Developers Developers Developers!
The QVD project can always benefit from developer input. If you know a bit about Linux, Perl, Catalyst or PostgreSQL, you are already in a position to contribute. We take developers very seriously and keep an eye on contributions and patches. We want to grow the QVD team, so finding developers who write good code and are fired up about working in an open-source community is the best place for us to look for new talent.
If you want to get started, take a look at the source code and see whether you have anything to offer. If you think that you could improve on things, you can sign our Contributors Agreement and send us a scanned copy and we will provide you with access to our SVN repository, along with other information that you may find helpful to get you started.
Testers
Good code is as much in the writing as in the testing. The quicker we can find an iron out bugs, the better for everyone. You can help us by testing the product, reporting bugs, sending patches and requesting enhancements. We’re busy formalizing our testing procedure, so that we can send dedicated testers a script that they can follow to work through each of the major parts of the product. If you have experience in formal test procedures, or have a background in dedicated testing, you could really help us out. By getting fully engaged in the testing process, you get access to new features before they are released and will get mention in the credits for the product.
If you’re happy to work on the released product and just report back to us, we’d very much appreciate your help. If you want to get involved in the more formal testing and have access to beta packages before they are released, then you will need to sign our Contributors Agreement and send us a scanned copy. Once we have you on file, we will give you access to all of the information that you need to get started.
Packaging
If you’re into packaging, you might be able to help us port QVD to your preferred distribution. Making sure that all dependencies are met, that the software is installed into the correct places and functions properly for a particular distribution is a challenge. We’ve nailed it for Ubuntu and SuSE, but if QVD is really going to grow, we want to see it running on all flavours of Linux.
If you can port our software to another distribution, let us know about it and we will help to support your efforts in maintaining the port.
Documentation
Documentation is essential. Too many open-source projects remain undocumented or allow documentation to go out of date. While we have a dedicated technical author working flat out to keep documents up to date, often things get missed or screenshots fall out of date.
We document everything using Asciidoc so all you need is a simple text editor and some screenshot capturing software. By joining us to work on documentation, you will have access to our SVN repository so that you can access existing document sources to update them. Sign our Contributors Agreement and you can get started right away!
Documentation is not just limited to manuals and guides. We want to get proactive with screencasts and other video content. If you have experience with this, perhaps you can help here too. Send us links to uploaded video content and we will link to them directly from our site, or host the content for you if necessary.
Benefits
Contributors to QVD should not remain behind the curtain. We want to give you the recognition that you deserve. Once you have joined up with us and actively started contributing, you will appear in the credits for the software and we will be happy to provide references for you.
As QVD grows, more opportunities will open up in the core QVD team, and the best way to get a place working full time on the project is to already be contributing to it. We’ll look out for top contributors and contact them if there is a position available within the team.