OpenSolaris

1. Overview
   1. About
   2. Contact
   3. FAQs
   4. Values
   5. Get Involved
   6. Get the Source
   7. Find Help
   8. Events
   9. News
   10. Blogs
   11. Chat
   12. Roadmap
   13. Site Map
   14. Archive

Improving the OpenSolaris project

The OpenSolaris project will only be a successful open source project if there is participation from a committed community. There are many ways to participate in the OpenSolaris project, and this page describes the primary ones that are currently available. Additional areas of participation will spring up as the project grows and matures.

Contributing Code

Your first step in getting involved with software development for the OpenSolaris project should be to join the Discussions and Communities already taking place. After you get a sense for what work is being done by others and a better idea of what you'd like to do, you can search the bug database for bugs/RFEs you want to work on and to see if someone else is already working on an idea you've had.

Some "bite-sized" bugs have been identified by the Solaris engineers. These bugs are small and self-contained, and we hope that they will be interesting to work on. To find them, search for oss-bite-size bugs.

If you have an idea for a new feature, or have found a interesting bug, you can file a bug/RFE using the "Report a Bug" form on http://bugs.opensolaris.org/, and others can work on the bug/RFE. If you want to work on the bug/RFE you filed, indicate that when you file it. Then send email to request-sponsor AT opensolaris DOT org describing the bug/RFE and a sponsor will volunteer to help you through the initial development processes.

If you want to work on an existing bug/RFE, contribution information is available on the request-sponsor table. Sun sponsors can watch this table to see what contributions are awaiting a sponsor. Contributors should check this table before starting work on a bug/RFE to see if someone has already submitted a fix for it. Contributors can also send email to request-sponsor AT opensolaris DOT org to ask for confirmation that no Sun engineer is already working on the bug/RFE.

When sending email to request-sponsor AT opensolaris DOT org request a sponsor, include the following information in your email:

• Bug/RFE ID
• Synopsis
• Your full name
• Number assigned to your Sun Contributor Agreement (see information below about submitting a Sun Contributor Agreement)

When it comes to actually contributing code -- from community members inside and outside of Sun -- you must complete the following high-level phases. The number of steps represented in these phases will vary depending on the size and complexity of the change.

• Development/Implementation
• Test
• Review: code review (required), design and architectural review (if needed)
• Documentation changes (if needed)

Please note that the OpenSolaris project is following the lead of other open source projects -- requiring contributors to jointly assign their copyright on contributed code. The Sun Contributor Agreement (SCA) gives Sun and the contributor joint copyright interests in the code: the contributor retains copyrights while also granting those rights to Sun as the open source project sponsor. The SCA is applicable to all products and projects owned or managed by Sun: signing it once means you can contribute code to any Sun-sponsored open source project. More detail, and the SCA itself, is available on the Sun Contributor Agreement page.

Refer to the Initial Development Processes document for detailed steps.

Documentation

The long term goal of Sun's Information Products department is to open source its Solaris feature documentation. In the interim, a Documentation community has been set up to broaden the involvement in this initiative.

• Join the conversation by subscribing to the OpenSolaris Documentation discussion list.
• Contribute comments to current Solaris documentation that you find on docs.sun.com. Your input will eventually be rolled into the open source documents.
• Work as a subject matter expert with current Solaris writers who will document features, bug fixes and features that you contribute to OpenSolaris.

In order to contribute to future OpenSolaris feature documentation, you will need to work through a sponsor. To obtain a sponsor, send a request through the OpenSolaris documentation discussion.

Testing

Test development, frameworks, and execution are all important aspects of high quality software engineering efforts. We've set up a Testing community devoted to discussing and planning initiatives such as:

• OpenSolaris Test Suites: Test suites and benchmarks used to test the Solaris OS will be open sourced so they can be used by OpenSolaris developers to test their code.
• OpenSolaris Test Development: Test developers will be able to develop selected OpenSolaris test suites and start new OpenSolaris test projects.
• Self-Service Testing: A self-service regression and performance test capability is being developed that will allow OpenSolaris developers to submit test runs and review results.
• Build / Test Farm: A build server and test machine farm where OpenSolaris developers can build and test their code on a range of platforms is planned.
• Unit Test Repository: OpenSolaris developers will be able to submit unit tests as part of the integration process. These unit tests will be included in OpenSolaris test suites.

Join the community to help define the test strategy and contribute tests for the OpenSolaris project and code base.