Contributing to Curvine

August 7, 2025 ยท View on GitHub

We welcome contributions to Curvine in many areas, and encourage new contributors to get involved. We believe people like you would make Curvine a great product.

Here are some areas where you can help:

  • Testing Curvine with existing distributed cache system operations and reporting issues for any bugs or performance issues
  • Contributing code to support additional storage backends, file system features, and data types that are not currently supported
  • Contribute code to support data read/write acceleration in multiple scenarios such as AI, big data, and multi-cloud, while being compatible with various computing engines and AI infrastructure
  • Reviewing pull requests and helping to test new features for correctness and performance
  • Improving documentation and examples
  • Adding new language bindings and client libraries
  • Enhancing monitoring, metrics, and observability features

Finding issues to work on

We maintain a list of good first issues in GitHub here. Look for issues labeled with:

  • good first issue - Suitable for new contributors
  • help wanted - Issues that need community help
  • bug - Bug reports that need fixing
  • enhancement - Feature requests and improvements

Reporting issues

We use GitHub issues for bug reports and feature requests. When reporting an issue, please include:

For Bug Reports:

  • Description: Clear description of the bug
  • Steps to reproduce: Detailed steps to reproduce the issue
  • Expected behavior: What you expected to happen
  • Actual behavior: What actually happened
  • Environment: OS, Curvine version, configuration details
  • Logs: Relevant error messages and logs
  • Screenshots: If applicable

For Feature Requests:

  • Description: Clear description of the feature
  • Use case: Why this feature would be useful
  • Proposed solution: Your ideas for implementation (optional)

Development Setup

Prerequisites

  • Rust 1.86+
  • NPM 9+ (for web UI development)
  • Maven 3.8+ (for Java client)
  • JDK: 1.8+
  • Protobuf 3.x
  • LLVM 12+
  • FUSE libfuse2 or libfuse3 development packages
  • Python 3.7+

Building from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/CurvineIO/curvine.git
cd curvine

# Build the project
./build/make all

# The built artifacts will be in build/dist/

Running Tests

# Run Rust tests
cargo test

# Run integration tests
cargo test --test integration_tests

# Run benchmarks
cargo bench

Code Style and Guidelines

Rust Code

  • Follow Rust coding conventions
  • Use cargo fmt to format code
  • Use cargo clippy for linting
  • Write unit tests for new functionality
  • Add integration tests for complex features

Commit Messages

  • Use conventional commit format
  • Start with type: feat:, fix:, docs:, style:, refactor:, test:, chore:
  • Provide clear, descriptive commit messages
  • Reference issue numbers when applicable
  • Commit convention

Pull Request Guidelines

  • Create feature branches from main
  • Keep PRs focused and reasonably sized
  • Include tests for new functionality
  • Update documentation as needed
  • Ensure all CI checks pass

Architecture Overview

Curvine follows a distributed architecture with the following components:

  • Master Node: Manages metadata and coordinates operations
  • Worker Nodes: Handle data storage and processing
  • Client Libraries: Provide APIs for different languages
  • Web UI: Management interface for monitoring and administration

Testing Guidelines

Unit Tests

  • Write tests for all new functionality
  • Aim for high test coverage
  • Use meaningful test names and descriptions

Integration Tests

  • Test component interactions
  • Verify end-to-end workflows
  • Test error conditions and edge cases

Performance Tests

  • Benchmark critical paths
  • Monitor for performance regressions
  • Test with realistic data sizes

Documentation

Code Documentation

  • Document public APIs with Rust doc comments
  • Include usage examples
  • Explain complex algorithms and design decisions

User Documentation

  • Update README.md for new features
  • Add configuration examples
  • Document troubleshooting steps

Asking for Help

  • GitHub Discussions: Use GitHub Discussions for general questions
  • GitHub Issues: For bug reports and feature requests
  • Discord: Join our community channels for real-time discussions
  • Email: [curvine86@gmail.com] Contact the maintainers for sensitive issues

Regular Community Meetings

The Curvine contributors hold regular video calls where new and current contributors are welcome to ask questions and coordinate on issues they are working on.

Meeting details and schedule will be announced through:

  • GitHub Discussions
  • Project mailing list
  • Community chat channels

Code of Conduct

This project follows the Apache Software Foundation Code of Conduct. Please be respectful and inclusive in all interactions.

License

By contributing to Curvine, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Getting Started for New Contributors

  1. Fork the repository on GitHub
  2. Clone your fork locally
  3. Set up the development environment following the setup instructions
  4. Pick an issue labeled with good first issue
  5. Create a feature branch for your work
  6. Make your changes following the coding guidelines
  7. Write tests for your changes
  8. Submit a pull request with a clear description

We appreciate all contributions, big and small. Thank you for helping make Curvine better!

For more detailed information about specific areas of contribution, see: