• Help out
 

Contributions are welcome!

Contributions (code, docs, issue reports, ...) are very welcome. Feed-back and contributions to our code help to improve our open source project. So we really appreciate it - even when we forget to say it or when we bounce issues.

However...

Well-formed patches are more welcome

Well-formed patches get priority because those issues are easier to solve. It's the fastest way to get an issue fixed! Here's what defines a well-formed patch:

Create a JIRA issue

Make the title self-explaining and the summary helpfull. Click on Watch it so you know about modifications.

Make the modifications

  • Update before making the modifications - to avoid creating a stale patch.
  • All modifications should only apply to the current issue: make sure to separate patches for different issues.
  • Follow our conventions.
  • Test the modifications thoroughly: bouncing a patch back and forth due to small bugs slows down the contribution process. It also hurts your credibility.
  • Write javadocs if you create a new class or method.
  • Consider writing a unit test.

Create a patch

  • Create a patch from the project root and name it the JIRA issue number:
    svn diff > RCP-123.patch

    Note: you can also do this visually with some Subversion clients (TortoiseSVN, ...)

    Attach that file to the JIRA issue.

  • A developer will review your patch. Feel free to poke the developer list to a maximum of once every 2 weeks if no developer has reviewed your well-formed patch yet, so it doesn't go stale.

    If the proposed patch isn't a good solution, the developer will bounce it by adding a comment on the JIRA issue. Feel free to debate or add an improved patch (RCP-123_1.patch). Otherwise he'll apply it like this:

    patch -p0 < RCP-123.patch

    Note: he can also do this visually with some Subversion clients (TortoiseSVN, ...)

Credits

Once you've created a couple of succesfully resolved issues, feel free to make an issue which adjusts the /pom.xml to list you as a contributor.

Becoming a developer with commit access

To keep the project consistent, commit access isn't granted easily. Ussually it's a current developer that proposes to the others to invite you. You might get an invite to join the project as a developer with commit access if:

  • You've created a good number of approved, good patches.
  • You have a long term intrest to work on our project.
  • You wrote a mail to the dev list with a very short bio. Experience in other open source projects really helps.
 
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