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Tigris is an open source project. That means that anyone can become a
member of the Tigris community and contribute.
The first step is to understand the reasons for contributing and why
they might be right for you. One main reason to contribute to an open
source project is because you want to use the resulting product and you
want that product to be the best it can be. Another reason to contribute
is to learn the technology: would you rather read about about the latest
technology or work hands-on to help make it? The open
source movement includes everyone from corporate IT architects, developers,
and testers, technical writers and independent consultants to students,
researchers, and hobbyists. Each group has its own reasons to contribute.
Here are some ways to contribute to the Tigris community:
- Use Tigris and discuss your experiences on a user mailing list.
Simply "lurking" on a mailing list is the first step to becoming a more
active member of the community.
- Report bugs using the Tigris's bug-tracking tools.
- Discuss development issues with other contributors on a developer's
mailing list.
- Get the source code or documentation and start making enhancements.
We feel that every contribution is equally important and
due credit will be given for all contributions.
The last item requires the most explanation. You can start by
downloading a tar-file archive of all the source code and taking a look at
it. The next step is to get the latest source code changes via
CVS. Find out about the latest changes via CVS.
The way most people contribute changes
is to email a "patch" to one of the Tigris "code
captains" (or "module owners"). These are developers who are responsible for certain
sections of the code (called modules). Once a code captain sees your contribution, he or
she will review it and integrate it into the source code repository.
When sent to a code captain or a mailing list, a patch message should
contain a Subject beginning with [PATCH] and a distinctive one-line
summary corresponding to the action item for that patch.
The patch should be created by using the diff -u command from the
original software file(s) to the modified software file(s). For example:
diff -u Main.java.orig Main.java
>> patchfile.txt
or
cvs diff -u Main.java >>
patchfile.txt
All patches necessary to address an action item should be concatenated
within a single patch message. If later modification to the patch proves
necessary, the entire new patch should be posted and not just the
difference between the two patches.
As the Tigris community evolves, more people will become code captains
and the process for contributing will surely evolve.
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