Contribute
MariaDB is an Open Source project that thrives thanks to its community. MariaDB Foundation handles all community contributions in a timely manner. There are many ways to contribute to MariaDB. We welcome documentation changes and additions through the Knowledge Base, as well as code contributions to all repositories under our GitHub Repository. Additionally you can help grow the community by answering questions on the Knowledge Base, StackOverflow, Reddit, Quora and others.
Our preferred communication channels are Zulip, and the mailing lists:
- For discussions about development of MariaDB Server: maria-developers
- For discussions about using MariaDB Server and all other topics: maria-discuss
- For discussions about MariaDB Server and tools documentation: maria-docs
Most MariaDB developers are located in Europe, so the likely time to get immediate answers is during Europe business hours. However, feel free to drop a message anytime and it is very likely someone will answer soon!
Contribute code
As an Open Source Database, MariaDB Server follows a process simillar to most open source projects when it comes to contributing code. We prefer contributions in the form of pull requests on Github. There are a number of articles that describe the process in detail.
- How to get the code, build it and run tests
- How to create a pull request for MariaDB Server
- How to write good test cases for MariaDB Server
- Licensing and the MCA
The basic principles however can be summarized as follows:
- Make sure your pull request clearly explains what it is trying to achieve.
- Make sure that your code is tested. You can make use of the automatic buildbot checks to see if your code passes a basic smoke test.
- Make sure the correct licensing agreement for your code is given.
- Follow up on reviews from core developers or other community members and do not be afraid to disagree. The key point is to keep the discussion technical.
Aside from regular pull requests, MariaDB Foundation has participated in Google Summer of Code for the past 10 years, with many features making their way into the main server.
Contribute documentation
A software project is only as good as its documentation. MariaDB Foundation aims to maintain the best possible documentation. The Knowledge Base is kept as a wiki free for the community to contribute. If you spot a mistake, feel free to correct it. Where MariaDB Foundation needs help is with translations. A translation of Knowledge Base pages in a different language makes MariaDB more accessible. We recommend you start off with the most popular articles and pages. The MariaDB Foundation has prepared special tutorials for different kinds of contributions:
- General documentation contribution tutorial
- Documentation style guide
- How to contribute good translations
Additionally, MariaDB Foundation has just announced a University Program, where universities can share their course material and publish it under a free license.
Contribute to testing
MariaDB Server has historically relied on the community for feedback and to supplement the in-house QA process. The easiest way to contribute to MariaDB Server is to try out our development releases. Offer us feedback as soon as possible so we can spot bugs early and improve quickly. Our roadmap and bugs database is hosted at jira.mariadb.org. All bug reports get attention and help keep MariaDB Server a robust, reliable and performant database. Feature requests are also welcome.
MariaDB Server and related tools are tested thoroughly within our buildbot infrastructure. A complete testing system is necessary for a project to continue.
buildbot.mariadb.org has made it easy to contribute computing resources to our system.