Some general guidelines for new smartmontools developers

Table of Contents

1. Documentation
2. Code
3. Collaboration

Documentation

• Keep the documentation current, by updating these files:
  • smartctl.8.in
  • smartd.8.in
  • smartd.conf.5.in
• Add your name to the AUTHORS file
• Update the CHANGELOG file (at the top) each time that you check in changes to SVN

Code

• If you are adding substantial code or new code, add yourself as a copyright holder to the top of the relevant file(s).
• Please comment your code enough to make it understandable to others.
• Please keep in mind that smartmontools runs on many different platforms, so one should avoid platform and operating-system-specific code whenever possible. If you are concerned about the portability of your code, please write to the developers list to ask for help.

Collaboration

• Subscribe to the ​smartmontools developers mailing list
• Your code should in general be checked directly into SVN. If you are concerned that your changes might have a broad impact, then it is a good idea to circulate an email about it to the developers mailing list above, and perhaps to also circulate your changes in the form of a patch.