#
# README.developers
#
-# $Id$
-#
This file is intended to provide a few tips for anyone doing development on nmh.
Developers who learn things "the hard way" about the nmh codebase (as opposed to
a minimum of autoconf 2.54.
Most of the configure-related files are automatically generated. The only files
-you should need to manually edit are acconfig.h and configure.in. Don't, for
+you should need to manually edit are acconfig.h and configure.ac. Don't, for
instance, edit config.h.in. Though it is an input file from the point of view
of the users (and the configure script) it is an output file from the point of
view of the developers (and the autoconf script).
Note that the automatically generated autoconf files (such as config.h.in,
-stamp-h.in, and configure), are NOT kept in CVS. Thus, when you check out
-a CVS tree, you need to do the following things before you can build
+stamp-h.in, and configure), are NOT kept in git. Thus, when you check out
+a git tree, you need to run the autogen.sh script before you can build
anything:
- % autoheader
- % autoconf
- % date > stamp-h.in
+ % ./autogen.sh
-------------------
directory structure
Following is a list of nmh's directories along with a brief description of the
purpose of each one. Meanings are given for the abbreviations, but note that
these meanings are just informed guesses as to what the MH developers were
-thinking.
+thinking.
./
The top-level directory. Contains files like README and INSTALL.
Contains utility files for the `configure' process. Ordinarily nothing in
here needs to be messed with.
-doc/
+docs/
Contains more specialized documentation, such as this file and
the FAQ.
Contains all the input files that are processed to generate nmh's manual
pages.
-mts/
- "mts" stands for "Message Transfer Service". Source files specific to the
- different MTSs go in the subdirectories.
-
-mts/mmdf/ (deprecated)
- "mmdf" stands for "Multichannel Memorandum Distribution Facility". It is an
- alternative to sendmail used primarily on SCO UNIX.
-
-mts/sendmail/ (deprecated: handled by mts.conf)
- When nmh is configured --with-mts=sendmail, the files in this directory are
- used.
-
-mts/smtp/
- When nmh is configured to just talk to an SMTP server over TCP/IP, the
- source in this directory is compiled.
-
sbr/
"sbr" stands for "subroutine(s)". For the most part, each source file in
this directory contains a single function with the same name as the source
file. These functions are of general use and are called from throughout
- nmh.
+ nmh.
uip/
"uip" stands for "User Interface Programs". Most nmh commands have a file
<command>sbr.c which contains additional subroutines called from <command>.c
(which would contain not much else besides main()).
-zotnet/ (deprecated)
- Files in this hierarchy were either written by or moved here by UCI
- (University of California, Irvine) after they took over MH from the Rand
- Corporation. "Zot!" is the sound effect made by the anteater in the "B.C."
- comic strip when its tongue lashes out at ants. The anteater is UCI's
- official mascot. Not sure whether UCInet was once called ZotNet...
-
-zotnet/bboards/ (deprecated)
- UCI added Bulletin Board functionality to MH with the `bbc' command. This
- functionality has been removed from nmh but apparently files in this
- directory are still needed for other purposes.
-zotnet/mf/ (deprecated, now in sbr/)
- "mf" stands for "Mail Filter". The filtering in this case apparently refers
- to translation between different address and mailbox formats.
+---
+git
+---
-zotnet/mts/ (deprecated, now in sbr/)
- MTS code not specific to any single MTS apparently goes here.
+As of December 2010, nmh has switched to using git for revision control
+instead of CVS. While the topic of git is beyond the scope of this FAQ,
+to get started with git & nmh, you can run the following command to checkout
+the nmh repository:
-zotnet/tws/ (deprecated, now in sbr/)
- "tws" apparently stands for "time with structure", a rather odd phrase.
- This directory used to be the place for date and time manipulation code, but
- currently nothing in here is compiled. There are new, more portable
- versions of the key files in h/ and sbr/, and this directory will soon go
- away completely.
+ % git clone git://git.savannah.nongnu.org/nmh.git
-------------------------------------------------------
nmh conditionally uses a local definition with the same name as the OS function
(e.g. snprintf()). For other functions, developers need to avoid the OS
versions and always use the nmh-supplied function. Here is a list of such
-functions:
+functions:
OS function nmh-local version to use instead
=========== ================================
Then scp them across:
% scp -p nmh-1.0.4.tar.gz* youruser@dl.sv.nongnu.org:/releases/nmh/
-14. FIXME -- I suspect that at least some of the mailing lists here are not
- correct any more. Needs checking.
+14. Update the http://www.nongnu.org/nmh/ homepage. (It lives in the 'webpages
+ repository'; see https://savannah.nongnu.org/cvs/?group=nmh)
- Send an announcement to exmh-users@redhat.com, exmh-workers@redhat.com,
- mh-users@ics.uci.edu, and nmh-announce@mhost.com. If the release fixes
- significant security holes, also send an announcement to
- bugtraq@securityfocus.com. The exmh lists require you to be subscribed in
- order to post. Note that you don't need to post separately to comp.mail.mh,
- as the mh-users mailing list is apparently bidirectionally gatewayed to it.
+15. Add a news item to the savannah nmh page. You'll have to submit it first
+ and then separately approve it (under News->Manage).
+
+16. Send the release announcement email to the following places:
+ nmh-workers@nongnu.org
+ nmh-announce@nongnu.org
+ exmh-users@redhat.com
+ exmh-workers@redhat.com
+ mh-e-users@lists.sourceforge.net
+ mh-users@ics.uci.edu *or* comp.mail.mh (there is a bidirectional gateway)
+
+ If the release fixes significant security holes, also send an announcement
+ to bugtraq@securityfocus.com. The exmh lists require you to be subscribed
+ in order to post. Note that you don't need to post separately to
+ comp.mail.mh, as the mh-users mailing list is apparently bidirectionally
+ gatewayed to it.
Preferably, the announcement should contain the MD5 hash generated above,
- and should be PGP-signed. It should include the FTP URL for the tarball as
+ and should be PGP-signed. It should include the URL for the tarball as
well as the URL of the website. It should contain a brief summary of
visible changes, as well as the URL of the cvsweb diff page that would show
- a detailed list of changes. The changes between 1.0.3 and 1.0.4 would be
+ a detailed list of changes. The changes between 1.2 and 1.3 would be
shown by:
- http://www.mhost.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb/nmh/ChangeLog?r1=1.40&r2=1.71
+ http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/nmh/ChangeLog?root=nmh&r1=1.215&r2=1.254.2.13
-15. Add a news item to the savannah nmh page. You'll have to submit it first
- and then separately approve it (under News->Manage).
-
-16. Update the http://www.nongnu.org/nmh/ homepage. (It lives in the 'webpages
- repository'; see https://savannah.nongnu.org/cvs/?group=nmh)
projects / mmh / blobdiff