For many years, we’ve kept the existing mechanisms for the ECA validation process running without deep changes in the flow, building a solid foundation for the platform. As we look forward, we are introducing meaningful changes to the system, aiming to improve the committer experience.
To that end, in the next month we will be introducing a new system to streamline the on-boarding experience of new developers as a first step in these changes!
Automated assistance comments
To help new users onboard to projects and reduce strain on committers and project leads in getting new collaborators up to speed, we are introducing a new automated comment system in GitHub. These comments will be posted during the validation process directly to the PR to make the validation issues easier to find and address. Here’s an example of what new contributors will see.
Hi {username} — thank you for your contribution!
The Eclipse Contributor Agreement (ECA) check has failed for this pull request for the following reason(s):
- Committing user must have an Eclipse Account
To resolve this, please:
- Sign in or create an Eclipse Foundation account on the Eclipse Foundation Accounts site
- Ensure your GitHub username is linked to your Eclipse account under the "Link GitHub Account" tab in the Edit Profile section
- Complete and submit the ECA form
Once done, push a new commit (or rebase) to re-trigger the ECA validation.
If you believe you've already completed these steps, please double-check your account settings or report an issue to the Eclipse Foundation Helpdesk.
Thanks again for your contribution!
This works as an addition to the current solution and doesn’t replace systems like the ECA validation status page. These systems are meant to work together to provide as much flexibility as possible while also simplifying the process for small, easy-to-fix issues.
What’s next?
This new automated system is the start of improvements to the ECA validation systems within the Eclipse Foundation ecosystem, with many more to follow! Some of the other improvements we are planning include switching the GitLab validation process to mirror the one on GitHub, introducing the automated comments in GitLab, and improving the revalidation process on all platforms.
We'd welcome your input on the Epic and related sub-issues on the Eclipse Foundation GitLab instance, where all of our progress towards this initiative is being tracked. New ideas and feedback on existing plans are encouraged as we aim to provide real value to our community. Every one of these improvements is aimed at the same thing: a contributor opening their first PR, hitting a failed check, and knowing exactly what to do next.
