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Reduce review times

Most pull requests can be reviewed and approved more quickly by following these guidelines.

Before creating a pull request—or requesting a VIP review for a pull request

  • Scan the updated code with PHP Code Sniffer using the VIP Coding Standards and address any issues reported in the feedback.
  • Get reviews and feedback from other internal team members.
  • Create smaller, separate pull requests, especially for changes that affect more than 1000 lines of code.
  • Separate pull requests should be created for:
    • Extensive whitespace changes (e.g., fixing tabs and spacing)
    • Changes that are limited to style only (e.g., revising variable names, formatting, comment blocks, etc)
    • Addition of a plugin. Create a separate pull request for each plugin added.
    • Removal of a plugin, or removal of several files.
    • A build step that results in minified or compiled JS and CSS. Setting up branches with continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) may simplify this process.
  • Remove unused or unnecessary code from the production branch that does not need to be reviewed.
  • Commit messages in a pull request and in the initial comment are helpful to VIP. Summarize the intent of the changes and add detail about complex abstractions.
  • If a pull request is related to an open VIP Support ticket, provide a link to that ticket in the comment.

After a pull request is created

  • View the pull request in GitHub and confirm that only intended changes are included, especially if there are changes made to .gitignore.
  • Pull requests that contain only CSS changes (or do not contain any files with extensions that we review, such as PHP and JS) will be auto-approved.
  • Development related to the pull request should be complete, with the exception of changes made to address feedback from the VIP Code Analysis Bot and the VIP reviewer’s comments.
  • When making changes in response to a review, minimize the number of new commits in order to simplify the VIP reviews needed.
  • Avoid making changes to an approved pull request. If possible, make needed changes in another branch, or wait until after the open pull request is merged.

Last updated: August 03, 2023

Relevant to

  • WordPress