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Platform Policy

General

A testing platform configuration (or “tested platform”) is a combination of a Rust target and an operating environment (such as a specific operating system version).

The continuous integration checks in this repository ensure that tested platforms will always build and pass tests. These platforms place work on Zcash developers as a whole, to avoid breaking the platform. The broader Zcash community may also feel more inclined to support tested platforms in their downstream uses of zebrad, zainod, or zallet (though they are not obligated to do so). Thus, tested platforms require commensurate and ongoing efforts from the maintainers of the platform, to demonstrate value and to minimize any disruptions to ongoing Zcash development.

This policy defines the requirements for accepting a proposed platform into the set of tested platforms.

While these criteria attempt to document the policy, that policy still involves human judgment. Platforms must fulfill the spirit of the requirements as well, as determined by the judgment of the approving reviewers. Reviewers and team members evaluating platforms and platform-specific patches should always use their own best judgment regarding the quality of work, and the suitability of a platform for the Zcash project. Neither this policy nor any decisions made regarding platforms shall create any binding agreement or estoppel by any party.

For a list of all supported platforms, see Platform Support.

The availability of a platform in releases of Zcash ecosystem software is not a hard stability guarantee about the future availability of that platform. Tested platforms are a commitment to the support of a platform, and we will take that commitment and potential disruptions into account when evaluating the potential removal of a platform that has been part of a stable release of Zcash ecosytem software. The addition or removal of a platform will not generally affect existing stable releases, only current development and future releases.

In this policy, the words “MUST” and “MUST NOT” specify absolute requirements that a platform must meet to qualify. The words “SHOULD” and “SHOULD NOT” specify requirements that apply in almost all cases, but for which the approving teams may grant an exception for good reason. The word “MAY” indicates something entirely optional, and does not indicate guidance or recommendations. This language is based on IETF RFC 2119.

Tested platform policy

The Zcash developers guarantee that a tested platform builds and passes all tests, and will reject patches that fail to build or pass the test suite on a platform. Thus, we place requirements that ensure the platform will not block forward progress of the Zcash project.

A proposed new platform MUST be reviewed and approved by the Zcash core team based on these requirements.

In addition, the Zcash infrastructure team MUST approve the integration of the platform into Continuous Integration (CI), and the CI-related requirements. This review and approval MAY take place in a PR adding the platform to CI, or simply by an infrastructure team member reporting the outcome of a team discussion.

  • The platform MUST provide documentation for the Zcash community explaining how to build for the platform, using cross-compilation if possible. If the platform supports running binaries, or running tests (even if they do not pass), the documentation MUST explain how to run such binaries or tests for the platform, using emulation if possible or dedicated hardware if necessary.
  • The platform MUST have a designated team of developers (the “platform maintainers”) supporting it, without the need for a paid support contract.
  • The platform MUST NOT place undue burden on Zcash developers not specifically concerned with that platform. Zcash developers are expected to not gratuitously break a tested platform, but are not expected to become experts in every tested platform.
  • The platform MUST have substantial, widespread interest within the Zcash community, and MUST serve the ongoing needs of multiple production users of Zcash across multiple organizations or projects. These requirements are subjective. A tested platform MAY be removed if it becomes obsolete or no longer meets this requirement.
  • The platform MUST build and pass tests reliably in CI, for all components that this repo’s CI marks as mandatory.
  • Building the platform and running the test suite for the platform MUST NOT take substantially longer than other platforms, and SHOULD NOT substantially raise the maintenance burden of the CI infrastructure.
  • The platform MUST NOT have a hard requirement for signed, verified, or otherwise “approved” binaries. Developers MUST be able to build, run, and test binaries for the platform on systems they control, or provide such binaries for others to run. (Doing so MAY require enabling some appropriate “developer mode” on such systems, but MUST NOT require the payment of any additional fee or other consideration, or agreement to any onerous legal agreements.)

A platform MAY be removed if it no longer meets these requirements.