diff --git a/src/docs/feedback.diviner b/src/docs/feedback.diviner new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..0fa1f3f323 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/docs/feedback.diviner @@ -0,0 +1,59 @@ +@title Give Feedback! Get Support! +@group intro + +How to give us feedback, report bugs, and request features, and get support for +problems with Phabricator. + += Overview = + +We'd love to hear your feedback about Phabricator, whether it's good or bad. We +stay on top of bug reports and fix many of them within a day or two (and +sometimes within hours). The Phabricator roadmap is determined in large part by +user feedback and feature requests. Your feedback matters, will often have an +immediate short-term impact, and the project leads are actively listening to it. + +We also try to provide a very high level of free support. If you have trouble +with anything or just don't understand how something works, ask us! We're happy +to help, and it's usually valuable for us because we can prevent the problem +in the code (or document it better) so future users don't hit it. + +Some day we will no doubt grow callous and distant, but for now the community +is small enough that we can provide a high level of service and support to +everyone and still have plenty of time to write code. + +If you're in the SF bay area, we're also happy to come onsite and help you set +things up, answer any questions you might have, or just hang out and tell +Facebook war stories. + +The best ways to provide feedback are: + += Maniphest = + +The best way to report bugs and request features is through +[[http://secure.phabricator.com/maniphest/task/create/ | Maniphest]]. Just file +the bug/request and we'll handle everything else. (If it's time-sensitive or +blocking you, feel free to assign it to `epriestley`.) Feel free to file support +requests, general questions, or random feedback this way, too. + += GitHub Issues = + +You can also use +[[https://github.com/facebook/phabricator/issues/new | GitHub Issues]] if you +prefer. + += IRC = + +We're active in #phabricator on FreeNode, and it's the best place to ask +questions and get support. + += Email = + +You can email us at `btrahan@phacility.com` and `epriestley@phacility.com`. + += Next Steps = + +Continue by: + + - Filing a bug of feature request in + [[http://secure.phabricator.com/maniphest/task/create/ | Maniphest]]; or + - contributing to Phabricator with @{article:Contibutor Introduction}. diff --git a/src/docs/userguide/audit.diviner b/src/docs/userguide/audit.diviner new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..d4be348816 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/docs/userguide/audit.diviner @@ -0,0 +1,107 @@ +@title Audit User Guide +@group userguide + +Guide to the Audit (post-push code review) tool and workflow. + += Overview = + +Phabricator supports two code review workflows, "review" (pre-push) and +"audit" (post-push). To understand the differences between the two, see +@{article:User Guide: Review vs Audit}. + +This document summarizes the post-push "audit" workflow implemented by the +creatively-named //Audit// tool. + +NOTE: The audit workflow is new, give us feedback about it! See +@{article:Give Feedback! Get Support!}. + += How Audit Works = + +Using auditing allows you to push and deploy code without waiting for code +review, while still doing code review eventually. The Audit tool primarily keeps +track of two things: + + - **Commits** and their audit state (like "Not Audited", "Approved", or + "Concern Raised"). + - **Audit Requests** which ask a user (or some other entity) to audit a + commit. These can be triggered in a number of ways (see below). + +In the Audit tool's home screen (at `/audit/`) and on the homepage you can see +commits and requests that require your action: + + - **Required Audits** are open audit requests that require you, a project + you are a member of, or a package you own to audit a commit. An audit + request is closed when you approve the associated commit. + - **Problem Commits** are commits you authored which someone has raised a + concern about in audit. Problem commits go away when you satisfy all the + auditors and get them to "Approve" the commit. + +For example: + + - Evan creates commit `abcdef1234` and pushes it to the remote. + - This triggers an audit request to Bob through some mechanism (see below for + a description of trigger mechanisms). + - Later, Bob logs into Phabricator and sees the audit request on his homepage. + - Bob clicks through and examines the commit. He notices a problem, so he + selects "Raise Concern" and describes the issue in a comment. + - Evan receives an email that Bob has raised a concern about his commit. He + opts not to deal with it immediately. + - Later, Evan logs into Phabricator and sees the commit on his homepage + under "Problem Commits". + - Evan resolves the issue somehow (e.g., by discussing it with Bob, or fixing + it in another commit). + - Now satisfied, Bob "Accepts" the original commit. + - This causes the request to disappear from Bob's queue, and the commit to + disappear from Evan's queue. + += Audit Triggers = + +Audit requests can be triggered in a number of ways: + + - If you put `Auditors: username1, username2` in your commit message, it will + trigger an audit request to those users when you push it to a tracked + branch. + - You can create rules in Herald that trigger audits based on properties + of the commit -- like the files it touches, the text of the change, the + author, etc. + - You can create an audit request for yourself by commenting on any commit. + - You can create an Owners package and select "Enable Auditing" (this is an + advanced feature which is only likely to be useful for very large teams). + += Audits in Small Teams = + +If you have a small team and don't need complicated trigger rules, you can set +up a simple audit workflow like this: + + - Create a new Project, "Code Audits". + - Create a new global Herald rule for Commits, which triggers an audit by + the "Code Audits" project for every commit where "Differential Revision" + "does not exist" (this will allow you to transition partly or fully to + review later if you want). + - Have every engineer join the "Code Audits" project. + +This way, everyone will see an audit request for