| page.title=People and Roles |
| doc.type=source |
| @jd:body |
| <p>The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) includes individuals working in a variety |
| of roles. As noted in <a href="{@docRoot}about/philosophy.html">Our |
| Philosophy</a>, Google is responsible for Android product management |
| and the engineering process for the core framework and platform; however, |
| the project considers contributions from any source, not just Google. This |
| page describes the kinds of roles that interested parties can take on.</p> |
| <p>Anyone who is interested in exploring and contributing to Android can use the |
| Android Open Source Project resources. Anyone can join the mailing lists, ask |
| questions, contribute patches, report bugs, look at submitted patches, and use |
| the tools. To get started with the Android code, see <a |
| href="{@docRoot}source/index.html">Get Involved</a>.</p> |
| |
| <h2>Contributor</h2> |
| <p>A "Contributor" is anyone making contributions to the AOSP source code, |
| including both employees of Google or other companies, as well as external |
| developers who are contributing to Android on their own behalf. There is no |
| distinction between Contributors who are employed by Google, and those who are |
| not: all engineers use the same tools (<code>git</code>, <code>repo</code>, |
| and <code>gerrit</code>), follow the same code review process, and are subject |
| to the same requirements on code style and so on.</p> |
| <p/> |
| |
| <h2>Developer</h2> |
| <p>A "Developer" is an engineer writing applications that run on Android |
| devices. There is, of course, no difference in skillset between a "Developer" |
| and a "Contributor", but AOSP uses "Developer" to distinguish between |
| engineers using the platform and those contributing to it. Developers are |
| (along with end users) the "customers" of the platform that the Contributors |
| create. As such, we talk about Developers a lot, though this isn't technically |
| a separate role in the AOSP <i>per se.</i></p> |
| <p/> |
| |
| <h2>Verifier</h2> |
| <p>"Verifiers" are responsible for testing change requests. After individuals |
| have submitted a significant amount of high-quality code to the project, the |
| Project Leads might invite them to become Verifiers.</p><p><i>Note: at this |
| time, generally Verifiers are the same as Approvers.</i></p> |
| <p/> |
| |
| <h2>Approver</h2> |
| "Approvers" are experienced members of the project who have demonstrated their |
| design skills and have made significant technical contributions to the |
| project. In the code-review process, an Approver decides whether to include or |
| exclude a change. Project Leads (who are typically employed by Google) choose |
| the Approvers, sometimes promoting to this position Verifiers who have |
| demonstrated their expertise within a specific project.</p> |
| <p/> |
| |
| <h2>Project Leads</h2> |
| <p>Android consists of a number of sub-projects; you can see these in the git |
| repository, as individual .git files. Tech Leads are senior Contributors who |
| oversee the engineering for individual Android projects. Typically these tech |
| leads will be Google employees. A Project Lead for an individual project is |
| responsible for the following:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>Lead all technical aspects of the project; for example, the project |
| roadmap, development, release cycles, versioning, and QA.</li> |
| <li>Ensure that the project is QA-ed in time for scheduled Android platform |
| releases.</li> |
| <li>Designate Verifiers and Approvers for submitted patches.</li> |
| <li>Be fair and unbiased while reviewing changes. Accept or reject patches |
| based on technical merit and alignment with the Android strategy.</li> |
| <li>Review changes in a timely manner and make best efforts to communicate |
| when changes are not accepted.</li> |
| <li>Optionally maintain a web site for the project for information and |
| documents specific to the project.</li> |
| <li>Act as a facilitator in resolving technical conflicts.</li> |
| <li>Be a public face for the project and the go-to person for questions |
| related to the project.</li> |
| </ul> |