We'd love to accept your patches and contributions to this project. There are just a few small guidelines you need to follow.
Refer to the GraphQL Guide to go through a setup. Optionally, you can also consult docker compose documentation.
We require all commits in a PR to contain a Signed-off-by line which can be
added by using the -s flag of git commit. This is to enforce
a Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO).
All submissions, including submissions by project members, require review. We use GitHub pull requests for this purpose. Consult GitHub Help for more information on using pull requests.
We also require two reviewers on every PR as this follows good security practices. For reasoning, see CNCF Supply Chain Best Practices.
Please refer to the Code of Conduct for full details.
The project is managed via Github. For contributors that would like to find a good place to start, take a look at the "good first issues" and "help wanted" labels (filter link here).
We also have a slack channel that you can reach us at and ask questions!
We are excited that you want to contribute to GUAC! This contributor ladder outlines different contributor roles within the project, along with responsibilities and privileges that come with them.
Since GUAC is a complex project, there are 5 topic areas of interest:
- Ingestion: ingest software security metadata. Needs to write parsers for documents, maintain ingestion logic, write new collectors, etc.
- GraphQL: define the GraphQL interface used between ingestion pipeline and backend, and between backend and GUAC-based applications and front-ends.
- Backends: define efficient code to interface with database backends (Neo4j, etc.).
- Front-end: GUAC visualisation libraries, Javascript, CSS
- Clients: GUAC CLI, CI Checks, Policy Engines, IDE Plugins, etc.
The contribution ladder is summarized in the table below:
| Role | Responsibilities | Requirements | Privileges | GitHub access level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community Participant | Follow Google's Open Source Community Guidelines | N/A | N/A | Read (default) |
| Reviewer | Review contributions from other members | Prove technical expertise in at least one GUAC topic area | Can approve PRs | Write |
| Owner | Set direction and priorities for topic area. Approval of contributions | Deep technical expertise in topic area. Proven record of reviews and authorship. | Invitation to owner&maintainers only channels | Write |
| Maintainer | Set direction and priorities of project. Participate in weekly syncs | Expertise in 3 out of the 5 topic areas | (almost) complete repository access | Maintain |
Each level of the ladder is also described in more details below.
Each new contributor to GUAC starts at this level. There is no longer a formal requirement to register desire to contribute in issue #1.
There are no requirements and no privileges. Every community participant can create issues, fork the repository, create PRs, add comments to issues and PRs.
Once a community participant has demonstrated expertise in one GUAC topic area, owners and/or maintainers can propose graduating the community participant to the Reviewer role, upon a maintainer majority vote.
A reviewer will be responsible of reviewing contributions from other contributors that touch the corresponding topic area. They should ensure that the PRs are adequately tested, follow the guidelines for the specific topic area.
A reviewer with significant review history and proven record of authorship in a specific GUAC topic area can be promoted to Owner status, upon a maintainer majority vote.
The Owner is in full control over the specific topic area. They are expected to set direction and priorities, resolve technical trade-offs, prioritize between adding new features and handling technical debt. As such, they must show a deep understanding of technical problems involved in this area.
Owners are invited to the GUAC owners and maintainers Slack channel.
Owners will be added to CODEOWNERS file, so they will be notified of PRs that
touch their area of interest.
An owner that gains a deep understanding of GUAC architecture and design and can prove this by being an OWNER in at least 3 topic areas will be promoted to maintainer, after a n-1 approval vote from the other maintainers, according to the processes specified in the governance document.
A maintainer has almost full access to the repository and is invited to all maintainer meetings, where they can contribute input that will set direction and priorities of the entire project. They must have ability to commit to participating to at least the weekly maintainer sync meetings (currently 2 meetings totalling up to 2 hours every week).
A maintainer might be required to work with GUAC clients, thus they might be required to sign NDAs.
The GUAC governance document also details the role of technical advisory member, which is offered to members of the community that have provided valuable input. The technical advisory members have a consulting role and are the only role without an activity requirement.
Each role in the contribution ladder requires maintaining active contributions at the corresponding level. Inactivity is harmful to the project, so maintainers can decide to remove privileges from inactive contributors, after a majority vote. Inactivity is defined as periods longer than 3 months during which no contribution is being done.
Contributors also have the option of stepping down voluntarily, by contacting the maintainers when circumstances affect future contribution potential. For highly active contributors that completely step away from the project, we will create an emeritus process.
GUAC contributors are happy to help you advance along the contributor ladder!
| Reviewer | Area | Vote |
|---|---|---|
| mrizzi | Backends (ent) | issues/1310 |