There are many ways to get involved with Apache NetBeans (Incubating).
Talk with other users and NetBeans committers
Ask and answer user questions on the users@netbeans.incubator.apache.org mailing list (subscribe via users-subscribe@netbeans.incubator.apache.org). Ask and answer questions on StackOverflow.
Join the development mailing list at dev@netbeans.incubator.apache.org (subscribe via dev-subscribe@netbeans.incubator.apache.org)
Join NetBeans on Slack. Go to https://netbeans.signup.team, enter your e-mail address, and join in discussions going on there about/around NetBeans. Note that these are informal discussions and that important discussions and decisions around Apache NetBeans must happen on the dev@netbeans.incubator.apache.org mailing list. Slack and other non-official channels are fine for coffee machine style discussions, but nothing more.
Ask and answer questions and promote NetBeans on social media. We are on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Telegram and more.
Give feedback and contribute
Report bugs and request features on the issue tracker.
Contribute technical feedback on the dev@netbeans.incubator.apache.org mailing list, edit the Wiki or participate on the issue tracker.
Submit patches on the issue tracker or on the dev@netbeans.incubator.apache.org mailing list.
Look around
Introduce yourself. 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. Also, read about everyone else on the Who's Who. 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.
Remain up to date. The dev@netbeans.incubator.apache.org mailing list is where all announcements and discussions take place. Highlights and summaries are found on the blogs of members of the Apache NetBeans community. In particular, note these blog entries:
- https://blogs.oracle.com/geertjan/entry/netbeans_and_apache
- https://blogs.oracle.com/geertjan/entry/netbeans_and_apache1
Also, note the progress made in the "Proposed NetBeans Milestones" section at the end of this page: Apache Transition
Become a committer (and maybe a PPMC member)
The Committer, Member and (P)PMC Member terms, in particular, have very specific meanings in the Apache Software Foundation (see also https://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html), and need to be used appropriately to avoid confusion:
- Everyone who is listed at https://wiki.apache.org/incubator/NetBeansProposal can become an Apache NetBeans committer and PPMC (Podling Project Management Committee) member by submitting the required paperwork. 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.pdf. Under "notify project", please put NETBEANS. Under "preferred Apache id(s)", please put an ID of your choice, which does 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. NetBeans PPMC members should also join private@netbeans.incubator.apache.org (by sending a mail to private-subscribe@netbeans.incubator.apache.org) which is the PPMC's private list. Only things that really need to be private are discussed there, such as candidates for committership but not much more than that. As usual at the ASF, everything happens in the open unless really really required.
- Other community members can become Apache NetBeans committers (and maybe also PPMC members) once the NetBeans PPMC elects them to those roles. We will do that once we are a bit further in the process, based on people's merit as usual in Apache projects - you don't ask for committership but add value to the project and expect the PMC to recognize that and vote you in, in due time. At the time of this writing (November 2016 and still true in March 2017), the code has not been transferred yet, so we'll wait for people to be actually able to commit code to Apache NetBeans before electing new committers.
- Being a NetBeans committer or PPMC member does not make you an Apache Software Foundation (ASF) Member - that's a different status that's granted by existing Members to people who show an interest in and add value to the Foundation as a whole, see https://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#roles .