Get Involved¶

If you are new to Apache and open source and would like to learn more about how to work in open source, check this page.

The Apache Etch project is pleased about any contributions like documentation, source code, bug fixes or feedback. The following infos give you some suggestions on how you can get involved into Apache Etch.

• Subscribe to the mailing lists. If you are interested in getting involved at the user level, subscribe to the user mailing list. If you are interested in the development of Etch, then subscribe to the developer list.
• Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/apacheetch
• Help answer questions posted to the user mailing list for areas that you are familiar with. Your user experience can be very valuable to other users as well as developers on the project.
• Contribute to feature development. Just let the community know what you would like to work on. It is as easy as that.
• Identify JIRAs in the area that you are interested and provide patches.
• The source is maintained in Apache's subversion. Information to the project source code is available here.
• Contribute to the user or developer documentation or website. Contribute updates to the Apche CMS content here, create a patch and attach it to a JIRA issue. More infos about the Apache CMS can be found here.
• If in doubt about where to start, send a note to the mailing list and mention your area of interest. Any questions are welcome. We would like you to be involved.
• Provide Feedback: What is working well? What is not? Any help is good. Be part of the community.

Reporting an Issue or Asking for New Features¶

Please use Apache's JIRA system to report bugs or request new features. First time users will need to create a login.

Search the existing JIRAs to see if what you want to create is already there. If not, create a new one. Make sure JIRAs are categorized correctly using JIRA categories and are created under the correct component area. Please include as much information as possible in your JIRA to help resolve the issue quicker. This can include version of the software used, platforms running on, steps to reproduce, test case, details of your requirement or even a patch if you have one.

You can always propose a release and drive the release with the content that you want. Another way to get a JIRA into a release is by providing a patch or working with other community members (volunteers) to help you get the problem fixed. You can also help by providing test cases.

In general, the best attempt is made to include as many JIRAs as possible depending on the level of community help. The voting mechanism in the JIRA system can be used to raise the importance of a JIRA to the attention of the committers. Adding comments in the JIRA would help the committers to understand why a JIRA is important to include in a given release.

How to Submitting a Patch¶

Please follow the steps below to create a patch. It will be reviewed and committed by a committer in the project.

• Perform a full build with all tests enabled for the module the fix is for. Specific build procedures vary by sub-project.
• Confirm that the problem is fixed and include a test case where possible to help the person who is applying the patch to verify the fix.
• Generate the patch using svn diff command as follows:

      svn diff file.java > file.patch

• Try to give your patch files meaningful names, including the JIRA number
• Add your patch file as an attachment to the associated JIRA issue. You can do this by clicking on the 'Patch Available' box in the screen where the patch is being submitted.