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Update the workflow based on feedback
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certik committed Jan 7, 2020
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# Workflow for the Fortran stdlib contributors

This document describes our current workflow. You are welcome to propose
changes in it by opening an
[issue](https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib/issues).
This document describes our current workflow.

We welcome everyone and anyone to participate and propose additions to stdlib.
It is okay if you do not have experience for specification or implementation,
but have an idea for stdlib. If the idea is popular among the community, more
experienced contributors will help it through all 5 steps.


1. **Idea**: You have an idea or a proposal. Open an
[issue](https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib/issues) to discuss it. This
is on the level of "is there interest in having image reader/writer
functions in stdlib?" The goal of this step is to find out if the community
is interested in having this functionality as part of stdlib.

2. **API**: When there seems to be significant interest in the proposal (vast
majority of participants think it is a good idea), move on to discuss the
specific API. It's OK to propose the API off the bat if you already have an
idea for it. This step is exploratory and its goal is to find out what the
API should *look* and *feel* like.

3. **Specification**: Discuss the API and iterate. When there is vast majority
approval for the API, move on to implement it and submit a PR. Small PRs are
always better than large. It is OK to implement only a few functions of a
new module, and continue work on the others in a later PR. All new
functionality goes into an "experimental" namespace
(`stdlib_experimental_*.f90`). As part of the PR, when submitting a new
public facing API, please provide the initial draft of the specification
document as well as the the initial reference implementation of this
specification. The specification is a document that describes the API and
the functionality, so that anyone can use it to create an implementation
from scratch without looking at `stdlib`. The `stdlib` library then provides
the reference implementation.

1. You have an idea or a proposal. Open an issue to discuss it. This is on the
level of "is there interest in having image reader/writer functions in
stdlib?"

2. When there seems to be significant interest in the proposal, like 80/20
participants think it's a good/bad idea, move on to discuss the specific
API. It's OK to propose the API off the bat if you already have an idea for
it.

3. Discuss the API and iterate. When there is ~80/20 approval for the API, move
on to implement it and submit a PR. Small PRs are always better than large.
It's OK to implement only a few functions of a new module, and continue work
on the others in a later PR. All new functionality goes into an
"experimental" namespace (`stdlib_experimental_*.f90`).
As part of the PR, when submitting a new public facing API, please provide
the initial draft of the specification document as well as the the initial
reference implementation of this specification.
The specification is a document that describes the API and the
functionality, so that anyone can use it to create an implementation from
scratch without looking at `stdlib`. The `stdlib` library then provides the
reference implementation.

4. When opening a PR, request reviews from one or more people that are most
relevant to it. These are likely to be people involved in prior steps of the
workflow. Other contributors (not explicitly invited) are encouraged to
provide reviews and suggestions as well. Iterate until all (or most)
participants are on the same page. We should not merge if there is a strong
objection from the reviewers or from somebody in the wider community.

5. Moving from experimental to main. The experimental "namespace" contains new
functionality together with its specification. In order to move from
experimental to main, the specification document must be approved by the
wide community and the standards committee (informally). If that happens,
then we can move the code into main, and the particular specification
4. **Implementation** in experimental: When opening a PR, request reviews from
one or more people that are most relevant to it. These are likely to be
people involved in prior steps of the workflow. Other contributors (not
explicitly invited) are encouraged to provide reviews and suggestions as
well. Iterate until all (or most) participants are on the same page.
We can merge when there is vast majority approval of the PR.

5. **Release**: Moving from experimental to release. The experimental
"namespace" contains new functionality together with its specification. In
order to move from experimental to release, the specification document must
be approved by the wide community and the standards committee (informally).
If that happens, it has now been blessed for broad use and we can move the
code into the main section of `stdlib`, and the particular specification
document becomes part of the Fortran Standard Library.


Note: the general term "vast majority" above means at least 80%, but ultimately
it is left to our best judgement to ensure that the community agrees that each
PR and proposal was approved by "vast majority".

You are welcome to propose changes to this workflow by opening an
[issue](https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib/issues).

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