Review Process#

Tip

Github allows reviewers to directly make suggestions to the code. This is very useful for easily suggesting changes. However, the developer should always check carefully that the change is sensible and doesn’t contain any errors or bugs.

Selecting Reviewers#

There is a space in the pull request template to list the GitHub user ID of the scitech and code reviewers - these will also be filled into the appropriate project spaces.

Requesting a Review

Review requests are handled in the Reviewers pane on the right hand side of a pull request.

In Simulation Systems repositories, SciTech and Code Reviewers will be automatically requested by a workflow, based on entries in the Pull Request Template.

To request a review manually, select the cog, and then search for the person you wish to review by either name or GitHub user ID.

../_images/review_cog_light.png ../_images/review_cog_dark.png

Code owners in some repositories will automatically be added to this reviewers section based on the files being changed.

SciTech Review#

First refusal for completing the SciTech review should go to the main code owner(s) for the area affected. If they don’t want to then they may have suggestions for other suitable reviewers or you can approach anyone who would have good insight into the changes made.

Once you have found a reviewer and are ready for review, add their GitHub user ID to the pull request description. Their review will automatically be requested by the review project workflow.

Guidance for the SciTech reviewer can be found on the SciTech review page.

Code Review#

Code reviewers are assigned by the Simulation Systems and Deployment Team from a pool of repository maintainers. New ready for review pull requests will be assigned a reviewer on a regular basis. If you need your pull request looking at more urgently than that, or think your pull request has been overlooked, then leave a comment for @MetOffice/ssdteam on the pull request.

The assigned person will be listed in the pull request description and Review Tracking project. Once the SciTech review has been completed, the Code Reviewer will be automatically requested (unless they are already requested as a Code Owner - in this case you may want to tag them to make them aware).

Guidance for the Code reviewer can be found on the Code review page.

Simulation Systems Review Tracker#

All open pull requests will be added to a GitHub Project called Simulation Systems Review Tracker, which causes this box to appear in the sidebar of the pull request:

../_images/project_scitech_light.png ../_images/project_scitech_dark.png

The project is used to give pull requests a status that distinguishes between the different review states, and to monitor who is doing the reviews. The state and fields of the project are automatically updated by github actions.

  • The developer should tag the SciTech Reviewer in the Pull Request template when you are ready for review. This will request a review from them and update the state to SciTech Review.

  • The SSD team will add a Code Reviewer. When the Scitech Review has been completed a review from the Code Reviewer will automatically be requested, and the project state updated. If the Pull Request is trivial, you will need to manually request a review from the Code Reviewer.

  • As reviews are completed the state will move to Changes Requested and Approved as appropriate. Re-request a review once any changes have been made.

    ../_images/rerequest_light.png ../_images/rerequest_dark.png
  • You can @username in any comment to draw that persons attention to the

    pull request.

Code Reviewer Edits#

As part of the process to commit certain tickets, code reviewers will sometimes need to commit changes to the branch of a developer. Common reasons for doing this include,

  • Updating KGO’s

  • Applying upgrade macros

  • Updating commit hashes for linked tickets

The ability to commit back to another users fork is only available to those with maintainer access or above and they can only do so for branches with an open pull request and the Allow edits by maintainers option selected.