TIP #16: Tcl Functional Areas for Maintainer Assignments
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TIP:	16
Title:	Tcl Functional Areas for Maintainer Assignments
Version:	$Revision: 1.48 $
Authors:	Don Porter <dgp@users.sourceforge.net>
	Daniel Steffen <das@users.sourceforge.net>
State:	Accepted
Type:	Process
Vote:	Done
Created:	Tue Nov 21 00:00:00 UTC 2000
Abstract
This document proposes a division of Tcl's source code into functional areas so that each area may be assigned to one or more maintainers.
Background
TCT procedures (see [0]) call for each maintainer to be responsible for a portion of Tcl's source code. Certain portions of Tcl's source code are naturally associated with certain other portions. (For example, the implementation of a command is intimately related to the documentation for that command.) Establishing a natural division of Tcl's source code into units needing maintainers is a useful preliminary effort toward a public call for volunteer maintainers.
See [24] for the mapping of these functional areas to maintainers.
Rationale
When someone reports a bug, or offers a patch, he will want to be able to determine what maintainers have oversight over his report. This implies that we seek a simple mapping from something he knows about his bug or patch to the set of maintainers.
For a patch, the submitter certainly knows what file(s) she is patching. For a bug report, the reporter is likely to know what command or C function he believes to be buggy. Fortunately, every C function or Tcl command (combined with the platform) can be associated with exactly one source code file, the file providing the definition of the C function, or the command procedure of the Tcl command. Thus, a mapping from source code file to maintainer is sufficient to complete the determination.
The source code file should not be the largest unit, however. Certain sets of files should each be gathered into a larger unit, all files in that unit with the same maintainer(s). Tcl's man pages already gather related routines and commands into one page of documentation. Using the modules implied by the man pages, and by the location of routines in particular source code files, a natural division of Tcl into minimal maintainer units follows in the Proposal section below.
It may be that some of these minimal units can be joined together into still larger related units. That is not necessary, though. We can just have the same maintainer(s) assigned to all the related minimal units.
Functional Areas
Tcl shall be divided into the following functional units, each to be assigned one or more maintainers:
Events
1.	Notifier - doc/CrtFileHdlr.3, doc/DoOneEvent.3, doc/Notifier.3, doc/Sleep.3, generic/tclNotify.c, macosx/tclMacOSXNotify.c, tests/notify.test, tests/unixNotfy.test, tests/winNotify.test, unix/tclUnixNotfy.c, unix/tclUnixEvent.c, win/tclWinNotify.c
2.	Event Loops - doc/bgerror.n, doc/update.n, doc/vwait.n, doc/BackgdErr.3, doc/Exit.3, generic/tclEvent.c, tests/event.test
3.	Timer Events - doc/after.n, doc/CrtTimerHdlr.3, doc/DoWhenIdle.3, generic/tclTimer.c, tests/timer.test
4.	Asynchronous Events - doc/Async.3, generic/tclAsync.c, tests/async.test
