<!-- Contributing to the gccgo frontend -->

<h2>Introduction</h2>

<p>
These are some notes on contributing to the <code>gccgo</code>
frontend for GCC.  For information on contributing to parts of Go other
than <code>gccgo</code>, see <a href="contribute.html">Contributing to
the Go project</a>.  For information on building <code>gccgo</code>
for yourself, see <a href="gccgo_install.html">Setting up and using
gccgo</a>.
</p>

<h2>Legal Prerequisites</h2>

<p>
You must follow the <a href="contribute.html#copyright">Go copyright
rules.</a>
</p>

<h2>Code</h2>

<p>
The source code for the <code>gccgo</code> frontend may be found in
the directory <code>gcc/go</code>.  The frontend is written in C++ and
as such the GNU coding standards do not entirely apply; in writing
code for the frontend, follow the formatting of the surrounding code.
Although the frontend is currently closely tied to the rest of the gcc
codebase, we plan to make it more independent.  Any new code which
uses other parts of gcc should be segregated in an appropriate file,
such as <code>gogo-tree.cc</code>.
</p>

<p>
The runtime library for <code>gccgo</code> is mostly the same as the
library in the main Mercurial repository.  The library code in the
Mercurial repository is periodically copied into
the <code>gccgo</code> repository.  Accordingly, most library changes
should be made in Mercurial.  Changes to the few <code>gccgo</code>
specific parts of the library should follow the process described
here.  The <code>gccgo</code> specific parts of the library are
everything in the <code>libgo</code> directory except for
the <code>libgo/go</code> subdirectory.
</p>

<h2>Testing</h2>

<p>
All patches must be tested.  There are two test suites.  A patch that
introduces new failures is not acceptable.
</p>

<p>
To run the compiler test suite, run <code>make check-go</code> in the
<code>gcc</code> subdirectory of your build directory.  This will run
various tests underneath <code>gcc/testsuite/go.*</code>.  This
includes a copy of the tests in the Mercurial repository, which are
run using the DejaGNU script found in
in <code>gcc/testsuite/go.test/go-test.exp</code>.  Many of the
compiler tests may be run without the Go library, but some do require
the library to built first.
</p>

<p>
To run the library test suite, run <code>make
check-target-libgo</code> in the top level of your build directory.
</p>

<p>
Most new tests should be submitted to the Mercurial repository for
copying into the <code>gccgo</code> repository.  If there is a need
for specific tests for <code>gccgo</code>, they should go in
the <code>gcc/testsuite/go.go-torture</code>
or <code>gcc/testsuite/go.dg</code> directories.
</p>

<h2>Submitting Changes</h2>

<p>
Proposing a patch should follow the standard GCC rules.  That is, the
patch should be sent to the mailing
list <code>[email protected]</code> as a diff&mdash;the output
of the <code>diff</code> program with the <code>-c</code>
or <code>-u</code> option.  In the future we are likely to set up a
separate gccgo-specific mailing list, which should also be CC'ed; we
will update this document at that time.  Patch emails should include a
ChangeLog entry, though the ChangeLog entry should not be in the diff
itself.  ChangeLog files are a standard part of GNU programs; see
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Change-Logs.html">the
GNU coding standards</a>.
</p>