OpenSolaris

Participate in OpenSolaris

Use It

• Download the latest OpenSolaris release or the latest development build. You can also choose to run one of the many distributions based on OpenSolaris.
• Download source code. Pointers to build instructions will be available with download information. Or view source code online.

Join a Collective

 There are three types of collectives on opensolaris.org. Pick an area that interests you, find out what's going on in that area, subscribe to the mailing list(s) for the area of interest, start talking to people, and get involved.

• Community Groups: social groups whose members engage in open conversations, that endorse technical projects and that have representation in the governance process.
• Projects: collaborative technical efforts.
• User Groups: independently-run groups around the world that advocate for OpenSolaris.

Contribute

Packages

 Any OpenSolaris registered user can contribute packages to the OpenSolaris /pending and /contrib package repositories under the Package Web Site Terms of Use. Refer to the overivew and the OpenSolaris Source Juicer Contrib Process for detailed information and instructions.

Code

 The OpenSolaris project requires contributors to jointly assign their copyright on contributed code by signing and submitting a Sun Contributor Agreement. Refer to the SCA FAQ for answers to your questions.

 To get started with software development for the OpenSolaris project, read about the existing communities and projects on the site and join mailing lists associated with those in which you are interested. After you learn about work in progress and have an idea of what you'd like to do, you can:

• Look for bugs to fix and work through the request-sponsor program.
• Get involved in an existing project directly.
• Start a project.

 Some 'bite-sized' bugs have been identified by the Solaris engineers. These bugs are small and self-contained and are a good place to start. They are marked with the 'oss_bite_size' keyword and are found by searching Sun's bug database via bugs.opensolaris.org. See the current oss-bite-size bug list.

 You can also look in defect.opensolaris.org for bugs filed against projects currently under development.

 If you want to work an existing bug/RFE, even one you filed, send email to request DASH sponsor AT opensolaris DOT org. Be sure to include:

• the Bug ID,
• the bug synopsis,
• your full name,
• the number assigned to your contributor agreement

 Someone will respond on list to volunteer to sponsor your work.

 Code being contributed via the Request Sponsor program is tracked on the request-sponsor table. This table should be checked before requesting a sponsor to be sure work on it is not already in progress. Contributors can also send email to the request-sponsor list to ask for confirmation that no Sun engineer is already working on the particular bug/RFE.

 Your responsibilities with regard to contributing code include the following high-level phases (the number of steps in each phase will vary depending on the size and complexity of the change:

• development/implementation
• test
• reviews: code review (required); design and architectural review (if needed)
• documentation changes (if needed)

 Refer to the OpenSolaris Development Process document for more information.

 You can also join a project or start a new project. Refer to the instructions for starting a new project on the projects page.

Bug Reports

There are two bug-tracking mechanisms available on opensolaris.org:

• bugs.opensolaris.org allows the submission of bugs to Sun's internal bug database and searching a subset of bugs from that bug database.
• defect.opensolaris.org is a public Bugzilla database. Many projects being developed on opensolaris.org use this database, and users of Sun's OpenSolaris distributions are encouraged to use this database.

 For questions or discussion about specific code, the discussion list for the related project or community, or the opensolaris-code mailing list can be used.

Documentation

 The long term goal of Sun's Information Products department is to open source its Solaris feature documentation. In the interim, the Documentation community was 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.

Test

 Test development, frameworks, and execution are all important aspects of high quality software engineering efforts. The Testing community is 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.

Translations

 Visit the Internationalization and Localization Community Group to find information about how to get involved in multiple areas.

Other

 Efforts for and around the OpenSolaris project continue to grow outside of this website. Community efforts like blastwave.org, cuddletech, genunix.org, sunfreeware.com are examples.