5.	Xt Based Notifier - unix/tclXtNotify.c, unix/tclXtTest.c
6.	Time Measurement - compat/gettod.c, compat/strftime.c, doc/clock.n, generic/tclClock.c, generic/tclGetDate.y, library/tzdata/*, tests/clock.test, tests/winTime.test, tools/loadICU.tcl, tools/makeTestCases.tcl, tools/tclZIC.tcl, unix/tclUnixTime.c, win/tclWinTime.c
Variables
7.	Variable Commands and Interfaces - doc/append.n, doc/array.n, doc/global.n, doc/lappend.n, doc/lset.n, doc/set.n, doc/unset.n, doc/upvar.n, doc/variable.n, doc/SetVar.3, doc/UpVar.3, generic/tclVar.c, tests/append.test, tests/lset.test, tests/set.test, tests/set-old.test, tests/upvar.test, tests/var.test
8.	Environment Variables - doc/Environment.3, generic/tclEnv.c, tests/env.test
9.	Linked C Variables - doc/LinkVar.3, generic/tclLink.c, tests/link.test
Objects
10.	Object System and Fundamental Object Types - doc/Backslash.3, doc/BoolObj.3, doc/Concat.3, doc/DoubleObj.3, doc/DString.3, doc/Encoding.3, doc/FindExec.3, doc/Hash.3, doc/IntObj.3, doc/Object.3, doc/ObjectType.3, doc/PrintDbl.3, doc/SplitList.3, doc/StringObj.3, doc/StrMatch.3, generic/tclEncoding.c, generic/tclHash.c, generic/tclObj.c, generic/tclStringObj.c, generic/tclUtil.c, library/encoding/*.enc, tools/encoding/*, tests/dstring.test, tests/encoding.test, tests/stringObj.test, tests/obj.test, tests/util.test
11.	Conversions From String - doc/GetInt.3, generic/tclGet.c, tests/get.test
12.	bytearray Object Type - doc/binary.n, doc/ByteArrObj.3, generic/tclBinary.c, tests/binary.test
13.	index Object Type - doc/GetIndex.3, doc/WrongNumArgs.3, generic/tclIndexObj.c, tests/indexObj.test
14.	list Object Type - doc/ListObj.3, generic/tclListObj.c, tests/listObj.test
15.	dict Object Type - doc/DictObj.3, doc/dict.n, generic/tclDictObj.c, tests/dict.test
Fundamental Built-in Commands
16.	A - H - doc/break.n, doc/case.n, doc/catch.n, doc/cd.n, doc/concat.n, doc/continue.n, doc/encoding.n, doc/error.n, doc/eval.n, doc/exit.n, doc/expr.n, doc/file.n, doc/for.n, doc/foreach.n, doc/format.n, generic/tclCmdAH.c, tests/cmdAH.test tests/case.test, tests/concat.test, tests/error.test, tests/eval.test, tests/foreach.test, tests/format.test, tests/for-old.test
17.	I - L - doc/if.n, doc/incr.n, doc/info.n, doc/join.n, doc/lindex.n, doc/linsert.n, doc/list.n, doc/llength.n, doc/lrange.n, doc/lreplace.n, doc/lsearch.n, doc/lsort.n, generic/tclCmdIL.c, tests/cmdIL.test, tests/if-old.test, tests/incr-old.test, tests/info.test, tests/join.test, tests/lindex.test, tests/linsert.test, tests/list.test, tests/llength.test, tests/lrange.test, tests/lreplace.test, tests/lsearch.test
18.	M - Z - doc/pwd.n, doc/regexp.n, doc/regsub.n, doc/rename.n, doc/return.n, doc/split.n, doc/string.n, doc/subst.n, doc/switch.n, doc/throw.n, doc/time.n, doc/try.n, doc/while.n, generic/tclCmdMZ.c, tests/cmdMZ.test tests/pwd.test, tests/rename.test, tests/split.test, tests/string.test, tests/subst.test, tests/switch.test, tests/while-old.test
19.	[[history]] - doc/history.n, doc/RecEvalObj.3, doc/RecordEval.3, generic/tclHistory.c, library/history.tcl, tests/history.test
20.	[[interp]] - doc/interp.n, doc/CrtSlave.3, doc/Limit.3, generic/tclInterp.c, tests/interp.test
