Development Resources/HOWTO/Nominating and Electing a New Committer

Guidelines for Nominating and Electing a New Committer

See "4.7 Committers and Contributors" in the Eclipse Development Process.

Contributors who have the trust of the project's committers can, through election, be promoted committer for that project. The breadth of a committer's influence corresponds to the breadth of their contribution. A development team's contributors and committers may (and should) come from a diverse set of organizations. A committer gains voting rights allowing them to affect the future of the project. Becoming a committer is a privilege that is earned by contributing and showing discipline and good judgment. It is a responsibility that should be neither given nor taken lightly, nor is it a right based on employment by an Eclipse member company or any company employing existing committers.

What are the Requirements?

Please see Committer Elections in the Eclipse Project Handbook.

What Should a Nomination Look Like?

Please see What Should a Nomination Look Like? in the Eclipse Project Handbook.

Hint: Bugzilla IDs in the "Reason for Nomination" field that are surrounded by square brackets (e.g., "She contributed patches to bugzillas [100000], [100001], ...") are converted into bugzilla URLs by the portal.

How Do We Hold The Election?

Please see How does an election work? in the Eclipse Project Handbook.

If you have any questions, or have problems, please contact EMO.

What is the PMC's Responsibility Regarding New Committers?

The PMC educates the new Committer on their responsibilities for safeguarding the intellectual property of Eclipse and that they have read, understood, and agree to follow the Committer Guidelines. Being a Committer at Eclipse is more than just having write-access to the Git repository and/or website - there are specific IP due diligence and record keeping activities that Committers must follow. The PMC is responsible for ensuring that their Committers understand and execute on these responsibilities.

What Paperwork Does the New Committer Need (and Why)?

Warning

We are in the process of updating the committer election and paperwork processes. For the time-being, the paperwork documentation shown below is accurate for PolarSys Committers only. All others should consult the Eclipse Project Handbook.

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If you have been granted committer status on a PolarSys project, or an Eclipse Project prior to March 2018, then visit the Developer Portal to complete your paperwork; otherwise, visit Your Eclipse Foundation Account.

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Why all this paperwork?

The Eclipse Foundation needs to ensure that all committers to the code and/or the website and/or the bug system understand their role in safeguarding the intellectual property of Eclipse. The Foundation also needs to ensure that we have accurate records of the people who are acting as change agents on the projects.

The process the Foundation has chosen to ensure these goals (that committers/bug triagers understand their role; that Foundation has accurate records) is to have committers/bug triagers sign that they have read, understood, and will follow the Committer Guidelines and to have their employer sign that they agree that the new committer/bug triager can participate at Eclipse and can contribute under the terms of the Eclipse Public License.

What paperwork do I need to fill out?

After the Committer election is successful, the portal workflow system will ask the nominating project lead to fill out the New Committer Request Form (affectionately known as the NCRF). The NCRF will trigger the Eclipse Legal side of the Committer election, starting with an email request to the candidate (the new Committer) to fill out paperwork.

The candidate must fill out paperwork as per ONE of C,M,N,O,S or T:

CExisting Committer Added to New Project or Component.

If the candidate/new committer is already a Committer on an existing Eclipse project then additional paperwork may or may not be needed. The candidate will know he or she is a Committer because the candidate will have write-access to the eclipse.org source code repository via an eclipse.org login and password.

• All Committers must be covered by a Member Committer Agreement (MCA) or an Individual Committer Agreement (ICA). As an existing Committer, the candidate will already be covered by either an MCA or an ICA, so no additional paperwork should be required

...or...

MWorks for Member Company; Company has Agreement.

If the candidate/new committer (i) works for a Eclipse Member company and (ii) that company has signed and submitted¹ a Member Committer Agreement covering all of its employees who contribute to Eclipse, then:

1. The new Committer fills out the online Member Committer Questionnaire in the Developer Portal. Note that the questionnaire will only be accessible if the candidate has been elected as a committer on a project (either as an initial committer on a new project, or via election on an existing project).

...or...

NWorks for Member Company; No Company Agreement.

If the candidate/new committer (i) works for an Eclipse Member company but (ii) that company has NOT signed a Member Committer Agreement, then:

1. The new Committer fills out the online Individual Committer Questionnaire in the Developer Portal. Note that the questionnaire will only be accessible if the candidate has been elected as a committer on a project (either as an initial committer on a new project, or via election on an existing project).
2. The candidate/new committer signs and submits¹ an Individual Committer Agreement. If you find the signature block of this form confusing, we've prepared an example for you to emulate.

...or...

OWorks for Other Company.

If the candidate/new committer work for a company that is NOT an Eclipse Member then:

1. The new Committer fills out the online Individual Committer Questionnaire in the Developer Portal. Note that the questionnaire will only be accessible if the candidate has been elected as a committer on a project (either as an initial committer on a new project, or via election on an existing project).
2. The candidate/new committer signs and submits¹ an Individual Committer Agreement. If you find the signature block of this form confusing, we've prepared an example for you to emulate.

...or...

SSelf Employed.

If the candidate/new committer is self-employed, then:

1. The new Committer fills out the online Individual Committer Questionnaire in the Developer Portal. Note that the questionnaire will only be accessible if the candidate has been elected as a committer on a project (either as an initial committer on a new project, or via election on an existing project).
2. The candidate/new committer signs and submits¹ an Individual Committer Agreement. If you find the signature block of this form confusing, we've prepared an example for you to emulate.

...or...

TNot Employed or Student.

If the candidate/new committer is not employed or a student, then:

1. The candidate/new committer fills out the online Individual Committer Questionnaire in the Developer Portal. Note that the questionnaire will only be accessible if the candidate has been elected as a committer on a project (either as an initial committer on a new project, or via election on an existing project).
2. The candidate/new committer signs and submits¹ an Individual Committer Agreement. If you find the signature block of this form confusing, we've prepared an example for you to emulate.
3. The candidate/new committer sends email to emo-records@eclipse.org explaining his or her not employed or student status (reason for this email: because most candidates/new committers are employed by a company, Eclipse Legal assumes that is the case for everyone, thus exceptions need to be noted).

What happens if I do not fill out the paperwork?

Then you don't get your login and password for write-access to the source code repository(s). Sorry. No exceptions.

What happens if I cannot convince my employer to fill out the paperwork?

The Eclipse Board of Directors has taken a firm position that if you are employed then you must meet criteria C, M, N, or O. If you cannot convince your employer to fill out the necessary paperwork, then you may not have write-access to the source code respository(s). This is the Board's position even if you are working on Eclipse projects on your own time. We realize that this prevents some talented and desirable people from being able to commit to the Eclipse projects but this is our IP risk reduction strategy.

The EMO and the Executive Director are happy to talk to your management and senior executives about these (and other) Eclipse legal documents to help them understand why these documents are the best risk reduction solution for everyone involved (Eclipse, you, and your employer) - just contact us at license@eclipse.org.

¹ The Eclipse Foundation accepts any of the following formats for submitting a paper form:

• Print, sign, and postal mail the form to the Foundation
• Print, sign, and fax the form to the Foundation
• Print, sign, scan, and email to the scan as an attachment to the Foundation

Where to email the paperwork

• Email the completed paperwork to emo-records@eclipse.org

Changing Employers

If you change employers, please contact emo-records@eclipse.org.

This page is moderated by the EMO