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Your code should be well commented (including package and class overviews). All code contributions must come with Test Coverage. At a bare minimum, this should include Technical Documentation covering all configuration options and/or setup.
Licensing of Contributions
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Any third-party libraries (e.g. JARs / Maven Dependencies) required to compile or run DSpace must be included. The license of any required jar/dependency MUST be compatible with BSD. It must not prevent any commercial use of DSpace, nor have any impact on the rest of the code by its inclusion. It is not acceptable to require additional downloads of JARs/dependencies to make DSpace compile or function.
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Why is GPL (and similar) unacceptable?
- Can I release a modified version of a GPL-covered program in binary form only?
- If I distribute GPL'd software for a fee, am I required to also make it available to the public without a charge?
In addition, the Apache Software Foundation has a good explanation of why they are also forced to avoid GPL-based (copyleft) licenses because of its one-way compatibility with Apache License 2.0:
"This licensing incompatibility applies only when some Apache project software becomes a derivative work of some GPLv3 software, because then the Apache software would have to be distributed under GPLv3.
We avoid GPLv3 software because merely linking to it is considered by the GPLv3 authors to create a derivative work. We want to honor their license. Unless GPLv3 licensors relax this interpretation of their own license regarding linking, our licensing philosophies are fundamentally incompatible. This is an identical issue for both GPLv2 and GPLv3."
While SimplyE is released under Apache licensing, the same issues exist between BSD licenses and GPL-based licenses.
Database Schema Changes
Database schema changes will be done only on major revisions to the source; this is when the version number takes the form x.0 (e.g. 2.0). When making patches which cause schema changes, it is necessary to update all of the relevant SQL/migration files with your sequences, tables, views etc.
Documentation Contributions
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All new features require documentation before they will be accepted. You may send us code before documentation is completed, but we will be unable to accept that code into SimplyEe until it is properly documented. Bug fixes may not require documentation, unless they somehow make a modification which changes how SimplyE functions.