Review a change

This document provides instructions on how to review a change. Keep in mind the following criteria for a valid change:

  • Does this change fit within this project's stated purpose?
  • Is this change valid within the project's existing architecture?
  • Does this change introduce design flaws that could cause problems in the future?
  • Does this change follow the best practices that have been established for this project?
  • Is this change a good way to perform the described function?
  • Does this change introduce any security or instability risks, or break any existing apps?

For additional information on reviewing a change, see the Reviewing a change section of the Gerrit documentation.

If you are assigned to be an reviewer for a change, you should receive an email with a link to the change. Follow these steps to review and review the change:

  1. Click the email's link to the change. Gerrit's Change Info screen is displayed. This screen provides a description of the change, identifies the contributor of the change and all reviewers, and provides a list of the files associated with the change.

  2. Read the change description to understand the objective of the change.

  3. Click a file to review the changes in the file. The file opens in a two pane comparison screen with the existing file on the left and the file with proposed changes on the right. To review the file:

    1. Use your mouse to highlight (click + drag) the portion of code for which you have a comment or question. The message "Press c to comment" appears.

    2. Press c. A draft comment box appears.

    3. Enter your comment or question and click SAVE.

  4. Click the change's unique number (upper left side of the screen) to return to the Change Info screen.

  5. Continue reviewing each file in the change.

  6. When you are done reviewing all of the files in the change, return to the Change Info screen and click REPLY. The Submit requirement votes screen appears.

  7. Chose one of the following scores for the change:

    • +1 Looks good to me, but someone else must also approve.

    • 0 No score

    • -1 I would prefer this is not submitted as is, there are things to fix.

    • -2 This change shouldn't be submitted

  8. Click REPLY to send your comments and score to developer of the change.

If there are issues to fix, the developer fixes them and asks for you to review the fixes. Otherwise, you are done reviewing the change.