every commit, but it will be +dismissed if anyone approves it. Effectively, this enforces the rule "every +commit should have //someone// look at it". + +Once your team gets bigger, you can refine this ruleset so that developers see +only changes that are relevant to them. + += Audit Tips = + + - When viewing a commit, audit requests you are responsible for are + highlighted. You are responsible for a request if it's a user request + and you're that user, or if it's a project request and you're a member + of the project, or if it's a package request and you're a package owner. + Any action you take will update the state of all the requests you're + responsible for. + - You can leave inline comments by clicking the line numbers in the diff. + - You can leave a comment across multiple lines by dragging across the line + numbers. + - Inline comments are initially saved as drafts. They are not submitted until + you submit a comment at the bottom of the page. + - Press "?" to view keyboard shortcuts. + += Next Steps = + + - Learn more about Herald at @{article:Herald User Guide}. diff --git a/src/docs/userguide/differential.diviner b/src/docs/userguide/differential.diviner new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..5f1ee60b20 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/docs/userguide/differential.diviner @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ +@title Differential User Guide +@group userguide + +Guide to the Differential (pre-push code review) tool and workflow. + += Overview = + +Phabricator supports two code review workflows, "review" (pre-push) and +"audit" (post-push). To understand the differences between the two, see +@{article:User Guide: Review vs Audit}. + +This document summarizes the pre-push "review" workflow implemented by the tool +//Differential//. + += How Review Works = + +Code review in Phabricator is a lightweight, asynchronous web-based process. If +you are familiar with GitHub, it is similar to how pull requests work: + + - An author prepares a change to a codebase, then sends it for review. They + specify who they want to review it (additional users may be notified as + well, see below). The change itself is called a "Differential Revision". + - The reviewers receive an email asking them to review the change. + - The reviewers inspect the change and either discuss it, approve it, or + request changes (e.g., if they identify problems or bugs). + - In response to feedback, the author may update the change (e.g., fixing + the bugs or addressing the problems). + - Once everything is satisfied, some reviewer accepts the change and the + author pushes it to the upstream. + +The Differential home screen shows two sets of revisions: + + - **Action Required** is revisions you are the author of or a reviewer for, + which you need to review, revise, or push. + - **Waiting on Others** is revisions you are the author of or a reviewer for, + which someone else needs to review, revise, or push. + += Creating Revisions = + +The preferred way to create revisions in Differential is with `arc` +(see @{article:Arcanist User Guide}). You can also create revisions from the +web interface, by navigating to Differential, pressing the "Create Revision" +button, and pasting a diff in. + += Herald Rules = + +If you're interested in keeping track of changes to certain parts of a codebase +(e.g., maybe changes to a feature or changes in a certain language, or there's +just some intern who you don't trust) you can write a Herald rule to +automatically CC you on any revisions which match rules (like content, author, +files affected, etc.) + += Differential Tips = + + - You can leave inline comments by clicking the line numbers in the diff. + - You can leave a comment across multiple lines by dragging across the line + numbers. + - Inline comments are initially saved as drafts. They are not submitted until + you submit a comment at the bottom of the page. + - Press "?" to view keyboard shortcuts. + += Next Steps = + + - Read the FAQ at @{article:Differential User Guide: FAQ}; or + - learn about handling large changesets at + @{article:Differential User Guide: Large Changes}; or + - learn about test plans at @{article:Differential User Guide: Test Plans}; or + - learn more about Herald at @{article:Herald User Guide}. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/src/docs/userguide/differential_faq.diviner b/src/docs/userguide/differential_faq.diviner index 5781284a81..406076bfcc 100644 --- a/src/docs/userguide/differential_faq.diviner +++ b/src/docs/userguide/differential_faq.diviner @@ -40,3 +40,23 @@ If authors are being jerks about this (making sweeping changes as soon as they get an accept), solve the problem socially by telling them to stop being jerks. Unless you've configured additional layers of enforcement, there's nothing stopping them from silently changing the code before pushing it, anyway. + += How can I enable syntax highlighting? = + +You need to install and configure **Pygments**. Consult the configuration file +for instructions. + += What do the whitespace options mean? = + +Most of these are pretty straightforward, but "Ignore Most" is not: + + - **Show All**: Show all whitespace. + - **Ignore Trailing**: Ignore changes which only affect trailing whitespace. + - **Ignore Most**: Ignore changes which only affect leading or trailing + whitespace (but not whitespace changes between non-whitespace characters) + in files which are not marked as having significant whitespace. + In those files, show whitespace changes. By default, Python (.py) and + Haskell (.lhs, .hs) are marked as having significant whitespace, but this + can be changed in the `differential.whitespace-matters` configuration + setting. + - **Ignore All**: Ignore all whitespace changes in all files. diff --git a/src/docs/userguide/reviews_vs_audit.diviner b/src/docs/userguide/reviews_vs_audit.diviner new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..0ccdef787f --- /dev/null +++ b/src/docs/userguide/reviews_vs_audit.diviner @@ -0,0 +1,123 @@ +@title User Guide: Review vs Audit +@group userguide + +Discusses the differences between Review and Audit workflows. + += Overview = + +Phabricator supports two similar but separate code review workflows: + + - **Differential** is used for pre-push code review, called "reviews" + elsewhere