead maintainer" who is responsible for the
release cycle as well as overall merging, moderation and appointment of
maintainers.

Getting Started
---------------

New contributors are very welcome and needed.

Reviewing and testing is highly valued and the most effective way you can contribute
as a new contributor. It also will teach you much more about the code and
process than opening pull requests. Please refer to the [peer review](#peer-review)
section below.

Before you start contributing, familiarize yourself with the Bitcoin Core build
system and tests. Refer to the documentation in the repository on how to build
Bitcoin Core and how to run the unit tests, functional tests, and fuzz tests.

There are many open issues of varying difficulty waiting to be fixed.
If you're looking for somewhere to start contributing, check out the
[good first issue](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22)
list or changes that are
[up for grabs](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=label%3A%22Up+for+grabs%22).
Some of them might no longer be applicable. So if you are interested, but
unsure, you might want to leave a comment on the issue first.

You may also participate in the weekly
[Bitcoin Core PR Review Club](https://bitcoincore.reviews/) meeting.

### Good First Issue Label

The purpose of the `good first issue` label is to highlight which issues are
suitable for a new contributor without a deep understanding of the codebase.

However, good first issues can be solved by anyone. If they remain unsolved
for a longer time, a frequent contributor might address them.

You do not need to request permission to start working on an issue. However,
you are encouraged to leave a comment if you are planning to work on it. This
will help other contributors monitor which issues are actively being addressed
and is also an effective way to request assistance if and when you need it.

Communication Channels
----------------------

Most communication about Bitcoin Core development happens on IRC, in the
`#bitcoin-core-dev` channel on Libera Chat. The easiest way to participate on IRC is
with the web client, [web.libera.chat](https://web.libera.chat/#bitcoin-core-dev). Chat
history logs can be found
on [http://www.erisian.com.au/bitcoin-core-dev/](http://www.erisian.com.au/bitcoin-core-dev/)
and [http://gnusha.org/bitcoin-core-dev/](http://gnusha.org/bitcoin-core-dev/).
Most communication about Vertcoin Core development happens onthe #development channel
on [Discord](https://discord.gg/vertcoin).

Discussion about codebase improvements happens in GitHub issues and pull
requests.

The developer
[mailing list](https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev)
should be used to discuss complicated or controversial consensus or P2P protocol changes before working on
a patch set.
Issues List
--------------------

Open issues can be found on github in the [issues list](https://github.com/vertcoin-project/vertcoin-core/issues).

Contributor Workflow
--------------------
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -136,51 +90,6 @@ about Git.
- Push changes to your fork
- Create pull request

### Creating the Pull Request

The title of the pull request should be prefixed by the component or area that
the pull request affects. Valid areas as:

- `consensus` for changes to consensus critical code
- `doc` for changes to the documentation
- `qt` or `gui` for changes to bitcoin-qt
- `log` for changes to log messages
- `mining` for changes to the mining code
- `net` or `p2p` for changes to the peer-to-peer network code
- `refactor` for structural changes that do not change behavior
- `rpc`, `rest` or `zmq` for changes to the RPC, REST or ZMQ APIs
- `script` for changes to the scripts and tools
- `test`, `qa` or `ci` for changes to the unit tests, QA tests or CI code
- `util` or `lib` for changes to the utils or libraries
- `wallet` for changes to the wallet code
- `build` for changes to the GNU Autotools or reproducible builds

Examples:

consensus: Add new opcode for BIP-XXXX OP_CHECKAWESOMESIG
net: Automatically create onion service, listen on Tor
qt: Add feed bump button
log: Fix typo in log message

The body of the pull request should contain sufficient description of *what* the
patch does, and even more importantly, *why*, with justification and reasoning.
You should include references to any discussions (for example, other issues or
mailing list discussions).

The description for a new pull request should not contain any `@` mentions. The
PR description will be included in the commit message when the PR is merged and
any users mentioned in the description will be annoyingly notified each time a
fork of Bitcoin Core copies the merge. Instead, make any username mentions in a
subsequent comment to the PR.

### Translation changes

Note that translations should not be submitted as pull requests. Please see
[Translation Process](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/translation_process.md)
for more information on helping with translations.

