Welcome to SimpleCenter.org! We're excited that you've come to join us in our attempt to make a better media experience.
If you're like most of us, you've found interesting open source projects and you tried to get involved, only to find numerous barriers to getting started. We're trying to be different, to provide as much information as possible to make it possible for you to get up and running quickly.
Of course, we can't anticipate all of the problems that you might have, so if you do encounter a problem, we want to know about it... even if you managed to figure it out, your experience can help others get up and running. Please email gettingstarted at simplecenter.org with any of these problems, and we'll help you along and post information so that others don't have the same problems.
Before you begin...
Before you can begin development, you'll need the following:
1. A fairly well powered PC, probably a Pentium 4 or better.
2. If you want to run and work with SimpleCenter, you'll need Windows XP. SimpleCenter currently runs on Windows XP only. However, we are very much looking to get SimpleCenter up and running on alternate platforms (Linux, MacOS X), and we have at various times had it running, so the instructions below still apply to Linux... you'll just need to do a little more work before SimpleCenter will actually run.
3. A Java 6 JDK. This can be found at http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp
. Just install the JDK with default options.
4. Apache Ant. This is necessary to build SimpleCenter.
4. (Optional) IntelliJ IDEA. Though not required, most of the developers on the project use IntelliJ IDEA, and IDEA project files are included in the source tree. If you don't already have a copy, you can get a 30-day trial license when you download IntelliJ. We've been approved by JetBrains as an open source project so we can get free licenses for contributors. Please contact the DEV list to request the IntelliJ IDEA open source license.
1. Subscribe to the Mailing List
As you get acquainted with the code, the most valuable resource available to you is the developer mailing list. On this list you'll find lots of people who are eager to help you fix problems and implement new features. Learn how to subscribe.
2. Get the Source Code
Next, you'll need to actually get the source code. We've provided detailed step-by-step instructions. If you have any problems, please send email to the getting started email address noted above.
3. Learn About the Code
A code base as large as SimpleCenter can be difficult to navigate, so we've put together a little tutorial that should provide a good basis for you to begin development. At this point, if you have any questions, they should be directed to the dev mailing list.
4. Start Coding!
Now the fun part... writing some new code! It's not always easy to know where to start, so we want to help. First, we've designated some 'easy fix' bugs that we think are pretty easy to fix, and will get you into the code a little bit.
You might also consider working on one of our incubator projects. Because they are not part of the core application yet, you can worry a little less about breaking things, and there tends to be lots of things missing.
5. Chat it Up!!
While you're developing, you'll inevitable run into problems. The mailing list is one good source of information, but you might also find some developers hanging around on the SimpleCenter.org chat service if you're looking for a quick answer.
6. Contribute
Once you've made a fix or added a new feature, you'll need to follow our contribution process to get those changes integrated into the main build. It's a pretty straightforward process, and within no time, your high quality contributions will allow you to become an official committer with direct source control access!