in the documentation. You can learn more in + @{article:Differential User Guide}. + - **Audit** is used for post-push code reviews, called "audits" elsewhere in + the documentation. You can learn more in @{article:Audit User Guide}. + +(By "pre-push", this document means review which blocks deployment of changes, +while "post-push" means review which happens after changes are deployed or +en route to deployment.) + +Both are lightweight, asynchronous web-based workflows where reviewers/auditors +inspect code independently, from their own machines -- not synchronous review +sessions where authors and reviewers meet in person to discuss changes. + += Advantages of Review = + +Pre-push review is significantly more powerful than post-push auditing. You +gain these advantages by requiring review //before// changes may be pushed: + + - Authors have a strong incentive to craft small, well-formed changes that + will be readily understood, to explain them adequately, and to provide + appropriate test plans, test coverage and context. + - Reviewers have a real opportunity to make significant suggestions about + architecture or approach in review. These suggestions are less attractive + to adopt from audit, and may be much more difficult to adopt if significant + time has passed between push and audit. + - Authors have a strong incentive to fix problems and respond to feedback + received during review, because it blocks them. Authors have a much weaker + incentive to address problems raised during audit. + - Authors can ask reviewers to apply and verify fixes before they are pushed. + - Authors can easily pursue feedback early, and get course corrections on + approach or direction. + - Reviewers are better prepared to support a given change once it is in + production, having already had a chance to become familiar with and reason + through the code. + - Reviewers are able to catch problems which automated tests may have + difficulty detecting. For example, human reviewers are able to reason about + performance problems that tests can easily miss because they run on + small datasets and stub out service calls. + - Communicating about changes //before// they happen generally leads to better + preparation for their effects. + +The theoretical cost of review is that it slows down development by introducing +a blocking step into the process and generally wastes developer time that could +be better spent developing. This is less true than it appears, because the costs +are low and pay for themselves in other ways: + + - Differential is fast and provides a very lightweight process for submitting + code for review and for performing review. + - Authors are free to pursue other changes while code is being reviewed. With + appropriate change management (like local branching in Git) they can even + pursue dependent changes easily. Authors should rarely if ever be blocked on + review, even though an individual change is blocked until it is approved. + - The workflow as a whole is lightweight and, with skillful reviewers, + effective at identifying bugs. It is generally faster to fix bugs in review + than in production. + - More importantly, it is effective at identifying problems with architecture + and approach. These are free to fix in review ("don't do this, it is a bad + idea") and may be very time consuming to fix in production. No matter how + good your test suite is, it can't identify solutions which are poor because + of missing context, or miscommunication, or which are simply bad ideas. + - Changes which are too large or too complicated to be reviewed quickly are + often //too large and too complicated, period//. Nearly all large changes + can be split apart into small, independent pieces which are easier to + understand and test. Review tends to encourage smaller and better-factored + changes. + - Review can be integrated with static analysis which can detect (and, + in many cases, correct) mechanical problems with code like syntax, + formatting, naming conventions, style problems, misspellings, and some + program errors. This reduces the amount of time it takes to review code, + and means reviewers can focus on actual problems with the code rather than + minor stylistic issues. + - Review creates a permanent record of context and intent which explains why + a change was made, generally with much more information than commit messages + alone (authors have an incentive to properly explain a change when sending + it for review). This makes it easier to understand code later, and to + respond appropriately when it breaks. + - With `arc patch`, it is roughly as easy to pull a change out of Differential + as it is to pull it out of the remote. + += Advantages of Audit = + +Post-push review is significantly better than nothing. If you are unpersuaded +by the arguments above (or work on a team that is unswayed), audits provide +some of the benefits of review with less friction: + + - Audits are driven entirely by Phabricator, users do not need to install + `arc`. + - Audits require little adjustment to existing workflows and little training. + - Audits are completely nonblocking, and send fewer notifications than review. + - Even if you have review, audits can be useful as a supplement to keep tabs + on lower-importance changes or raise issues that are discovered after + review. + += Recommendations = + +Here are super biased recommendations from developers of code review software: + + - If you can do review, do it. Supplement it with audits for less important + changes as your organization scales. + - If you can't do review immediately, set up audits and try to transition + toward review. Some types of changes (like tentative changes or requests + for feedback about code) are a naturally good fit for review and can serve + as a stepping stone toward broader acceptance. Greater familiarity with the + toolset may also foster more acceptance toward review, and the value of + review may become more obvious as the organization scales (e.g., once you + get interns). + - If you aren't interested in review, just do audits. You can always + change your mind later. But consider review! It's really good, we promise! + += Next Steps = + + - Learn more about reviews in @{article:Differential User Guide}; or + - learn more about audits in @{article:Audit User Guide}.