The roles and responsibilities that people can assume in the project are based on merit. Everybody can help no matter what their role. Those who have been long term or valuable contributors to the project obtain the right to vote and commit directly to the source repository.

Users

Users are the people who use the products of the Project. People in this role aren't contributing code, but they are using the products, reporting bugs, making feature requests, and such. This is by far the most important category of people as, without users, there is no reason for the Project. When a user starts to contribute code or documentation patches, they become a Contributor.

Contributors

Contributors are the people who write code or documentation patches or contribute positively to the project in other ways. A volunteer's contribution is always recognized. In source code, all volunteers who contribute to a source file may add their name to the list of authors for that file.

Committers

Contributors who give frequent and valuable contributions to a subproject of the Project can have their status promoted to that of a " Committer" for that subproject. A Committer has write access to the source code repository and gains voting rights allowing them to affect the future of the subproject. In order for a Contributor to become a Committer, another Committer can nominate that Contributor or the Contributor can ask for it. Once a Contributor is nominated, all of the Committers for a subproject will vote. If there are at least 3 positive votes and no negative votes, the Contributor is converted into a Committer and given write access to the source code repository for that subproject. This is an example offer letter that should be sent to the volunteer after 3 positive votes have been received: Dear Contributor, The DB project would like to offer you commit privileges. We have been impressed with your contributions up till now, and believe that your involvement will improve the quality of the libraries we produce. It is important that you realize that these commit privileges give you access to the specific DB project repository for which you are involved with. They do not provide commit access to any other Apache based project. Those projects will have to grant you commit privileges themselves. If you are interested in having commit privileges, please just let us know, and we will setup an account on apache.org. It would expedite the process if you could provide your preferred account name and possibly a public SSH key. This process could take a few days once we get this information. We all hope that you accept this invitation. The DB Project Management Committee. Once there are 3 positive votes and the response to the above letter has been received, someone from the project community who already has commit access should send email to: root at apache.org that the account should be created. The following information must be included in the email: The name and email address of the new user. (ie: John Smith <john.smith@foo.com>) Suggested account userid. This is optional. (ie: jmsith) The project that the user should be given access to. (ie: DB Foo) The results of the votes. In other words, the names and email addresses of the committers who approved the addition. The new committer should also send an email to asf at jaguNET.com with the following information (please cut and paste to return format): Name: {your name} Email: {your email address on the ASF lists} Projects: {comma separated list of ASF projects to which you have commit access} Key: {a blank line followed by your key} For example: Name: Joe Foobar Email: joe@byteme.com Projects: Tomcat, httpd Key: adklajdAL()@ N*@U)U@()@@ @)U@ Finally, a new committer should also submit a signed copy of the Contributor License Agreement to the ASF. See the Contributor License Agreement page for details. Note 0: If a committer already has an account on the apache.org server and the committer needs commit access to additional projects, then all that needs to be done is to have the user notify pmc@db.apache.org with the results of the voting (as documented above) and the user will be given access. In other words, the root email address should only be used on the basis of new account creation. Note 1: All committers will be given access to the db-site module on request. In other words, committers should be able to update the main DB website. At times, Committers may go inactive for a variety of reasons. A Committer that has been inactive for 6 months or more may lose their status as a Committer. Getting access back is as simple as re-requesting it on the project's Developer mailing list. A list of some of our current Committers can be found in our Project Credits.

Management Committee (PMC)

Committers who frequently participate with valuable contributions may have their status promoted to that of a " Project Management Committee Member". This committee is the official managing body of the DB Project and is responsible for setting overall project direction. In order to become a Member, someone on the PMC must nominate the Committer. The individual may then be approved with a 3/4 majority of the PMC. To view the Project Management Committee bylaws, click here. A list of our current PMC Members can be found in our Project Credits.