Participating in Apache NetBeans consists of the following steps:
- Join the mailing list. At the time of writing (November 2016), the only active mailing list is dev@netbeans.incubator.apache.org. This is the mailing list for all those who will be developing Apache NetBeans. In time, other mailing lists will become active, for those who will be using Apache NetBeans. The simplest way of participating in Apache NetBeans right now is to join the abovementioned mailing list, which enables you to follow the latest discussions and progress in the move of NetBeans from Oracle to Apache. To join, send an empty e-mail to this address:
dev-list@netbeans.incubator.apache.org - Become a committer.
- Everyone who is listed at https://wiki.apache.org/incubator/NetBeansProposal is an Apache NetBeans committer. For those in that list, the final step in becoming a committer is to send your iCLA (individual contributor license agreement) to Apache. Here it is: https://www.apache.org/licenses/icla.txt. Under "notify project", please put NETBEANS. Under "preferred Apache id(s)", please put an ID of your choice, which must not already exist (check here: http://people.apache.org/committer-index.html). Please print out the iCLA, complete it and sign it, scan it, and then e-mail the PDF file to secretary@apache.org. Once you have sent in your iCLA, you will receive a notification and your Apache ID. You will then be ready to commit code to Apache NetBeans, once the code has been transferred from Oracle. Everyone in this category should also join private@netbeans.incubator.apache.org (by sending a mail to private-list@netbeans.incubator.apache.org) – as few discussions as possible will take place there, since everything should ideally be discussed in the open only.
- Everyone who is not listed at https://wiki.apache.org/incubator/NetBeansProposal is not an Apache NetBeans committer yet. To become an Apache NetBeans committer, the Apache NetBeans community will need to vote you in. We will do that once we are a bit further in the process. Right now, at the time of writing (November 2016), the code has not been transferred yet, so let's wait on voting people into Apache NetBeans to the point where it makes sense, which will be when you can actually commit code to Apache NetBeans.
- Everyone who is listed at https://wiki.apache.org/incubator/NetBeansProposal is an Apache NetBeans committer. For those in that list, the final step in becoming a committer is to send your iCLA (individual contributor license agreement) to Apache. Here it is: https://www.apache.org/licenses/icla.txt. Under "notify project", please put NETBEANS. Under "preferred Apache id(s)", please put an ID of your choice, which must not already exist (check here: http://people.apache.org/committer-index.html). Please print out the iCLA, complete it and sign it, scan it, and then e-mail the PDF file to secretary@apache.org. Once you have sent in your iCLA, you will receive a notification and your Apache ID. You will then be ready to commit code to Apache NetBeans, once the code has been transferred from Oracle. Everyone in this category should also join private@netbeans.incubator.apache.org (by sending a mail to private-list@netbeans.incubator.apache.org) – as few discussions as possible will take place there, since everything should ideally be discussed in the open only.
- Introduce yourself. Whether or not you're a committer at this stage, and if you haven't done so yet and if you suspect others on the project might not know you yet, please send an introductory e-mail to the dev@netbeans.incubator.apache.org mailing list and then add details to the table on the Who's Who page so that everyone involved knows a little bit about you when you write to the mailing list and so on. To be able to edit that page, you will need a Confluence user/password, which is not the same thing as your Apache ID. Once you have a user account on Confluence, please send a mail to dev@netbeans.incubator.apache.org to ask for editing permissions for making changes to the Wiki. Once you have been given editing permissions, you're able to update the "Who's Who" page with your info. If you are not a committer, as described above, please put "Need Vote" in the table so that we can see who should be voted on as soon as we start voting.
After having done the above, at this stage, you've done all you can do, at this point. Participate in the discussions on the mailing list, give your opinion, and prepare yourself for the next stages once the code is transferred!