21.	[[namespace]] - doc/Namespace.3, doc/namespace.n, generic/tclEnsemble.c, generic/tclNamesp.c, generic/tclResolve.c, tests/namespace.test, tests/namespace-old.test
22.	[[proc]] - doc/proc.n, doc/uplevel.n, generic/tclProc.c, generic/tclTestProcBodyObj.c, tests/proc.test, tests/proc-old.test, tests/uplevel.test
23.	[[scan]] - doc/scan.n, generic/tclScan.c, tests/scan.test
Channels
24.	Channel Commands - doc/close.n, doc/eof.n, doc/exec.n, doc/fblocked.n, doc/fconfigure.n, doc/fcopy.n, doc/flush.n, doc/gets.n, doc/open.n, doc/puts.n, doc/read.n, doc/seek.n, doc/socket.n, doc/tell.n, generic/tclIOCmd.c, tests/exec.test, tests/ioCmd.test, tests/remote.tcl, tests/socket.test
25.	Channel System - doc/chan.n, doc/fileevent.n, doc/ChnlStack.3, doc/CrtChnlHdlr.3, doc/CrtCloseHdlr.3, doc/CrtChannel.3, doc/DetachPids.3, doc/GetStdChan.3, doc/OpenFileChnl.3, doc/StdChannels.3 generic/tclIO.c, generic/tclIO.h, generic/tclPipe.c, tests/chan.test, tests/chanio.test, tests/io.test
26.	Channel Transformations - generic/tclIOGT.c, generic/tclIORTrans.c, tests/iogt.test, tests/ioTrans.test
27.	Built-in Channel Types - compat/waitpid.c, doc/GetHostName.3, doc/GetOpnFl.3, doc/OpenTcp.3, doc/pid.n, generic/tclIOSock.c, generic/tclIORChan.c, tests/pid.test, tests/winConsole.test, tests/winPipe.test, unix/tclUnixChan.c, unix/tclUnixPipe.c, unix/tclUnixSock.c, win/cat.c, win/stub16.c, win/tclWinChan.c, win/tclWinConsole.c, win/tclWinPipe.c, win/tclWinSerial.c, win/tclWinSock.c
Packages
28.	dde Package - doc/dde.n, library/dde/pkgIndex.tcl, tests/winDde.test win/tclWinDde.c
29.	http Package - doc/http.n, library/http1.0/http.tcl, library/http1.0/pkgIndex.tcl, library/http/http.tcl, library/http/pkgIndex.tcl, tests/http.test, tests/httpd, tests/httpold.test
30.	msgcat Package - doc/msgcat.n, library/msgcat/msgcat.tcl, library/msgcat/pkgIndex.tcl, tests/msgcat.test
31.	opt Package - library/opt/optparse.tcl, library/opt/pkgIndex.tcl, tests/opt.test
32.	registry Package - doc/registry.n, library/reg/pkgIndex.tcl, win/tclWinReg.c, tests/registry.test
33.	Safe Base - doc/safe.n, library/safe.tcl, tests/safe.test
34.	tcltest Package - doc/tcltest.tcl, library/tcltest/tcltest.tcl, library/tcltest/pkgIndex.tcl, tests/tcltest.test
35.	TclOO Package (see [257]) - doc/Class.3, doc/Method.3, doc/class.n, doc/copy.n, doc/define.n, doc/my.n, doc/next.n, doc/object.n, doc/self.n, generic/tclOO.c, generic/tclOO.decls, generic/tclOO.h, generic/tclOOBasic.c, generic/tclOOCall.c, generic/tclOODefineCmds.c, generic/tclOOInfo.c, generic/tclOOInt.h, generic/tclOOMethod.c, tests/oo.test
File System
36.	Pathname Management - doc/filename.n, doc/glob.n, doc/FileSystem.3, doc/SplitPath.3, doc/Translate.3, generic/tclFileName.c, tests/fileName.test, tests/unixFile.test, tests/winFile.test, unix/tclUnixFile.c, win/tclWinFile.c
37.	File System Access - doc/Access.3, doc/GetCwd.3, doc/SetErrno.3, doc/Signal.3, generic/tclFCmd.c, generic/tclIOUtil.c, generic/tclPathObj.c, generic/tclPosixStr.c, macosx/tclMacOSXFCmd.c, tests/fCmd.test, tests/ioUtil.test, tests/unixFCmd.test, tests/winFCmd.test, unix/tclUnixFCmd.c, win/tclWinError.c, win/tclWinFCmd.c
Initialization, Script Library, and Autoloader
