How to contribute

14319KevinH · Post by **14319KevinH** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:32 am

We love contributions. This question has come up a few times so I thought I'd clarify how it works. For contributions you need to sign our contribution agreement and fax a copy in before we can take code. Just a step we need to take to keep our IP clean and protect the license. This is pretty simple, and you can get the form here:

Once">http://www.zimbra.com/license/contribut ... ement.html
Once you do this you'll get a nice little logo on your Forum user name and if you'd like I'll send you some Zimbra wear (hat, shirt, or something) after your first significant contribution.

7323graffiti · Post by **7323graffiti** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:00 am

Can I sign the contribution agreement via email? We dont have fax machine around, not to mention that fax something from my place to north america costs a lot of money.

smies · Post by **smies** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 1:35 pm

Can a bug fix be accepted?

14319KevinH · Post by **14319KevinH** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:59 pm

[quote user="smies"]Can a bug fix be accepted?[/QUOTE]
In general if it's more than a line or two we need to have a signed contribution agreement. It's not something we like but in light of all the SCO type lawsuits going on in Open Source these days it's a necessary evil. We hope you understand.

smies · Post by **smies** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:35 pm

I understand. When I have a significant contribution I will sure sign the agreement. But untill then I am not going to make all the trouble to fax to the other side of the world

.

4338Chouser · Post by **4338Chouser** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:50 am

I've got a couple fixes here that I'd like to contribute. They total less than three lines changed, but they fix real bugs. Is there somewhere I can send them to see if you're even interested before I go through the faxing-and-mailing process or if that process is even necessary for such minor changes?
--Chouser

StefanD · Post by **StefanD** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:56 am

I think the best way is to post them in bugzilla.

phoenix · Post by **phoenix** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:37 am

[quote user="4338Chouser"]I've got a couple fixes here that I'd like to contribute. They total less than three lines changed, but they fix real bugs. Is there somewhere I can send them to see if you're even interested before I go through the faxing-and-mailing process or if that process is even necessary for such minor changes?
--Chouser[/QUOTE]

As StefanD has said, bugzilla is the place for them. Do a search first to see if they've been listed or are already fixed in an upcoming release, the address for bugzilla is http://bugzilla.zimbra.com/

kiwicmc · Post by **kiwicmc** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:36 am

What is the best procedure announcing forthcoming enhancements to Zimbra? We have a number planned, including hooks on events such as mail arrival (in particular meeting requests) and calendar saves.
As a selfish first instance I'd like to reduce duplicated effort from both Zimbra and the OSS community and our own efforts. But I'd also like to garner comment from developers so that we may make an enhancement that meets approval from Zimbra so that any changes we make have a chance of being incorporated back into the main product.
And obviously we'd sign up to the contributors agreement and make source available on our own servers to adhere to the Zimbra license.
What I was thinking was pushing out some of our design documents to this forum, then announcing when we're done. Is this the right way of doing things?
We've worked on a few OSS projects but none with as big a community or company behind the project as this.
Regards,

Chris

14319KevinH · Post by **14319KevinH** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:12 am

We have a general roadmap available but for specific questions it's best to just ask. We will include contributions that are in line with our coding style/quality and pass the review of the team here. The smaller and more focused the patch the better. Large changes that disturb the code base will be harder to consume. A good vehicle to so this is file a bug and attach the patch in bugzilla.