1 page.title=People and Roles 2 doc.type=source 3 @jd:body 4 <p>The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) includes individuals working in a variety 5 of roles. As noted in <a href="{@docRoot}about/philosophy.html">Our 6 Philosophy</a>, Google is responsible for Android product management 7 and the engineering process for the core framework and platform; however, 8 the project considers contributions from any source, not just Google. This 9 page describes the kinds of roles that interested parties can take on.</p> 10 <p>Anyone who is interested in exploring and contributing to Android can use the 11 Android Open Source Project resources. Anyone can join the mailing lists, ask 12 questions, contribute patches, report bugs, look at submitted patches, and use 13 the tools. To get started with the Android code, see <a 14 href="{@docRoot}source/index.html">Get Involved</a>.</p> 15 16 <h2>Contributor</h2> 17 <p>A "Contributor" is anyone making contributions to the AOSP source code, 18 including both employees of Google or other companies, as well as external 19 developers who are contributing to Android on their own behalf. There is no 20 distinction between Contributors who are employed by Google, and those who are 21 not: all engineers use the same tools (<code>git</code>, <code>repo</code>, 22 and <code>gerrit</code>), follow the same code review process, and are subject 23 to the same requirements on code style and so on.</p> 24 <p/> 25 26 <h2>Developer</h2> 27 <p>A "Developer" is an engineer writing applications that run on Android 28 devices. There is, of course, no difference in skillset between a "Developer" 29 and a "Contributor", but AOSP uses "Developer" to distinguish between 30 engineers using the platform and those contributing to it. Developers are 31 (along with end users) the "customers" of the platform that the Contributors 32 create. As such, we talk about Developers a lot, though this isn't technically 33 a separate role in the AOSP <i>per se.</i></p> 34 <p/> 35 36 <h2>Verifier</h2> 37 <p>"Verifiers" are responsible for testing change requests. After individuals 38 have submitted a significant amount of high-quality code to the project, the 39 Project Leads might invite them to become Verifiers.</p><p><i>Note: at this 40 time, generally Verifiers are the same as Approvers.</i></p> 41 <p/> 42 43 <h2>Approver</h2> 44 "Approvers" are experienced members of the project who have demonstrated their 45 design skills and have made significant technical contributions to the 46 project. In the code-review process, an Approver decides whether to include or 47 exclude a change. Project Leads (who are typically employed by Google) choose 48 the Approvers, sometimes promoting to this position Verifiers who have 49 demonstrated their expertise within a specific project.</p> 50 <p/> 51 52 <h2>Project Leads</h2> 53 <p>Android consists of a number of sub-projects; you can see these in the git 54 repository, as individual .git files. Tech Leads are senior Contributors who 55 oversee the engineering for individual Android projects. Typically these tech 56 leads will be Google employees. A Project Lead for an individual project is 57 responsible for the following:</p> 58 <ul> 59 <li>Lead all technical aspects of the project; for example, the project 60 roadmap, development, release cycles, versioning, and QA.</li> 61 <li>Ensure that the project is QA-ed in time for scheduled Android platform 62 releases.</li> 63 <li>Designate Verifiers and Approvers for submitted patches.</li> 64 <li>Be fair and unbiased while reviewing changes. Accept or reject patches 65 based on technical merit and alignment with the Android strategy.</li> 66 <li>Review changes in a timely manner and make best efforts to communicate 67 when changes are not accepted.</li> 68 <li>Optionally maintain a web site for the project for information and 69 documents specific to the project.</li> 70 <li>Act as a facilitator in resolving technical conflicts.</li> 71 <li>Be a public face for the project and the go-to person for questions 72 related to the project.</li> 73 </ul> 74
