How to help

We are always happy to encourage new committers to the project. The Apache Software foundation requires that anyone to be a contributor, that he/she/it has signed the ICLA (Individual Contributor License Agreement). Find an overview, more information and how-tos here.

If you are a new developer to Turbine or even an existing developer, these are areas where you can take ownership and help complete. Please do not ask us how you can help, but rather specific questions about how you think that these items should be implemented. It is up to you to take initiative and provide solutions to the missing functionality described below. ;-)

It is always possible to take ownership of any portion of the project. The way to do this is to post a message to the turbine-dev mailing list. Just explain what you are wanting to work on or any ideas that you might have on the subject.

Documentation is *always* appreciated in any form. The documentation for Turbine exists in basically four forms.

XML formatted docs (xdoc) - This is used to generate the documentation on the Turbine site. The source for this documentation can be found in the xdocs directory in the source distribution. To submit additional documentation in this form or patches to existing documentation, please create an issue in our bug tracker using the "Site" component and attach the patch files (or new files).
Mailing list - The archives of user@turbine.apache.org and dev@turbine.apache.org are an excellent source of information for the project. Answering questions that are asked on the mailing list or simply posting information that might be of use to other Turbine users would be very welcome contribution to the project.
The Turbine Wiki another repository of documentation for the project. It contains development information, user documentation, how-to documents, discussion of new features, etc. Anyone can add new pages and edit existing pages very easily! This is perhaps the easiest way to contribute documentation (well, second only to the mailing lists).
The javadocs are another very important form of documentation for the project. Changes to this form of documentation should be in the form of patches. To submit them, create a new issue in our bug tracker and attach the patch files (or new files).

The documentation is probably the easiest area for anyone to contribute in. If you are new to Turbine and learning your way around, documenting what you learn and submitting it in any other the various forms would be appreciated.

Testing is another area in which help is always needed. This could consist of simply reporting problems that you run into using Turbine. It could also consist of submitting code to perform unit tests. Turbine uses JUnit and Cactus for testing. You can find examples in the src/test directory of the source distribution.

If you do discover a defect in the Turbine product, please create a defect issue in our bug tracker clearly describing the problem. If you can take the time to track down the source of the problem, it would certainly help speed the process of getting it corrected. Of course, actually fixing the problem and attaching a patch to the issue would be greatly appreciated.

You can also contribute to the project by enhancing existing functionality and/or adding new functionality. There is a current list of requested features on the Apache Wiki. Everyone is encouraged to take part in the discussion, design, and implementation.