### Work in Progress Changes and Requests for Comments

If a pull request is not to be considered for merging (yet), please
prefix the title with [WIP] or use [Tasks Lists](https://help.github.com/articles/basic-writing-and-formatting-syntax/#task-lists)
in the body of the pull request to indicate tasks are pending.
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -223,209 +132,10 @@ the respective change set.
The length of time required for peer review is unpredictable and will vary from
pull request to pull request.

### Rebasing Changes

When a pull request conflicts with the target branch, you may be asked to rebase it on top of the current target branch.
The `git rebase` command will take care of rebuilding your commits on top of the new base.

This project aims to have a clean git history, where code changes are only made in non-merge commits. This simplifies
auditability because merge commits can be assumed to not contain arbitrary code changes. Merge commits should be signed,
and the resulting git tree hash must be deterministic and reproducible. The script in
[/contrib/verify-commits](/contrib/verify-commits) checks that.

After a rebase, reviewers are encouraged to sign off on the force push. This should be relatively straightforward with
the `git range-diff` tool explained in the [productivity
notes](/doc/productivity.md#diff-the-diffs-with-git-range-diff). To avoid needless review churn, maintainers will
generally merge pull requests that received the most review attention first.

Pull Request Philosophy
-----------------------

Patchsets should always be focused. For example, a pull request could add a
feature, fix a bug, or refactor code; but not a mixture. Please also avoid super
pull requests which attempt to do too much, are overly large, or overly complex
as this makes review difficult.


### Features

When adding a new feature, thought must be given to the long term technical debt
and maintenance that feature may require after inclusion. Before proposing a new
feature that will require maintenance, please consider if you are willing to
maintain it (including bug fixing). If features get orphaned with no maintainer
in the future, they may be removed by the Repository Maintainer.


### Refactoring

Refactoring is a necessary part of any software project's evolution. The
following guidelines cover refactoring pull requests for the project.

There are three categories of refactoring: code-only moves, code style fixes, and
code refactoring. In general, refactoring pull requests should not mix these
three kinds of activities in order to make refactoring pull requests easy to
review and uncontroversial. In all cases, refactoring PRs must not change the
behaviour of code within the pull request (bugs must be preserved as is).

Project maintainers aim for a quick turnaround on refactoring pull requests, so
where possible keep them short, uncomplex and easy to verify.

Pull requests that refactor the code should not be made by new contributors. It
requires a certain level of experience to know where the code belongs to and to
understand the full ramification (including rebase effort of open pull requests).

Trivial pull requests or pull requests that refactor the code with no clear
benefits may be immediately closed by the maintainers to reduce unnecessary
workload on reviewing.


"Decision Making" Process
-------------------------

The following applies to code changes to the Bitcoin Core project (and related
projects such as libsecp256k1), and is not to be confused with overall Bitcoin
Network Protocol consensus changes.

Whether a pull request is merged into Bitcoin Core rests with the project merge
maintainers and ultimately the project lead.

Maintainers will take into consideration if a patch is in line with the general
principles of the project; meets the minimum standards for inclusion; and will
judge the general consensus of contributors.

In general, all pull requests must:

- Have a clear use case, fix a demonstrable bug or serve the greater good of
the project (for example refactoring for modularisation);
- Be well peer-reviewed;
- Have unit tests, functional tests, and fuzz tests, where appropriate;
- Follow code style guidelines ([C++](doc/developer-notes.md), [functional tests](test/functional/README.md));
- Not break the existing test suite;
- Where bugs are fixed, where possible, there should be unit tests
demonstrating the bug and also proving the fix. This helps prevent regression.
- Change relevant comments and documentation when behaviour of code changes.

Patches that change Bitcoin consensus rules are considerably more involved than
normal because they affect the entire ecosystem and so must be preceded by
extensive mailing list discussions and have a numbered BIP. While each case will
be different, one should be prepared to expend more time and effort than for
other kinds of patches because of increased peer review and consensus building
requirements.


### Peer Review

Anyone may participate in peer review which is expressed by comments in the pull
request. Typically reviewers will review the code for obvious errors, as well as
test out the patch set and opine on the technical merits of the patch. Project
maintainers take into account the peer review when determining if there is
consensus to merge a pull request (remember that discussions may have been
spread out over GitHub, mailing list and IRC discussions).

