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Using Git

Git can have a bit of a steep learning curve, stick with it as it is worth learning the basics2 at least.

If you want to help develop LibreNMS and haven't really used Git before then this quick primer will help you get started.

Some assumptions:

Replace yourusername with your GitHub username.

Fork LibreNMS repo

You do this directly within GitHub, click the 'Fork' button near the top right.

If you are associated with multiple organisations within GitHub then you might need to select which account you want to push the fork to.

Prepare your git environment

These are the defaults that are recommended.

git config branch.autosetupmerge true
git config --global user.name "John Doe"
git config --global user.email [email protected]

Clone the repo

Ok so now that you have forked the repo, you now need to clone it to your local install where you can then make the changes you need and submit them back.

cd /opt/
git clone [email protected]:/yourusername/librenms.git

Add Upstream repo

To be able to pull in changes from the master LibreNMS repo you need to have it setup on your system.

git remote add upstream https://github.com/librenms/librenms.git

Now you have two configured remotes:

  • origin: This is your repository, you can push and pull changes here.
  • upstream: This is the main LibreNMS repository and you can only pull changes.

Workflow guide

As you become more familiar you may find a better workflow that fits your needs, until then this should be a safe workflow for you to follow.

Before you start work on a new branch / feature. Make sure you are up to date.

cd /opt/librenms
git checkout master
git pull upstream master
git push origin master

At this stage it's worth pointing out that we have some standard checks that are performed when you submit a pull request, you can run these checks yourself to be sure no issues are present in your pull request.

Now, create a new branch to do you work on. It's important that you do this as you are then able to work on more than one feature at a time and submit them as pull requests individually. If you did all your work in the master branch then it gets a bit messy!

You need to give your branch a name. If an issue is open (or closed on GitHub) then you can use that, in this example if the issue number is 123 then we will use issue-123. If a post exists on the community forum then you can use the post id like community-123. You're also welcome to use any arbitrary name for your branch but try and make it relevant to what the branch is.

git checkout -b issue-123

Now, code away. Make the changes you need, test, change and test again :) When you are ready to submit the updates as a pull request then commit away.

git add path/to/new/files/or/folders
git commit -a -m 'Added feature to do X, Y and Z'
git push origin issue-123

If you need to rebase against master then you can do this with:

git pull upstream master
git push origin issue-123

If after do this you get some merge conflicts then you need to resolve these before carrying on.

Please try to squash all commits into one, this isn't essential as we can do this when we merge but it would be helpful to do this before you submit your pull request.

Now you will be ready to submit a pull request from within GitHub. To do this, go to your GitHub page for the LibreNMS repo. Now select the branch you have just been working on (issue-123) from the drop down to the left and then click 'Pull Request'. Fill in the details to describe the work you have done and click 'Create pull request'.

Thanks for your first pull request :)

Ok, that should get you started on the contributing path. If you have any other questions then stop by our Discord Server

Hints and tips

Undo last commit

git reset --soft 'HEAD^'

Remove specific commit

git revert <HASH>

Restore deleted file

git checkout $(git rev-list -n 1 HEAD -- "$file")^ -- "$file"

Merge last two commits

git rebase --interactive HEAD~2

In the text file that opens, change the last commit to squash from pick then save an exit.

For more tips take a look at Oh shit, git!