1 <html devsite> 2 <head> 3 <title>Project Roles</title> 4 <meta name="project_path" value="/_project.yaml" /> 5 <meta name="book_path" value="/_book.yaml" /> 6 </head> 7 <body> 8 <!-- 9 Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project 10 11 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 12 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 13 You may obtain a copy of the License at 14 15 http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 16 17 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 18 distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 19 WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 20 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 21 limitations under the License. 22 --> 23 24 25 <p>The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) includes individuals working in a variety 26 of roles. Google is responsible for Android product management 27 and the engineering process for the core framework and platform; however, 28 the project considers contributions from any source, not just Google. This 29 page describes the kinds of roles that interested parties can take on.</p> 30 <p>Anyone who is interested in exploring and contributing to Android can use the 31 Android Open Source Project resources. Anyone can join the mailing lists, ask 32 questions, contribute patches, report bugs, look at submitted patches, and use 33 the tools. To get started with the Android code, see <a href="/source/contributing.html">Contributing</a>.</p> 34 <h2 id="contributor">Contributor</h2> 35 <p>"Contributors" are those making contributions to the AOSP source code, 36 including both employees of Google or other companies, as well as individual 37 developers who are contributing to Android on their own behalf. There is no 38 distinction between contributors who are employed by Google and those who are 39 not; all engineers use the same tools (git, repo, and gerrit), 40 follow the same code review process, and are subject 41 to the same requirements on code style and so on.</p> 42 <h2 id="developer">Developer</h2> 43 <p>"Developers" are engineers writing applications that run on Android 44 devices. There is often little difference in skillset between a developer 45 and a contributor. But AOSP uses "developer" to distinguish between 46 engineers using the platform and those contributing to it. Developers 47 (along with users) are the "customers" of the platform the contributors 48 create. As such, we talk about developers a lot, though this isn't technically 49 a separate role in the AOSP per se.</p> 50 <h2 id="verifier">Verifier</h2> 51 <p>"Verifiers" are responsible for testing change requests. After individuals 52 have submitted a significant amount of high-quality code to the project, the 53 project leads might invite them to become verifiers.</p> 54 <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> At this time, verifiers act similarly to approvers.</p> 55 <h2 id="approver">Approver</h2> 56 <p>"Approvers" are experienced members of the project who have demonstrated their 57 design skills and have made significant technical contributions to the 58 project. In the code-review process, an approver decides whether to include or 59 exclude a change. Project leads (who are typically employed by Google) choose 60 the approvers, sometimes promoting to this position verifiers who have 61 demonstrated their expertise within a specific project.</p> 62 <h2 id="project-leads">Project Lead</h2> 63 <p>Android consists of a number of sub-projects; you can see these in the git 64 repository as individual .git files. "Project leads" are senior contributors who 65 oversee the engineering for individual Android projects. Typically these project 66 leads are Google employees. A project lead for an individual project is 67 responsible for the following:</p> 68 <ul> 69 <li> 70 <p>Lead all technical aspects of the project, including the project roadmap, 71 development, release cycles, versioning, and quality assurance (QA).</p> 72 </li> 73 <li> 74 <p>Ensure the project is tested by QA in time for scheduled Android platform 75 releases.</p> 76 </li> 77 <li> 78 <p>Designate Verifiers and Approvers for submitted patches.</p> 79 </li> 80 <li> 81 <p>Be fair and unbiased while reviewing changes. Accept or reject patches 82 based on technical merit and alignment with the Android strategy.</p> 83 </li> 84 <li> 85 <p>Review changes in a timely manner and make best efforts to communicate 86 when changes are not accepted.</p> 87 </li> 88 <li> 89 <p>Optionally maintain a web site for the project for information and 90 documents specific to the project.</p> 91 </li> 92 <li> 93 <p>Act as a facilitator in resolving technical conflicts.</p> 94 </li> 95 <li> 96 <p>Be a public face for the project and the go-to person for questions 97 related to the project.</p> 98 </li> 99 </ul> 100 101 </body> 102 </html> 103