38.	doc/library.n, doc/tclvars.n, doc/unknown.n, doc/Init.3, doc/SourceRCFile.3, generic/tclInitScript.h, library/auto.tcl, library/init.tcl, library/parray.tcl, library/word.tcl, macosx/tclMacOSXBundle.c, tests/autoMkindex.tcl, tests/autoMkindex.test, tests/init.test, tests/platform.test, tests/security.test, tests/unixInit.test, tests/unknown.test, unix/tclUnixInit.c, win/tclWinInit.c
Package Support
39.	Package Management - doc/InitStubs.3, doc/package.n, doc/packagens.n, doc/pkgMkIndex.n, doc/PkgRequire.3, doc/tm.n, generic/tclPkg.c, generic/tclStubLib.c, library/package.tcl, library/tm.tcl, tests/package.test, tests/pkg.test, tests/pkgMkIndex.test, tests/pkg/*.tcl, tests/tm.test
40.	Dynamic Loading - compat/dlfcn.h, doc/load.n, doc/StaticPkg.3, generic/tclLoad.c, generic/tclLoadNone.c, library/ldAout.tcl, tests/load.test, unix/dltest/*, unix/tclLoad*.c, win/tclWinLoad.c
Memory Management
41.	Allocation - doc/memory.n, doc/Alloc.3, doc/TCL_MEM_DEBUG.3, doc/DumpActiveMemory.3, generic/tclAlloc.c, generic/tclCkalloc.c, generic/tclThreadAlloc.c
42.	Preservation - doc/Preserve.3, generic/tclPreserve.c
Regular Expressions
43.	doc/re_syntax.n, doc/RegExp.3, generic/regc_color.c, generic/regc_cvec.c, generic/regc_lex.c, generic/regc_locale.c, generic/regc_nfa.c, generic/regcomp.c, generic/regcustom.h, generic/rege_dfa.c, generic/regerror.c, generic/regerrs.h, generic/regex.h, generic/regexec.c, generic/regfree.c, generic/regfronts.c, generic/regguts.h, generic/tclRegexp.c, generic/tclRegexp.h, tests/reg.test, tests/regexp.test, tools/uniClass.tcl
UTF-8 String Management
44.	doc/ToUpper.3, doc/UniCharIsAlpha.3, doc/Utf.3, generic/tclUtf.c, tools/uniParse.tcl, tests/utf.test, win/tclWin32Dll.c
Fundamentals
45.	Parsing and Evaluation - doc/AddErrInfo.3, doc/AllowExc.3, doc/AssocData.3, doc/CallDel.3, doc/CmdCmplt.3, doc/CrtCommand.3, doc/CrtObjCmd.3, doc/CrtInterp.3, doc/CrtMathFnc.3, doc/Eval.3, doc/ExprLong.3, doc/ExprLongObj.3, doc/GetVersion.3, doc/Interp.3, doc/NRE.3, doc/ParseCmd.3, doc/SaveResult.3, doc/SetRecLimit.3, doc/SetResult.3, doc/Tcl.n, generic/tclBasic.c, generic/tclParse.c, generic/tclParseExpr.c, generic/tclResult.c, tests/assocd.test, tests/basic.test, tests/cmdInfo.test, tests/dcall.test, tests/expr-old.test, tests/parse.test, tests/parseExpr.test, tests/parseOld.test, tests/result.test, tests/stack.test
46.	Traces - doc/TraceVar.3, doc/TraceCmd.3, doc/trace.n, doc/CrtTrace.3, generic/tclTrace.c, tests/trace.test
47.	Bytecode Compiler - compat/float.h, generic/tclAssembly.c, generic/tclCompCmds.c, generic/tclCompCmdsSZ.c, generic/tclCompExpr.c, generic/tclCompile.c, generic/tclCompile.h, generic/tclExecute.c, generic/tclLiteral.c, generic/tclMathOp.c, generic/tclOptimize.c, tests/appendComp.test, tests/compExpr-old.test, tests/compExpr.test, tests/compile.test, tests/execute.test, tests/expr.test, tests/for.test, tests/if.test, tests/incr.test, tests/lsetComp.test, tests/regexpComp.test, tests/stringComp.test, tests/while.test
48.	Number Handling (see [237]) - generic/tclStrToD.c, generic/tclTomMath.h, generic/tclTomMathInterface.c, generic/tommath.h, libtommath/*
Threads
49.	doc/Thread.3, generic/tclThread.c, generic/tclThreadJoin.c, generic/tclThreadStorage.c, generic/tclThreadTest.c, tests/thread.test, unix/tclUnixThrd.c, unix/tclUnixThrd.h, win/tclWinThrd.c, win/tclWinThrd.h
