EN/development

Getting started with OOo development

You are at the start of a long, but very exciting journey! OpenOffice.org is a large and inclusive project. No matter what your interests are, there is always a place for you here. There are many ways to get started, but the easiest one is to:

Get the source code and start building

Build you own OpenOffice.org so that you are able to modify things

The Building Guide will walk you through this.

Fix a bug or an annoyance

Pick up your favorite bug/annoyance, and try to fix that. Read how to Contribute a patch via Issue Tracker.

Browse [Top voted issues] or review our EN/to-dos list that presents the key issues of interest to the core components

Contribute more

When you see that hacking OOo pleases you, it's time to look for bigger tasks, get in contact on IRC or on the mailing list: mailto:dev@openoffice.org The list is friendly and supportive; the people want to help.

Create an extension

Exensions are easy to write and fun to see in action. You can add features that millions of others will use by using Java, Python, StarBasic, or JavaScript. Find more on Extension development wiki page. The OpenOffice.org UNO component model is quite extensive and can be daunting at first. To help you, there is a comprehensive Development Guide. The easiest way to get started is by using the plugins for Netbeans and for Eclipse. Plus, you can get help from mailto:dev@api.openoffice.org.

Development resources

• Building Guide
• Development Guide
• Opengrok - source browser
• Mercurial-Webinterface
• OpenOffice.org API
• Environment Information System also called EIS, more infos can be found here.
• Bugtracker
• Environment Variables - a description of handy environment variables used at runtime
• A description of the source directories

Further reading

• Meet the team on IRC
• Using C++ with OOo SDK
• Tutorials - hacker tutorials to get the hang of the code
• Hacking
• Debugging - for when it all goes wrong
• Mercurial and OOo and Subversion - How to use the SCMs that OOo uses
• Contributing Patches - for when you have something to fold back
• Commit Rights - An overview of how to attain commit rights, and what to do with them once you get them
• Tips - misc. hints & tips.
• Compiler versions used by port maintainers and release engineers
• Warning-free Code and Correct C++
• Tinderbox - test new child workspaces and show your build logfile to others

Education project

If you don't find the instructions in the Wiki good enough to guide you or if you are interested in some aspect that is not covered, feel free to subscribe and ask on the dev@openoffice.org mailing list. See Communication for more infromation on how get in touch with the OpenOffice.org project.

Another solution is to contact the Education Project, which aims to find future OpenOffice.org developers, mainly students, who are discovering OpenOffice.org Project. The dedicated Education Project channel is: #education.openoffice.org on freenode

On the ClassRoom page, you will find more information about the essentials. For example Practice, or IRC Meetings Logs we did as "ClassRooms".

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