225 lines
8.5 KiB
Markdown
225 lines
8.5 KiB
Markdown
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# Documentation styleguide
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This styleguide recommends best practices to improve documentation and to keep
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it organized and easy to find.
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## Naming
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- Use underscores for all names, including new documentation and images
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## Text
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- Split up long lines, this makes it much easier to review and edit. Only
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double line breaks are shown as a full line break in GitLab markdown.
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80-100 characters is a good line length
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- Make sure that the documentation is added in the correct directory and that
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there's a link to it somewhere useful
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- Do not duplicate information
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- Be brief and clear
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- Whenever it applies, add documents in alphabetical order
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- Write in US English
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- Use [single spaces][] instead of double spaces
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## Formatting
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- Use dashes (`-`) for unordered lists instead of asterisks (`*`)
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- Use the number one (`1`) for ordered lists
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- Use underscores (`_`) to mark a word or text in italics
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- Use double asterisks (`**`) to mark a word or text in bold
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- When using lists, prefer not to end each item with a period. You can use
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them if there are multiple sentences, just keep the last sentence without
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a period
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## Headings
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- Add only one H1 title in each document, by adding `#` at the beginning of
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it (when using markdown). For subheadings, use `##`, `###` and so on
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- For subtitles, make sure to start with the largest and go down, meaning:
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`#` for the title, `##` for subtitles and `###` for subtitles of the subtitles, etc.
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- Avoid putting numbers in Markdown headings. Numbers shift hence documentation
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anchor links shift too which eventually leads to dead links.
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- When introducing a new doc, be careful for the headings to be grammatically
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and syntactically correct. It is advised to mention one or all of the
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following GitLab members for a review: `@axil`, `@rspeicher`, `@dblessing`,
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`@ashleys`, `@nearlythere`. This is to ensure that no document with
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wrong heading is going live without an audit, thus preventing dead links and
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redirection issues when corrected.
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- Leave exactly one newline after a heading
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## Links
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- If the link sets the paragraph spanning across multiple lines, do not use
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the regular Markdown approach: `[Text](https://example.com)`. Instead use
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`[Text][identifier]` and at the very bottom of the document add:
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`[identifier]: https://example.com`. This is another way to make Markdown
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links which keeps the document clear and concise. Extra points if you also
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add an alternative text: `[identifier]: https://example.com "Alternative text"`
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that appears when hovering your mouse on a link.
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## Images
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- Place images in a separate directory named `img/` in the same directory where
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the `.md` document that you're working on is located. Always prepend their
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names with the name of the document that they will be included in. For
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example, if there is a document called `twitter.md`, then a valid image name
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could be `twitter_login_screen.png`.
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- Images should have a specific, non-generic name that will differentiate them.
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- Keep all file names in lower case.
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- Consider using PNG images instead of JPEG.
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Inside the document:
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- The Markdown way of using an image inside a document is:
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`![Proper description what the image is about](img/document_image_title.png)`
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- Always use a proper description what the image is about. That way, when a
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browser fails to show the image, this text will be used as an alternative
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description
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- If there are consecutive images with little text between them, always add
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three dashes (`---`) between the image and the text to create a horizontal
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line for better clarity
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- If a heading is placed right after an image, always add three dashes (`---`)
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between the image and the heading
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## Notes
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- Notes should be in italics with the word `Note:` being bold. Use this form:
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`_**Note:** This is something to note._`. If the note spans across multiple
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lines it's OK to split the line.
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## New features
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- Every piece of documentation that comes with a new feature should declare the
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GitLab version that feature got introduced. Right below the heading add a
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note: `_**Note:** This feature was introduced in GitLab CE 8.3_`
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- If possible every feature should have a link to the MR that introduced it.
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The above note would be transformed to:
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`_**Note:** This feature was [introduced][ce-1242] in GitLab CE 8.3_`, where
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the link is named after the repository (CE) and the MR number, and the
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[link identifier](#links) is used.
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## API
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Here is a list of must have items. Use them in this exact order that appears
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on this document. Further explanation is given below.
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- Every method must have the REST API request. For example:
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```
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GET /projects/:id/repository/branches
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```
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- Every method must have a detailed
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[description of the parameters](#method-description).
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- Every method must have a cURL example.
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- Every method must have a response body (in JSON format).
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### Method description
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Use the following table headers to describe the methods. Attributes should
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always be in code blocks using backticks (`).
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```
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| Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
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| --------- | ---- | -------- | ----------- |
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```
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Rendered example:
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| Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
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| --------- | ---- | -------- | ----------- |
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| `user` | string | yes | The GitLab username |
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### cURL commands
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- Use `https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/` as an endpoint.
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- Wherever needed use this private token: `9koXpg98eAheJpvBs5tK`.
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- Always put the request first. `GET` is the default so you don't have to
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include it.
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- Use double quotes to the URL when it includes additional parameters.
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- Prefer to use examples using the private token and don't pass data of
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username and password.
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| Methods | Description |
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| ------- | ----------- |
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| `-H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: 9koXpg98eAheJpvBs5tK"` | Use this method as is, whenever authentication needed |
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| `-X POST` | Use this method when creating new objects |
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| `-X PUT` | Use this method when updating existing objects |
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| `-X DELETE` | Use this method when removing existing objects |
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### cURL Examples
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Below is a set of [cURL][] examples that you can use in the API documentation.
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#### Simple cURL command
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Get the details of a group:
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```bash
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curl -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: 9koXpg98eAheJpvBs5tK" https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/groups/gitlab-org
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```
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#### cURL example with parameters passed in the URL
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Create a new project under the authenticated user's namespace:
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```bash
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curl -X POST -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: 9koXpg98eAheJpvBs5tK" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/projects?name=foo"
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```
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#### Post data using cURL's --data
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Instead of using `-X POST` and appending the parameters to the URI, you can use
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cURL's `--data` option. The example below will create a new project `foo` under
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the authenticated user's namespace.
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```bash
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curl --data "name=foo" -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: 9koXpg98eAheJpvBs5tK" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/projects"
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```
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#### Post data using JSON content
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_**Note:** In this example we create a new group. Watch carefully the single
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and double quotes._
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```bash
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curl -X POST -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: 9koXpg98eAheJpvBs5tK" -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"path": "my-group", "name": "My group"}' https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/groups
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```
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#### Post data using form-data
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Instead of using JSON or urlencode you can use multipart/form-data which
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properly handles data encoding:
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```bash
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curl -X POST -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: 9koXpg98eAheJpvBs5tK" -F "title=ssh-key" -F "key=ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EA..." https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/users/25/keys
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```
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The above example is run by and administrator and will add an SSH public key
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titled ssh-key to user's account which has an id of 25.
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#### Escape special characters
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Spaces or slashes (`/`) may sometimes result to errors, thus it is recommended
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to escape them when possible. In the example below we create a new issue which
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contains spaces in its title. Watch how spaces are escaped using the `%20`
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ASCII code.
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```bash
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curl -X POST -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: 9koXpg98eAheJpvBs5tK" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/projects/42/issues?title=Hello%20Dude"
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```
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Use `%2F` for slashes (`/`).
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#### Pass arrays to API calls
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The GitLab API sometimes accepts arrays of strings or integers. For example, to
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restrict the sign-up e-mail domains of a GitLab instance to `*.example.com` and
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`example.net`, you would do something like this:
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```bash
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curl -X PUT -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: 9koXpg98eAheJpvBs5tK" -d "restricted_signup_domains[]=*.example.com" -d "restricted_signup_domains[]=example.net" https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/application/settings
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```
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[cURL]: http://curl.haxx.se/ "cURL website"
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[single spaces]: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html
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