[dpdk-dev] [PATCH v2] doc: update contribution guideline for dependent work

[Ferruh Yigit]

Changing some part of the libraries but not updating all dependent code
cause maintenance problems.

The update in the contribution guide practically suggest updating all
dependent code.

With the counter argument that sometimes it is not possible to know
details of the dependent code and this prevents improvements, an
exception left for the cases dependent code requires special expertise,
for those cases it is possible left dependent code unchanged with the
condition to not break the existing code. The dependent code maintainer
should do the required update later.

For the cases it is possible to update the dependent code but it
requires extra work, it is expected from author of the original patch to
do that extra work and update dependencies.

Signed-off-by: Ferruh Yigit <ferruh.yigit at intel.com>
Acked-by: John McNamara <john.mcnamara at intel.com>

---
This is a process related update, cc'ing tech board for more comment.
Cc: techboard at dpdk.org

v2: reworded as suggested.
---
 doc/guides/contributing/patches.rst | 3 +++
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/doc/guides/contributing/patches.rst b/doc/guides/contributing/patches.rst
index 64408e788..6ed43be04 100644
--- a/doc/guides/contributing/patches.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/contributing/patches.rst
@@ -153,6 +153,9 @@ Make your planned changes in the cloned ``dpdk`` repo. Here are some guidelines
 * Don't break compilation between commits with forward dependencies in a patchset.
   Each commit should compile on its own to allow for ``git bisect`` and continuous integration testing.
 
+* If changes effect other parts of the project, update all those parts as well unless updating requires special knowledge.
+  For the cases where not all the effected code is updated, the submitter should ensure that changes don't break existing code.
+
 * Add tests to the the ``app/test`` unit test framework where possible.
 
 * Add documentation, if relevant, in the form of Doxygen comments or a User Guide in RST format.
-- 
2.14.3