Owner approval is based on OWNERS files located in the same repository and top of the merge-to branch of a patch set.
lines := (SPACE* line? SPACE* EOL)* line := "set" SPACE+ "noparent" | "per-file" SPACE+ globs SPACE* "=" SPACE* directives | "include" SPACE+ (project SPACE* ":" SPACE*)? filePath | comment | directive directives := directive (SPACE* "," SPACE* directive)* directive := email | "*" globs := glob (SPACE* "," SPACE* glob)* glob := [a-zA-Z0-9_-*?.]+ comment := "#" ANYCHAR* email := [^ @]+@[^ #]+ project := a Gerrit project name without space or column character filePath := a file path name without space or column character ANYCHAR := any character but EOL EOL := end of line characters SPACE := any white space character
An OWNERS file can include another file with the “include filePath” or “include project:filePath” line. When the “project:” is not specified, the OWNERS file's project is used. The included file is given with the “filePath”.
If the filePath starts with “/”, it is an absolute path starting from the project root directory. Otherwise, the filePath is added a prefix of the current including file directory and then searched from the (given) project root directory.
per-file globs = directives applies each directive only to files matching any of the globs. Number of globs does not need to be equal to the number of directives.
A ‘glob’ does not contain directory path.
The email addresses should belong to registered Gerrit users. A group mailing address can be used as long as it is associated to a Gerrit user account.
The * directive means that no owner is specified for the directory or file. Any user can approve that directory or files. All other specified owner email addresses for the same directory or files are ignored.
# A comment starts with # to EOL; leading spaces are ignored. # Empty lines are ignored. set noparent # Do not inherit owners defined in parent directories. # By default, parent directories are searched upwardly, and all # found OWNERS files are included until a "set noparent" is found. include P1/P2:/core/OWNERS # include file core/OWNERS of project P1/P2 include ../base/OWNERS # include <this_owner_file_dir>/../base/OWNERS per-file *.c,*.cpp = x@g.com,y@g.com,z@g.com # x@, y@ and z@ are owners of all *.c or *.cpp files per-file *.c = c@g.com # c@, x@, y@ and z@ are owners of all *.c files per-file *.xml,README:* # no owner for *.xml and README files abc@g.com # one default owner xyz@g.com # another default owner # abc@ and xyz@ are owners for all files in this directory, # except *.c, *.cpp, *.xml, and README files