Approval Process

Every pull request will need to get approval from a group of people. Code Owner approvals are automatically requested when the pull request is marked as Ready for Review, while required Configuration Owner approvals will be listed on the trac.log testing summary.

Tip

Make it really clear and easy for approvers to understand your change and know what needs approving - some get a lot of requests!

You may need to chase up approvals occasionally. People are not perfect and remember to be kind.

Important

New UM Ancils must be submitted to the MIAO team for approval. Please follow their process for Requesting New UM Ancils.

Code Owners

Every file in the codebases has a Code Owner, and every file changed will need checking by the code owners - no matter how small the change.

A list of current code owners for each project can be found in the top level CODEOWNERS file.

Code Owners should complete a review requesting changes if needed, and approving once they are happy. They only need to review changes that fall in their area.

Tip

It is always worth talking to the main code owners involved early in the process. These people have good oversight on changes in an area and will be able to guide your change to fit in with the bigger picture of what is happening.

Code Owners are good candidates for choosing as a SciTech reviewer.

Config Owner

Configuration Owner’s are responsible for a combination of settings in the model that achieve a particular aim (e.g. the current GAL or RAL setup used operationally). Within the rose-stem testing these configurations will be used and any changes to the answers shown in testing will need sign off from the config owner.

In JULES, the code owner is supported by module leaders who will sign-off scientifically significant changes to their areas of interest. The module leaders in this case will also act as configuration owners for their science settings.

A list of current config owners for the UM is found in main/ConfigOwners.txt. Others are combined with the Code Owner lists above.

Other Approvals

There are other changes that require specific approval and these are made clear in the pull request description. For example, changes that modify code within an OpenMP section will require approval from the HPC Optimisation Team and changes that modify or add PSyKAl-lite code will require approval from the TCD Team.