OpenSAF Technical Frequently Asked Questions
Mailing Lists
How do I join the OpenSAF users mailing list?
Please go to opensaf mailing list page to subscribe to the "user" list.
How do I join the OpenSAF developers mailing list?
Please go to opensaf mailing list page to subscribe to the "devel" list.
Contributing to OpenSAF
How can I contribute to the project?
The easiest way is to participate in the discussion on the OpenSAF users mailing list. You can subscribe to this list and other lists here. You can also report bugs, propose enhancements or become a developer at OpenSAF (see below).
How do I report bugs, errors and defects to the project?
You can report bugs, issues, defects and other comments on the users mailing list. You can also create a ticket using the ticket creation tool provided by the OpenSAF Developer's portal. While creating a ticket in summary start with the name of the module the ticket pertains to like for Availability Management Framework say "AMF: ...", for Checkpoint Service say "CKPT:..." etc. Give as much as information as is possible.
What does it mean if I received the error "Submission rejected as potential spam" when I try and submit a ticket?
The anti-spam system rejects tickets submitted by users who do not have a session cookie. One way to get a session cookie is by logging on to the OpenSAF Developer's portal. However, session cookie can also be obtained without logging in by accessing the "Preferences" tab on the portal and setting your name and email address.
How do I propose enhancements to OpenSAF?
You can check the OpenSAF roadmap or list of active tickets on devel.opensaf.org to see if what you propose is already being worked on. The OpenSAF Development Process describes the process for proposing enhancements. This requires that you are an OpenSAF developer and have resources to implement the feature. If the enhancement is just an idea, or something that you wish to see from OpenSAF feel free to post on the OpenSAF users mailing list.
How do I contribute bug fixes or new code to OpenSAF?
Contributing any code requires that you are an OpenSAF developer (see below). Contribution guidelines including coding style, function naming convention, patch submission procedures etc. are described in the OpenSAF Developer's Handbook. Following the rules, conventions and guidelines as described in the Developer's Handbook will increase the chances of acceptance of your contribution significantly.
You should only submit code for which you have a copyright - for instance, that you wrote yourself - or when the copyright holder has given you the right to do so. For bug fixes, you can do this because you are modifying code already licensed under LGPL v2.1, which is used by OpenSAF. When you make a contribution of new code that represents additional intellectual property, such as a new service, or significant enhancement, you should take care that such a contribution complies with the terms of the Individual Participation and Contribution Agreement that you signed. In this case the copyright and any intellectual property belongs to you (or the company you are working for), and should be identified in file headers, but you grant OpenSAF a copyright and patent license to use the code and release it under the LGPL v2.1 license, or any subsequent license OpenSAF may choose to use, subject to the terms and conditions of the OpenSAF bylaws. This allows you to use the specific code you contributed in any way you wish, including licensing your specific contribution under a different license for commercial purposes.
How do I become an OpenSAF developer?
All OpenSAF developers need to sign and submit the Individual Participation and Contribution License Agreement. If necessary an account will be provided to you in the devel.opensaf.org. Note it is not necessary to have an account to simply download/pull the code from the OpenSAF repository. To fully complete the application procedure you need to post two signed originals of Contribution License Agreement to the OpenSAF foundation witin 30 days after faxing the agreement and receiving developer status. President of OpenSAF foundation will sign both originals. One will be left in OpenSAF foundation and second one returned by post to you.
Why do I have to sign a developer agreement to contribute to the project?
In the developer agreement, you affirm that you have intellectual rights to the code that you contribute, you grant the OpenSAF Foundation to use the code, and you grant a patent license to the contributed code, among other things. Only when all contributors do this can the OpenSAF Foundation release the source code with an open source license.
A developer agreement is a standard practice in many open source projects.
OpenSAF Services
Can I use OpenSAF complementary (non-standard) services in my application?
Yes, applications can use OpenSAF complementary (non-standard) services in their applications. Note that OpenSAF Project could decide in a future to change some of these services in non-backward compatible way or even deprecate them when equivalent SAForum defined functionality becomes available. Please keep an eye on the OpenSAF website for what features are added, deprecated and removed during or after OpenSAF GA releases
OpenSAF releases
When will feature X be implemented in OpenSAF?
The roadmap for next releases of OpenSAF is published in the developer web site wiki. The roadmap is based on the change requests that OpenSAF developers have submitted. To be put on a roadmap, a feature needs to be important enough, have an effort estimate, and there must be committed resources for its implementation.
The OpenSAF Roadmap is created according to the rules in the OpenSAF Development Process.
But feature X is not on the roadmap!
OpenSAF developers can submit new features to the roadmap by creating a change request according to the OpenSAF Development Process.
The roadmap lists only the major features, many smaller ones will be implemented without appearing on the roadmap.
What is new in OpenSAF release X.Y.Z?
Short release notes are in the roadmap tab in the OpenSAF developer web page. A more complete change log is part of the download package (file called ChangeLog).
How do I find out when a new OpenSAF release comes out?
Subscribe to the "announce" mailing list on mailing lists page on OpenSAF web page.
More information
What is the best source for technical information on the OpenSAF code base?
The OpenSAF download page has a documentation package bundle. In that, the OpenSAF Overview document is probably the best starting place to start learning about OpenSAF.
