oneDNN Design Documents / RFCs

The purpose of the RFC process is to communicate the intent to make library-wide changes, get the feedback prior to the actual implementation, increase the transparency on why and how the decisions are made, and improve the alignment between different teams involved in oneDNN development.

This branch contains design documents (RFCs) that are approved for implementation in oneDNN.

Document Style

The design documents are stored in the rfcs directory.

• Each RFC is stored in a separate subdirectory rfcs/<YYYMMDD>-descriptive-but-short-name.

  • There must be a README.md file that contains the main RFC itself.

  • The directory can contain other supporting files, such as images, tex formulas, and sub-proposals / sub-RFCs.

• The RFC is written in markdown. The width of the text should be limited by 80 symbols, unless there is a need to violate this rule, e.g. because of long links or wide tables.

• The document structure should follow the RFC template.

  • It is also recommended to read through existing RFCs to better understand the general writing style and required elements.

RFC Ratification Process

Before submitting an RFC, it might be helpful to have a preliminary discussion on the idea with oneDNN contributors. Regular GitHub issues could be used for the discussion.

The RFC life-cycle is:

1. A design author writes up a design and opens a PR to the rfcs branch. The PR should be labeled as an RFC and contain the short description of the objective. It is quite handy if the PR description contains a link to the RFC directory that will automatically render the RFC's README.md.

2. RFCs from external parties require a sponsor from oneDNN maintainers to guide them to completion (either approval or rejection). The sponsor will be assigned to the PR.

3. RFC discussions take place in comments sections in the PRs. RFC owners continuously update the design until all the issues are resolved.

4. To accept the RFC, at least two approvals from oneDNN maintainers (excluding the author of the proposal) are required. Once general consensus is reached and the approvals are in place, the RFC is merged to the branch.