Start writing the contribution guidelines
kaiyou
5 years ago
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Project guidelines
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==================
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Why these guidelines
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--------------------
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This page is written as an evolving memo of the main development guidelines
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that we follow or should follow as contributors. Some are basic development
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constraints, some are architectural opinions.
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If you contribute to this project, please read through them all and read the
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architectural documentation. Reviewers will check that your contributions
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match these guidelines amont other things.
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If you feel one of the guidelines is wrong or incomplete, please come and
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discuss on our messaging channel, then open a pull request including the
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change you would like to make and the reasons why in the description, we can
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then formally discuss it and review it following our usual review process.
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General
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-------
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What features should be included
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````````````````````````````````
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Mailu is a mail server. That said, mail works in an ecosystem and we should set
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clear boundaries on what Mailu is and what it is not. Beyond mail, we include
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features that mail is dependent on in some way, not the other way aroud.
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For instance, we include contact management and a dav service for synchronizing
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contacts, because sending mail is made easier with manageable contacts. We do
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not include a calendar management app or file sharing app, because mail is not
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dependent on them.
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Examples of features we will not include in Mailu are: calendars, documents and
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file sharing, full-sized groupware, instant messaging, password management. If
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you want and success in connecting those to Mailu and want to share, please
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write some useful documentation for others to do the same.
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What behavior is tolerated
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``````````````````````````
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Be respectful of others and others contributions. If you find a whole part of
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Maiu is terribly written or badly designed, please open an issue to discuss it
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calmly or come and have a chat on our channel.
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Any PR that just rewrites a huge part of the code by making mostly cosmetic or
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opinionated changes without prior discussion will be received with a polite
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"no".
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Architecture
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------------
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What setups should be supported
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```````````````````````````````
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Mailu supports out-of-the-box Docker Compose, Docker Swarm and Kubernetes
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environments. In those environments, it consists of many containers and
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supports hosting some of those containers in a separate environment.
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It supports hosting the data outside of the environment, in as many types of
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database servers as can be documented.
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It supports spreading and scaling the containers across hosts, except for
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those that share volumes. The intention is to stop sharing volumes between
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containers.
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What is a Mailu container
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`````````````````````````
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A Mailu container should provide one service and run one type of process only.
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A new Webmail should be in a separate container, a new antivirus or a new
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antispam should be in a separate container.
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A container is developped as a singled directory under the proper category in
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the main repository, the only exception being service containers that should
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only use official Docker images.
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A container image name must explicitely state the technology being used.
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Container versions are synchronized and all containers are always built at
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once. The service name associated in the Compose file or Kubernetes configuration
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should match the container image name.
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How configuration should be managed
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``````````````````````````````````
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Anything that is static should be managed using environment variables.
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Configuration files should be compiled at runtime by the container `start.py`
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script and all conditional syntax should be handled using Jinja logic.
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The `socrate` Python package should include relevant functions for container
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lifecycle management.
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Anything that is not static, i.e. able to change at runtime, either due to
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configuration in the admin ui or user behavior, should take advantage of the
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admin API. The `podop` package binds mail specific sofware (Postfix and Dovecot
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at the moment) to the admin API, other containers should use specific API calls.
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What traffic should go through the nginx container
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````````````````````````````````````````````````to
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All of it. All traffic, including HTTP(S), IMAP, SMTP, POP3, should go through
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the front container.
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More generally, the front container is responsible for routing that traffic based
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on the incoming port or the HTTP browsing logic. It handles protocol rewriting
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for security, authentication, rejects based on identity or IP address.
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How browsing should be managed
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``````````````````````````````
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The nginx container is responsible for routing all Web traffic. Web traffic should
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go directly from the nginx container to the target container.
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All traffic to a container should be accessed at ``/<container_name>`` for a given
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container. If multiple types of traffic are routed for a specific container, they
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should be accessed at ``/<container_name>/<traffic_type_a>`` and
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``/<container_name>/<traffic_type_b>``, for instance ``/admin/ui`` or
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``/admin/api``.
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Traffic directed to ``/`` should be routed to an endpoint on the admin container
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responsible for dynamically redirecting it.
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How authentication should work
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``````````````````````````````
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Authentication should be managed by the nginx container, based on the admin
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container API. The only exception is authentication to the admin container
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itself, that handled directly.
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Authentication API in the admin container should contain the logic for
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account management (allowed features, etc.) and rate limiting.
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Configuration
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------------
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Where should configuration files be stored
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````````````````````````````````````````
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Configuration files should ideally be stored in the most standard place for the
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tool being configured. For instance, if the tool usually accepts configuration
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files in ``/etc``, then configuration should be written there.
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Should we use default configuration
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``````````````````````````````````
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Some tools ship with default configuration, that handles the standard behavior.
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Using this configuration is prone to later changes and unexpected side effects.
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We should always provide all required configuration, including the base files,
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and not rely on default configuration files form the distribution.
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For that reason, in case the tool looks for specific files and include them
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automatically, we should overwrite them or delete them.
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How should configuration be overridden
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`````````````````````````````````````
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Some containers support configuration override. For this feature, we should
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ideally look for conditional configuration inclusion in the configuration syntax
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and use it. If the tool supports multiple methods of overrides, we should use
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the one that supports overriding the more configuration.
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In case the tool does not support conditional inclusion, we can add the
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override logic in the `start.py` script.
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How much should configuration be documented
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``````````````````````````````````````````
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We should not keep default documentation included by the distribution when
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providing configuration files.
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We should organize configuration files in section relevant to the type of things
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we configure.
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We should add comments, and point to Github issues or public documentation when
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required, in order to make our choices explicit.
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Coding
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------
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Coding standards
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````````````````
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All Python code should comply with PEP-8. We should review our code using
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pylint.
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We should comply with architectural recommendation from the Flask
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documentation.
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Models and database
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```````````````````
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All model classes should only use generic types that are compatible with most
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supported database backends.
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No database specific configuration should be included in the models, no table
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name should be forced and no schema specifics should be configured. These
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should be handled by the migration scripts and only used when absolutely
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necessary.
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Updating the dependencies
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`````````````````````````
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Every major change to the admin Python code should be preceded by an upgrade
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of the dependencies. The dependency upgrade should be tested then provided
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as a separate PR before the actual changes.
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