best practices for contributors

Posted by Si Chen-2 on Jun 27, 2006; 6:08pm
URL: http://ofbiz.116.s1.nabble.com/best-practices-for-contributors-tp168876.html

Ok, so as a follow up to the write up of guidelines for committers, I  
thought we should have some guildelines for contributors as well to  
help them work with the project.

1.  Send in a signed ICLA to Apache.

2.  Follow coding conventions.

3.  Install the OFBIZ Subversion client configuration file (where is  
this?)

4.  Discuss your features with the community.  What are you trying to  
implement, and how are you planning to do it?  This is especially  
important if you are new to the project.

5.  Write clear, well-commented and understandable code.  Don't take  
shortcuts, especially around variable names and error or warning  
messages.  Use understandable data structures.  Remember, somebody  
else will be working with your code down the road.

6.  Start out with small contributions which are easier to review.  
In the process, get familiar with the project's coding style and  
"thought process."

7.  Put your contributions on JIRA instead of emailing it directly to  
the committers, so everybody can review and comment on it.

8.  Get other members of the community to try your patch.  Write the  
users list and tell them what you've done and ask them to try it out  
and vote for it.  This would help the committers when they are  
reviewing your patches.


Si