flashrom/doc/contact.rst

Contact
========
.. The extra = is needed to prevent git from throwing a `leftover conflict marker`
   error when commiting.

.. _mailing list:

Mailing List
------------
Flashrom related mails are welcome on the flashrom mailing list at `flashrom@flashrom.org <mailto:flashrom@flashrom.org>`_.
Please do NOT send any BIOS images or F segment dumps to the list!

E-mails with binary files attached will be rejected. Images for things such as scope or logic analyzer traces are acceptable
if hosted on a third-party photo sharing service that assigns a unique URL to the image, such as Google Photos.
This prevents the photo URL from being abused for malicious or inappropriate content.

Please note that the list is moderated for non-subscribers and we recommend to subscribe first.

Our mailing list is public and archived, see below for the links to the archives.
There are also a bunch of independent public archives services that are not operated by the flashrom team.
All those archives are also public, everyone on the internet can read them,
please be careful what kind of information you are sending to the mailing list.

Subscription
""""""""""""
https://mail.coreboot.org/postorius/lists/flashrom.flashrom.org/

Archives
""""""""
| https://mail.coreboot.org/hyperkitty/list/flashrom@flashrom.org/
| https://mail.coreboot.org/pipermail/flashrom/ (Up to Dec. 2018)
| https://marc.info/?l=flashrom
| https://www.mail-archive.com/flashrom@flashrom.org/

Moderation rules
""""""""""""""""
If your mail is too big (the current limit is 256 kB) or if you're not on the subscriber list, your mail will be held for moderation.
If your mail contains any BIOS images or F segment dumps (instead of links which are fine), the mail will be rejected for legal reasons
(we do not have the right to distribute BIOS images).

.. _real time channels:

Real time channels
------------------

Flashrom has real time channels where you have the chance to talk to people being involved or interested in the project.
Most of the discussion is about flashrom development, contributions, tech talk and user help.

You are welcome to join and discuss current and future flashrom development, ideas and contributions.

If you have a problem and would like to get help, don't ask for help. Instead, just explain your problem right away,
and make sure to describe the situation as much as possible, so that other people can understand you and provide meaningful answers.
Otherwise, others have to ask or guess the details of your problem, which is frustrating for both parties.

Should you need to paste lots of text (more than three lines), please use a `paste service <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastebin>`_.
For flashrom logs, feel free to use `paste.flashrom.org <https://paste.flashrom.org>`_.
Other good paste services are `ix.io <http://ix.io/>`_, `paste.rs <https://paste.rs/>`_, `bpaste.net <https://bpaste.net/>`_,
`gist.github.com <https://gist.github.com/>`_  and `dpaste.com <http://dpaste.com/>`_.

Questions on `coreboot <https://coreboot.org>`_, `OpenBIOS <http://www.openbios.info/>`_, firmware and related topics are welcome in **#coreboot** on the same server.

Discord
"""""""

Flashrom Discord channel is hosted on coreboot's server. Once you join, you will be able to see all coreboot's and flashrom's channels in one place.
To join, use the `invite link <https://discord.gg/dgcrkwVyeR>`_.

IRC
"""

You can join `#flashrom <irc://irc.libera.chat/#flashrom>`_
channel on the `Libera.chat <https://www.libera.chat/>`_ `IRC <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat>`_ network.
If you don't have an IRC client, you can use the Libera.chat `webchat <https://web.libera.chat/#flashrom>`_.

**#flashrom** channel is bridged to `Matrix <https://matrix.org/>`_.
If you would like to join, you can use `this invite link <https://matrix.to/#/#flashrom:libera.chat>`_.

Do note that IRC's nature has a significant effect on conversations. People from all over the world can join this channel
with many different cultures and timezones. Most people are in the `CET timezone <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_European_Time>`_,
so the channel may be very quiet during `CET nighttime <https://time.is/CET>`_.

If you receive no replies, *please be patient*.
After all, silence is better than getting replied with `"IDK" <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/IDK>`_.
Frequently, somebody knows the answer, but hasn't checked IRC yet. In any case, please *do not leave the channel while waiting for an answer!*
Since IRC does not store messages, replying to somebody who left the channel is *impossible*.

To have persistence on IRC, you can set up an `IRC bouncer <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Bouncer>`_
like `ZNC <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZNC>`_, or use `IRCCloud <https://www.irccloud.com/>`_.
Please **do not publish any logs** of this channel.

Most of the time, people use IRC on wider-than-tall screens. Because of this, consider that pressing the return key is expensive.
Instead of sending lots of tiny messages with only about two words, prefer using longer sentences, spaces and punctuation symbols.
If reading and understanding your messages is easy, replying to them is also easy.

*Note: the channel is not moderated or monitored by any of the current active maintainers.*

Dev meeting
-----------
Flashrom developers community runs an online meeting every two weeks.
The main purpose of the meeting is to discuss development plans, ideas,
current ongoing projects, pending patches, and sometimes organisational questions.

Note this meeting is NOT:

* troubleshooting session
* tech support forum
* user training session

For questions above, please use IRC or the mailing list.

Time of meeting
"""""""""""""""
It runs once every two weeks.

**IMPORTANT**: please calculate meeting time for your local timezone.

Between November and March (inclusive)

    **Wednesday 21:00-22:00 UTC+0**

    also known as

    | Wednesday 13:00-14:00 Pacific Standard Time UTC-8
    | Wednesday 22:00-23:00 Central European Time UTC+1
    | Thursday 8:00-9:00 Australian Eastern Daylight Time UTC+11

Between April and September (inclusive)

    **Thursday 6:00-7:00 UTC+0**

    also known as

    | Wednesday 23:00-midnight Pacific Daylight Time UTC-7
    | Thursday 8:00-9:00 Central European Summer Time UTC+2
    | Thursday 16:00-17:00 Australian Eastern Standard Time UTC+10

The last week of March and 4 weeks of October there are no meetings
This is because daylight saving time changes are happening on different dates in different locations, and setting up meeting time becomes too complicated.

FAQ
"""
**When is the next meeting?**

Look into the meeting notes `document <https://docs.google.com/document/d/18qKvEbfPszjsJJGJhwi8kRVDUG3GZkADzQSH6WFsKqw/edit?usp=sharing>`_.
The top entry, on the first page, with the date in the future, and empty list of attendees - is the next meeting.


**How to join the meeting?**

In the meeting notes `document <https://docs.google.com/document/d/18qKvEbfPszjsJJGJhwi8kRVDUG3GZkADzQSH6WFsKqw/edit?usp=sharing>`_,
on the top it says “to join, click the link”, click the link.


**Do I need an invitation to join the meeting?**

No, just join.


**Do I need to create an account anywhere?**

No, you can join without an account, and view/comment on the meeting doc without an account.


**How do I add a topic to the agenda?**

Add comments/suggestions on the meeting doc, and they will be accepted shortly after.