The Difference Between a Committer and a Contributor
The Opencast Matterhorn project welcomes all those who are interested in contributing in concrete ways. Contributions can take many forms, and there are various mechanisms by which one can contribute (signing up for the mailing list or browsing our issue tracker are both great places to start). Anyone can become a contributor, and there is no expectation of future commitment to the project, no specific skill requirements, and no selection process. Some of the contributions individuals have given in the past include:
- Supporting new users (users are often the best people to support new users)
- Reporting bugs
- Identifying requirements
- Providing design and pedagogical direction
- Adding features and fixing bugs
- Assisting with project infrastructure
- Writing documentation
As contributors gain experience and familiarity with the project they generally find that making such contributions becomes easier. With a sufficient level of participation and commitment to the project, contributors may be nominated by existing committers to join the committer body.
While similar in day-to-day activities as contributors, committers have shown a dedicated interest in supporting the project over the longer term. Committership allows individuals to more easily carry on with their project related activities by giving them direct access to the projects resources. In Matterhorn, the project's resources include not only code, but also designs, documents, and other non-code resources. As such, we welcome and value committers both in the traditional sense (e.g. programmers) as well as in the broader sense (e.g. people who are committed to the project).
The committer body is the group of individuals who drive, manage, and govern the product. They make releases, set policy, and determine the both the quality and feature-set of Matterhorn.
Responsibilities of a Committer
Committers responsibilities are centered around two key principles, that there is a commitment to excellence and success, and that there is a commitment to being active and involved. These commitments are demonstrated through activities such as:
- Being involved in quality assurance of the source code, documentation, designs, and other project pieces
- Being active and engaging in the broader community, including supporting adopters and providing prompt feedback
- Knowing when a change is beyond your ability and asking for help
- Keeping informed of project governance and direction
- Fostering a colegial environment between the group of committers
- 20% of the time a committer invests to the project is to be allocated for general purposes, i.e. work not directly associated with the committer's individual or institutional concerns.
All committers must signed a CLA. The privileges and rights of being a committer do not come into effect until a CLA has been received and processed.
Rights of a Committer
Committers the following rights they can exercise.
- Project Artifact Modification. Committers have the right to make changes to the Matterhorn source code, design documents, and other resources keeping in mind the responsibilities outlined above as well as the working culture of the committer body.
- Proposing Change. Committers have the right to put forth proposals to the committer body to change governance or project direction. Sharing non-confidential proposals with the broader community by sending messages to the matterhorn project list is encouraged.
- Voting. Committers have the right to vote on proposals made to the committer body, and have the right to vote on these proposals confidentially via the committers@opencastproject.org mailing list if they so choose. Also, the earn voting rights (for their institutions) to the Opencast Board.
How to Become a Committer
Committers must be recommended by existing committers and pass a vote of the committer body. Please follow the guidelines in the Matterhorn governance document and the bylaws when proposing new committers.
Losing Committer Status
Committer status can be lost through any of the methods below:
- Committer Emeritus. By being absent or inactive for a period of six months or more, or by request, a committer enters emeritus status. No vote is required to enter this state, and committer status can be restored just by making an inquiry to the project infrastructure group. While in emeritus, committers lose access to project resources (e.g. wiki and svn write access), as well as lose the ability to vote and engage in discussion on the committers mailing list. Committers will be informed by a member of the infrastructure group via email one week before their status is revoked.
- Revocation of Commit Privileges. A committer may make a proposal to remove an individual from the committer body. Discussion and voting happen on the confidential committers mailing list, and the committer in question is not entitled to a vote (though they do get to participate in the discussion).
