CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing Guidelines

The following is a set of guidelines for contributing to the NGINX App Protect Ansible role. We really appreciate that you are considering contributing!

Table Of Contents

Ask a Question

Getting Started

Contributing

Code Guidelines

• Git Guidelines
• Ansible Guidelines

Code of Conduct

Ask a Question

Don't know how something works? Curious if the role can achieve your desired functionality? Please open an Issue on GitHub with the label question.

Getting Started

Follow our Installation Guide to install Ansible and Molecule and get ready to use the NGINX App Protect Ansible role.

Project Structure

• The NGINX App Protect Ansible role is written in yaml and supports NGINX App Protect.
• The project follows the standard Ansible role directory structure
  • The main code is found in tasks/.
  • Variables can be found in defaults/main/.
  • "Constant" variables can be found in vars/main.yml.
  • Configuration templates for NGINX can be found in templates/.
  • Molecule tests can be found in molecule/.
  • CI/CD is done via GitHub actions using the workflow files found in .github/workflows/.

Contributing

Report a Bug

To report a bug, open an issue on GitHub with the label bug using the available bug report issue template. Please ensure the issue has not already been reported.

Suggest a Feature or Enhancement

To suggest a feature or enhancement, please create an issue on GitHub with the label feature or enhancement using the available feature request issue template.

Open a Pull Request

• Fork the repo, create a branch, implement your changes, add any relevant Molecule tests, submit a PR when your changes are tested (using Molecule) and ready for review.
• Fill in our pull request template.

Note: if you'd like to implement a new feature, please consider creating a feature request issue first to start a discussion about the feature.

Code Guidelines

Ansible Guidelines

• Run molecule lint over your code to automatically resolve a lot of yaml and Ansible style issues.
• Run molecule test on your code before you submit a PR to catch any potential issues. If you are testing a specific molecule scenario, run molecule test -s <scenario>. You will need to procure an NGINX App Protect license (check out the NGINX Plus developer license FAQ to find out how to request one).
• Follow these guides on some good practices for Ansible:
  • https://www.ansible.com/blog/ansible-best-practices-essentials
  • https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_best_practices.html

Git Guidelines

• Keep a clean, concise and meaningful git commit history on your branch (within reason), rebasing locally and squashing before submitting a PR
• Follow the guidelines of writing a good commit message as described here https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/ and summarised in the next few points
  • In the subject line, use the present tense ("Add feature" not "Added feature")
  • In the subject line, use the imperative mood ("Move cursor to..." not "Moves cursor to...")
  • Limit the subject line to 72 characters or less
  • Reference issues and pull requests liberally after the subject line
  • Add more detailed description in the body of the git message (git commit -a to give you more space and time in your text editor to write a good message instead of git commit -am)