1 page.title=Project Roles 2 @jd:body 3 4 <!-- 5 Copyright 2013 The Android Open Source Project 6 7 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 8 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 9 You may obtain a copy of the License at 10 11 http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 12 13 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 14 distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 15 WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 16 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 17 limitations under the License. 18 --> 19 <div id="qv-wrapper"> 20 <div id="qv"> 21 <h2>In this document</h2> 22 <ol id="auto-toc"> 23 </ol> 24 </div> 25 </div> 26 <p>The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) includes individuals working in a variety 27 of roles. Google is responsible for Android product management 28 and the engineering process for the core framework and platform; however, 29 the project considers contributions from any source, not just Google. This 30 page describes the kinds of roles that interested parties can take on.</p> 31 <p>Anyone who is interested in exploring and contributing to Android can use the 32 Android Open Source Project resources. Anyone can join the mailing lists, ask 33 questions, contribute patches, report bugs, look at submitted patches, and use 34 the tools. To get started with the Android code, see <a href="{@docRoot}source/contributing.html">Contributing</a>.</p> 35 <h2 id="contributor">Contributor</h2> 36 <p>"Contributors" are those making contributions to the AOSP source code, 37 including both employees of Google or other companies, as well as individual 38 developers who are contributing to Android on their own behalf. There is no 39 distinction between contributors who are employed by Google and those who are 40 not; all engineers use the same tools (git, repo, and gerrit), 41 follow the same code review process, and are subject 42 to the same requirements on code style and so on.</p> 43 <h2 id="developer">Developer</h2> 44 <p>"Developers" are engineers writing applications that run on Android 45 devices. There is often little difference in skillset between a developer 46 and a contributor. But AOSP uses "developer" to distinguish between 47 engineers using the platform and those contributing to it. Developers 48 (along with users) are the "customers" of the platform the contributors 49 create. As such, we talk about developers a lot, though this isn't technically 50 a separate role in the AOSP per se.</p> 51 <h2 id="verifier">Verifier</h2> 52 <p>"Verifiers" are responsible for testing change requests. After individuals 53 have submitted a significant amount of high-quality code to the project, the 54 project leads might invite them to become verifiers. <em>Note: at this 55 time, verifiers act similarly to approvers.</em></p> 56 <h2 id="approver">Approver</h2> 57 <p>"Approvers" are experienced members of the project who have demonstrated their 58 design skills and have made significant technical contributions to the 59 project. In the code-review process, an approver decides whether to include or 60 exclude a change. Project leads (who are typically employed by Google) choose 61 the approvers, sometimes promoting to this position verifiers who have 62 demonstrated their expertise within a specific project.</p> 63 <h2 id="project-leads">Project Lead</h2> 64 <p>Android consists of a number of sub-projects; you can see these in the git 65 repository as individual .git files. "Project leads" are senior contributors who 66 oversee the engineering for individual Android projects. Typically these project 67 leads are Google employees. A project lead for an individual project is 68 responsible for the following:</p> 69 <ul> 70 <li> 71 <p>Lead all technical aspects of the project, including the project roadmap, 72 development, release cycles, versioning, and quality assurance (QA).</p> 73 </li> 74 <li> 75 <p>Ensure the project is tested by QA in time for scheduled Android platform 76 releases.</p> 77 </li> 78 <li> 79 <p>Designate Verifiers and Approvers for submitted patches.</p> 80 </li> 81 <li> 82 <p>Be fair and unbiased while reviewing changes. Accept or reject patches 83 based on technical merit and alignment with the Android strategy.</p> 84 </li> 85 <li> 86 <p>Review changes in a timely manner and make best efforts to communicate 87 when changes are not accepted.</p> 88 </li> 89 <li> 90 <p>Optionally maintain a web site for the project for information and 91 documents specific to the project.</p> 92 </li> 93 <li> 94 <p>Act as a facilitator in resolving technical conflicts.</p> 95 </li> 96 <li> 97 <p>Be a public face for the project and the go-to person for questions 98 related to the project.</p> 99 </li> 100 </ul> 101
