🤝 Contribution Guidelines for Arm Optimized Routines

June 6, 2025 · View on GitHub

Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Arm Optimized Routines project! This document outlines the general guidelines for contributing to the project. Please note that each sub-project may have its own specific contribution requirements detailed in their respective README.md files.

📁 Sub-Project Specific Guidelines

Each sub-project within this repository is maintained independently and may have its own contribution rules. If a README.md file exists in the sub-directory you are contributing to, please ensure you follow its guidelines.

  • Contributor Assignment Agreement: If you are not employed by Arm, you must sign an Assignment Agreement before your contributions can be accepted. Please refer to the contributor-agreement.pdf file for instructions.

  • Copyright and Licensing: All code contributions must be copyright owned by Arm Limited. Ensure that each source file includes the appropriate copyright notice and license identifier.

🛠️ Build Guidelines

  • Dependencies: The build process should rely only on GNU Make, POSIX utilities (such as shell, awk, sed), and a C toolchain.

  • Compatibility: The build should succeed with the default configuration (config.mk.dist) and other supported configurations using both GCC and Clang toolchains. Avoid dependencies on recent toolchain features; new features should be optional and disable-able.

  • Configuration: Currently, there is no automated configuration system. Target-specific configurations should be managed via make variables in config.mk. This file serves as the user interface to the build system and should be well-documented and kept stable.

✅ Testing Guidelines

  • Platform Support: All tests must pass on AArch64 platforms. If your code behaves differently under certain configurations (e.g., different CFLAGS), ensure those configurations are tested accordingly.

  • New Symbols: Any new symbols introduced should be accompanied by appropriate test code. Ideally, benchmark code should also be provided to assess performance.

🧾 Commit Guidelines

  • Commit Messages: Write descriptive commit messages that avoid referencing internal Arm information (such as ticket numbers or internal discussions). If a decision is not obvious, document it in the commit message and source comments.

  • Tools and Scripts: If you used any tools or scripts to develop your code, consider adding them to the repository or at least mention them in your commit message.

  • Atomic Commits: Ensure that each commit represents a logically independent change. Avoid mixing unrelated changes in a single commit.

🎨 Coding Style

  • Formatting: Unless specified otherwise by the sub-project, use clang-format with the style configuration from the GCC contrib/ directory.

By adhering to these guidelines, you'll help maintain the quality and consistency of the Arm Optimized Routines project. We appreciate your contributions and look forward to collaborating with you!