Contributions Policy

Any contributions must comply with the following OpenSimulator contribution policy, guidelines, and licensing conditions.

In order for your contribution to be accepted you need to read and adhere to the OpenSimulator Code to this policy, guidelines, and licensing conditions.

OpenSimulator Core Values
So, you're thinking of contributing? Great! In order to make your ride as smooth as possible, here's listing some of this projects guiding principles:

This is a 3D application platform, not a Second Life wannabe world simulator
This means that we value decoupling, modularity and indirection over clock cycles and feature completeness.

We are all in this for our own separate reasons, some to have fun, some to make money
This means that any given patch, fix or feature is very much up to whether somebody thinks it fun, worthwile or would pay good money for it.

This is a is a project in permanent evolution
Many architectural changes have taken place in OpenSimulator's lifetime, so there are still lots of tangly and bushy remnants of old ways of doing stuff.

Sometimes the code is the documentation
We try to make the code as simple, strightforward and readable as possible.

Documentation is good, comments are good
However, sometimes comments are necessary in addition to clear code so that newcomers can learn and maintain the project.

We are a multi-platform project
This means we will go to lengths to avoid bringing in new technologies that would provide thresholds for installing and using the code on different environments. The default configuration should always be build- and runnable on checkout, provided you are on a c# .net/mono environment with build tools. Other technologies than those can be provided, but will not be guaranteed not to break at any given time. Codewise, we're trying to move towards looser coupling and better code reuse - and to separate the code into a 'framework' layer, a 'service' layer and an 'application' layer; the framework layer defines all base classes and interfaces, the service layer provide networked and persistent implementations of those, and the application layer provides configuration logic and executables.

Incremental Improvements over Profound Rewriting
"We don't usually do profound refactorings, as it destabilizes the project and the community. We prefer incremental improvements. But profound refactorings have happened before. If you have a concrete refactoring you want to suggest, please do so." (mantis #5512)

Changes which affect existing content must have agreement from the core developers
Wherever possible, we aim to preserve backwards compatibility with existing content, whether that's in the asset database, within inventory archives, etc. The exception is for areas marked as experimental (see below).

If backwards compatibility can't be preserved, then the associated changes must have agreement from all the core developers concerned.

Core functionality must be useful to more than one person/group
Features added to core can't be just for the benefit of one person or group, since they place a maintenance burden on everybody else. Features that are added should have enough documentation to make them useful to other people.

Code added to core can be changed by anybody
Code submited to core becomes fair game for other developers to change, to make it more useful to everybody, to improve it, to fix bugs, to eliminate duplication or for any other of the usual open-source reasons.

OpenSimulator Licensing
OpenSimulator code, and hence all contributions, must be licensed under the BSD as shown below. If your patch creates new code files they must have the BSD license header as shown below.

OpenSimulator BSD License
Copyright (c) Contributors, http://opensimulator.org/ See CONTRIBUTORS.TXT for a full list of copyright holders.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. * Neither the name of the OpenSimulator Project nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE DEVELOPERS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Instructions on submitting code patches
Please see Submitting code to OpenSim.