Plone Improvement Proposals (PLIPs)#

A Plone Improvement Proposal, or PLIP, is a change to a Plone package that would affect everyone who uses that package. PLIPs go through a formal process compared to bug fixes because of their broad reach. A designated team reviews all PLIPs to make sure that it's in the best interest of the broader community, and that it's of high quality.

A project board of active PLIPs is located at https://github.com/orgs/plone/projects/47.

Process overview#

  1. Developer submits a PLIP and solicits feedback.

  2. Developer addresses concerns from the feedback, and resubmits the PLIP, if necessary.

  3. The designated team approves the PLIP for inclusion into Plone core for a given release.

  4. Developer implements the PLIP, including code, tests, and documentation.

  5. Developer creates a pull request of the PLIP for review by the designated team.

  6. The designated team reviews the pull request of the PLIP and gives feedback.

  7. Repeat the two previous steps, until both the designated team and developer are happy with the result.

  8. A designated team member approves the PLIP for merge.

  9. A designated team member merges the PLIP.

In rare circumstances, a PLIP may be rejected. This is usually the result of the developer not responding to feedback or dropping out of the process.

Designated teams#

The following packages and repositories have designated teams that you can contact by @-ing them in its GitHub issue tracker. If the repository is not listed, use the default repository for Products.CMFPlone.

Package

Repository

Team

Products.CMFPlone

https://github.com/plone/Products.CMFPlone

@plone/framework-team

Classic UI

https://github.com/plone/plone.classicui

@plone/ClassicUI-Team

Volto

https://github.com/plone/volto

@plone/volto-team

Submit a PLIP#

Prepare the following information for your PLIP.

  • Title

  • Proposer (you)

  • Seconder (another person supporting your PLIP)

  • Abstract (a comprehensive overview of the subject)

  • Motivation (reason or motivation for creating this proposal)

  • Assumptions (preconditions)

  • Proposal & Implementation (detailed proposal with implementation details and–if needed—possible variants to be discussed)

  • Deliverables (packages and documentation chapters involved, including any third party packages)

  • Risks (what will break or affect existing installations of Plone after an upgrade, including the end user point of view, training efforts, and other audiences)

  • Participants (list of persons and roles known)

Now that you are prepared, submit your PLIP.

  1. Visit the package's GitHub issue tracker, and Click New issue.

    If you do not see the option to create a PLIP, then the repository has not been configured with the PLIP GitHub issue template, and you should instead visit the default Plone issue tracker for PLIPs, Products.CMFPlone.

  2. For the PLIP option, click Get started.

  3. Fill in the title and description. Preserve the headings and comments. The comments provide guidance for you to follow while composing your PLIP.

  4. When done, click Submit new issue to submit your PLIP.

  5. If GitHub does not automatically assign the label 03 type: feature (plip), then assign that label to the issue to make it easier to find.

  6. If GitHub does not automatically add the PLIP to the PLIP project board, then add it so it can be tracked.

Get feedback#

After you submit your PLIP, solicit feedback for your idea on the Plone Community Forum and through the repository's issue tracker.

You may revise your PLIP based on feedback.

If you need help at any point in this process, you can either @ the team or personally contact a member of the designated team.

Team approves proposal#

After incorporating feedback to your proposal, you can request a final review and approval for inclusion in Plone. Every PLIP must be approved by the designated team.

Implement your PLIP#

Important

This section does not apply to Volto. Instead see Contributing to Volto.

Note

This section assumes you have read and followed the instructions in Contribute to Plone 6 core to set up your development environment, up until Edit packages.

You can start the development at any time, but if you intend to modify Plone core, it is a good idea to wait to see if your idea is approved.

General rules#

  • Any new packages must be in a branch in the plone namespace in GitHub.

  • The PLIP reviewers must be able run buildout, and everything should "just work"™.

  • New code must:

    • Be properly documented. If it ain't documented, it's broken.

    • Have clear code.

    • Follow current best practices in coding style. The Plone Meta project can help you set up your environment.

    • Be tested according to Plone core's Testing Plone.

Create a new PLIP branch#

Create a buildout configuration file for your PLIP in the plips folder of buildout.coredev. Its name should follow the pattern plip-repository-issue_number-description.cfg. For example, plip-volto-1234-widget-frobbing.cfg.

This file will define the branches for your PLIP, along with other buildout configuration. The following is example content for the file plips/plip-volto-1234-widget-frobbing.cfg.

[buildout]
extends = plipbase.cfg
auto-checkout +=
    plone.somepackage
    plone.app.someotherpackage

[sources]
plone.somepackage = git https://github.com/plone/plone.somepackage.git branch=plip-volto-1234-widget-frobbing
plone.app.someotherpackage = git https://github.com/plone/plone.app.somepackage.git branch=plip-volto-1234-widget-frobbing

[instance]
eggs +=
    plone.somepackage
    plone.app.someotherpackage
zcml +=
    plone.somepackage
    plone.app.someotherpackage

Use the same naming convention when you branch existing packages.

Work on a PLIP#

To work on a PLIP, assuming you have followed the PLIP set up instructions, you can invoke buildout with your PLIP configuration as follows.

./bin/buildout -c plips/plip-volto-1234-widget-frobbing.cfg

See also

See Test locally, Change log, and Create a pull request.

Finish up#

Before marking your PLIP as ready for review as a pull request, add a file to give a set of instructions to the PLIP reviewer. This file should be called plip_<repository>_<number>_notes.txt. This should include, but is not limited to:

  • URLs pointing to all documentation created and updated

  • Any concerns and issues still remaining

  • Any weird buildout things

Once you have finished, update your PLIP issue and pull request to indicate that it is ready for review. The designated team will review your PLIP. They will follow the guidelines listed at PLIP review.

After the PLIP has been accepted by the designated team and the release managers, you will be asked to merge your work into the main development line.

The merge may have unintended interactions with other PLIPs coming in. During the merge phase you must be prepared to help out with all the features and bugs that arise.

If all went as planned, the next Plone release will carry on with your PLIP in it. You'll be expected to help out with that feature after it's been released (within reason).