Embedding Support
50.	doc/AppInit.3, doc/Tcl_Main.3, doc/Panic.3, doc/tclsh.1, generic/tclMain.c, generic/tclPanic.c, tests/main.test, unix/tclAppInit.c, win/tclAppInit.c
Release Engineering
51.	Release Notes - README, changes, license.terms, */license.terms, compat/README, generic/README, macosx/README, tests/README, tests/pkg/license.terms, tools/README, unix/README, win/README
52.	Portability Support - compat/dirent.h, compat/dirent2.h, compat/limits.h, compat/fixstrtod.c, compat/memcmp.c, compat/opendir.c, compat/stdlib.h, compat/string.h, compat/strncasecmp.c, compat/strstr.c, compat/strtod.c, compat/strtol.c, compat/strtoul.c, compat/tclErrno.h, compat/tmpnam.c, compat/unistd.h, generic/tclMath.h, generic/tclPort.h, unix/tclMtherr.c, unix/tclUnixPort.h, unix/tclUnixCompat.c, win/tclWinMtherr.c, win/tclWinPort.h
53.	Configuration and Build Tools - djgpp/Makefile, macosx/Makefile, macosx/Tcl.pbproj/project.pbxproj, tests/all.tcl, tools/configure.in, tools/eolFix.tcl, tools/genStubs.tcl, tools/index.tcl, tools/Makefile.in, tools/man2help.tcl, tools/man2help2.tcl, tools/man2tcl.c, tools/mkdepend.tcl, tools/tcl.hpj.in, tools/tcl.wse.in, tools/tclSplash.bmp, tools/tcltk-man2html.tcl, tools/white.bmp, unix/Makefile.in, unix/aclocal.m4, unix/configure.in, unix/install-sh, unix/ldAix, unix/mkLinks, unix/mkLinks.tcl, unix/tcl.m4, unix/tcl.spec, unix/tclConfig.sh.in, win/Makefile.in, win/aclocal.m4, win/buildall.vc.bat, win/coffbase.txt, win/configure.in, win/makefile.vc, win/makefile.bc, win/mkd.bat, win/rmd.bat, win/rules.vc, win/tcl.dsp, win/tcl.dsw, win/tcl.hpj.in, win/tcl.m4, win/tcl.rc, win/tclConfig.sh.in, win/tclsh.ico, win/tclsh.rc
54.	Configuration Reporting (see [59]) - doc/RegConfig.3, generic/tclConfig.c, generic/tclPkgConfig.c, tests/config.test, win/tclWinPkgConfig.c
55.	Other Tools - tools/checkLibraryDoc.tcl, tools/findBadExternals.tcl, tools/genWinImage.tcl, tools/man2html.tcl, tools/man2html1.tcl, tools/man2html2.tcl, tools/regexpTestLib.tcl
56.	LibTomMath - libtommath/*
57.	zlib (see [234]) - doc/zlib.n, doc/TclZlib.3, generic/tclZlib.c, tests/zlib.c
Shared Files
The following files are shared by all of Tcl. Any maintainer may modify them as necessary to complete changes they are making to their portion of Tcl. Some of the following files define Tcl's API and should be changed only in accordance with TCT approval.
ChangeLog, ChangeLog.*, doc/man.macros, generic/tcl.decls, generic/tcl.h, generic/tclInt.decls, generic/tclInt.h, generic/tclTest.c, generic/tclTestObj.c, tests/misc.test, unix/tclUnixTest.c, win/tclWinInt.h, win/tclWinTest.c
Generated Files
The following files are generated, so they don't need maintainers.
generic/tclDate.c, generic/tclUniData.c, generic/tclDecls.h, generic/tclIntDecls.h, generic/tclIntPlatDecls.h, generic/tclOODecls.h, generic/tclOOIntDecls.h, generic/tclOOStubInit.c, generic/tclOOStubLib.c, generic/tclPlatDecls.h, generic/tclStubInit.c, generic/tommath.h, library/tclIndex, unix/configure, win/configure
Copyright
This document has been placed in the public domain.
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