# Getting Involved

- How to install DNS with DevStack

## #openstack-dns IRC channel

There is an active IRC channel at irc://oftc.net/#openstack-dns, where many of the designate contributors can be found, as well as users from various organisations.

## Contributing

For general information on contributing to OpenStack please see the contributor guide to get started. It covers all the basics that are common to all OpenStack projects: the accounts you need, the basics of interacting with our Gerrit review system, how we communicate as a community, etc.

We welcome fixes, extensions, documentation, pretty much anything that helps improve Designate, contributing is easy & follows the standard OpenStack Gerrit workflow, if you’re looking for something to do, you could always checkout the blueprint & bug lists.

The designate git repo is available at https://opendev.org/openstack/designate, though all contributions should be done via the Gerrit review system.

## Task Tracking

We track our tasks in Launchpad

> https://bugs.launchpad.net/designate

If you’re looking for some smaller, easier work item to pick up and get started on, search for the ‘low-hanging-fruit’ tag.

## Reporting a Bug

You found an issue and want to make sure we are aware of it? You can do so on Launchpad.

## Development Environment and Developer Workflow

Assuming you’ve already got a working Development Environment, here’s a quick summary:

Install the git-review package to make life easier, some distros have it as native package, otherwise use pip

    pip install git-review

Branch, work, & submit:

    # cut a new branch, tracking master
    git checkout --track -b bug/id origin/master
    # work work work
    git add stuff
    git commit
    # rebase/squash to a single commit before submitting
    git rebase -i
    # submit
    git-review

## Coding Standards

Designate uses the OpenStack flake8 coding standards guidelines. These are stricter than pep8, and are run by gerrit on every commit.

You can use tox to check your code locally by running

    # For just flake8 tests
    tox -e flake8
    # For tests + flake8
    tox

### Example DNS Names and IP Space

The IANA has allocated several special purpose domains and IP blocks for use as examples in code and documentation. Where possible, these domains and IP blocks should be preferred. There are some cases where it will not be possible to follow this guidance, for example, there is currently no reserved IDN domain name.

We prefer to use these names and IP blocks to avoid causing any unexpected collateral damage to the rightful owners of the non-reserved names and IP space. For example, publishing an email address in our codebase will more than likely be picked up by spammers, while published URLs etc using non-reserved names or IP space will likely trigger search indexers etc to begin crawling.

#### Reserved Domains

Reserved DNS domains are documented here: IANA Special Use Domain Names.

Several common reserved domains:

- example.com.

- example.net.

- example.org.

#### Reserved IP Space

Reserved IP space is documented here: IANA IPv4 Special Registry, and IANA IPv6 Special Registry.

Several common reserved IP blocks:

- 192.0.2.0/24

- 198.51.100.0/24

- 203.0.113.0/24

- 2001:db8::/32

### Style Guide

Follow OpenStack Style Guidelines

#### File header

Start new files with the following. Replace where needed:

    # Copyright <year> <company>
    #
    # Author: <name> <email addr>
    #
    # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
    # not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
    # a copy of the License at
    #
    #      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
    #
    # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
    # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
    # WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
    # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
    # under the License.

    """
    <package.module>
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    <Describe what the module should do, especially interactions with
    other components and caveats>

    <Optional links>
    `Specs: Refer to a spec document if relevant`_

    `User documentation <FILL_THIS.html>`_ <Refer to files under doc/>
    <This is useful to remind developers to keep the docs up to date>
    """

Example:

    backend.impl_akamai
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Akamai backend. Create and delete zones on Akamai. Blah Blah...

    `Specs: Keystone Session <https://opendev.org/openstack/designate-specs/src/branch/master/specs/kilo/switch-to-keystone-session.rst>`_

    `User documentation <backend.html>`_

When updating a module, please ensure that the related user documentation is updated as well.

#### Docstrings

Use the Sphinx markup. Here is an example:

    class MyClass(object):
        """<description>
        mention a function :func:`foo` or a class :class:`Bar`
        """

        def function(self, foo):
            """<describe what the function does>
            :param foo: <description>
            :type foo: <type>
            :returns: <describe the returned value>
            :rtype: <returned type>
            :raises: <list raised exceptions>

            :Example:

            >>> a = b - c
            >>> <more Python code>

            .. note:: <add a note here>
            .. seealso:: <blah>
            .. warning:: <use sparingly>
            """

#### Logging

See https://docs.openstack.org/oslo.i18n/latest/user/guidelines.html

    # Do not use "%" string formatting
    # No localization for log messages
    LOG.debug("... %s", variable)
    # Use named interpolation when more than one replacement is done
    LOG.info("... %(key)s ...", {'key': 'value', ...})
    LOG.warning("... %(key)s", {'key': 'value'})
    LOG.error("... %(key)s", {'key': 'value'})
    LOG.critical("... %(key)s", {'key': 'value'})

this page last updated: 2026-04-13 15:37:16

Except where otherwise noted, this document is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. See all OpenStack Legal Documents.

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