#### Conceptual Review

A review can be a conceptual review, where the reviewer leaves a comment
* `Concept (N)ACK`, meaning "I do (not) agree with the general goal of this pull
request",
* `Approach (N)ACK`, meaning `Concept ACK`, but "I do (not) agree with the
approach of this change".

A `NACK` needs to include a rationale why the change is not worthwhile.
NACKs without accompanying reasoning may be disregarded.

#### Code Review

After conceptual agreement on the change, code review can be provided. A review
begins with `ACK BRANCH_COMMIT`, where `BRANCH_COMMIT` is the top of the PR
branch, followed by a description of how the reviewer did the review. The
following language is used within pull request comments:

- "I have tested the code", involving change-specific manual testing in
addition to running the unit, functional, or fuzz tests, and in case it is
not obvious how the manual testing was done, it should be described;
- "I have not tested the code, but I have reviewed it and it looks
OK, I agree it can be merged";
- A "nit" refers to a trivial, often non-blocking issue.

Project maintainers reserve the right to weigh the opinions of peer reviewers
using common sense judgement and may also weigh based on merit. Reviewers that
have demonstrated a deeper commitment and understanding of the project over time
or who have clear domain expertise may naturally have more weight, as one would
expect in all walks of life.

Where a patch set affects consensus-critical code, the bar will be much
higher in terms of discussion and peer review requirements, keeping in mind that
mistakes could be very costly to the wider community. This includes refactoring
of consensus-critical code.

Where a patch set proposes to change the Bitcoin consensus, it must have been
discussed extensively on the mailing list and IRC, be accompanied by a widely
discussed BIP and have a generally widely perceived technical consensus of being
a worthwhile change based on the judgement of the maintainers.

### Finding Reviewers

As most reviewers are themselves developers with their own projects, the review
process can be quite lengthy, and some amount of patience is required. If you find
that you've been waiting for a pull request to be given attention for several
months, there may be a number of reasons for this, some of which you can do something
about:

- It may be because of a feature freeze due to an upcoming release. During this time,
only bug fixes are taken into consideration. If your pull request is a new feature,
it will not be prioritized until after the release. Wait for the release.
- It may be because the changes you are suggesting do not appeal to people. Rather than
nits and critique, which require effort and means they care enough to spend time on your
contribution, thundering silence is a good sign of widespread (mild) dislike of a given change
(because people don't assume *others* won't actually like the proposal). Don't take
that personally, though! Instead, take another critical look at what you are suggesting
and see if it: changes too much, is too broad, doesn't adhere to the
[developer notes](doc/developer-notes.md), is dangerous or insecure, is messily written, etc.
Identify and address any of the issues you find. Then ask e.g. on IRC if someone could give
their opinion on the concept itself.
- It may be because your code is too complex for all but a few people, and those people
may not have realized your pull request even exists. A great way to find people who
are qualified and care about the code you are touching is the
[Git Blame feature](https://help.github.com/articles/tracing-changes-in-a-file/). Simply
look up who last modified the code you are changing and see if you can find
them and give them a nudge. Don't be incessant about the nudging, though.
- Finally, if all else fails, ask on IRC or elsewhere for someone to give your pull request
a look. If you think you've been waiting for an unreasonably long time (say,
more than a month) for no particular reason (a few lines changed, etc.),
this is totally fine. Try to return the favor when someone else is asking
for feedback on their code, and the universe balances out.
- Remember that the best thing you can do while waiting is give review to others!


Backporting
-----------

Security and bug fixes can be backported from `master` to release
branches.
If the backport is non-trivial, it may be appropriate to open an
additional PR to backport the change, but only after the original PR
has been merged.
Otherwise, backports will be done in batches and
the maintainers will use the proper `Needs backport (...)` labels
when needed (the original author does not need to worry about it).

A backport should contain the following metadata in the commit body:

```
Github-Pull: #<PR number>
Rebased-From: <commit hash of the original commit>
```

Have a look at [an example backport PR](
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/16189).

Also see the [backport.py script](
https://github.com/bitcoin-core/bitcoin-maintainer-tools#backport).

Release Policy
--------------

The project leader is the release manager for each Bitcoin Core release.
The project leader is the release manager for each Vertcoin Core release.

Copyright
---------
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Copyright (c) 2009-2021 The Bitcoin Core developers
Copyright (c) 2009-2021 Bitcoin Developers
Copyright (c) 2011-2022 The Vertcoin Core developers

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
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