1 * Contributing to the Mono project
3 There are many ways in which you can help in the Mono project:
6 * <b>Programmers:</b> You can work on a free
7 implementation of the <a
8 href="class-library.html">class libraries</a>, the
9 <a href="runtime.html">runtime engine</a>, <a
10 href="tools.html">the tools</a>, the <a
11 href="testing.html">testing framework</a>
13 * <b>Writers:</b> You can help us bywriting <a
14 href="documentation.html">documentation</a>.
17 Those are just broad things that need to be worked on, but
18 something that would help tremendously would be to help with
19 small duties in the project that need to be addressed.
21 ** To start contributing
23 To start developing classes or to contribute to the compiler,
24 you only need Windows and the .NET Beta 2 SDK. Please notice
25 that you do not need Visual Studio (although you can use it if
28 You can get it <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/default.asp?url=/downloads/sample.asp?url=/msdn-files/027/000/976/msdncompositedoc.xml&frame=true">here</a>
30 Alternatively you can use the <a
31 href="#compile-service">compilation service</a> that was setup by
36 If you find bugs in Mono, please make sure you enter a bug
37 report so we can keep track of problems in Mono.
39 To enter bug reports go to <a href="http://bugzilla.ximian.com">
40 http://bugzilla.ximian.com</a> and enter bug reports against
41 your favorite component (Mono, Runtime, C# compiler).
45 A few smaller tasks are here, dropped in no particular order:
47 * <b>Mono/doc and web site:</b> They need to be
48 packaged up in the official `distribution'
50 * Adding serialization support to all the classes.
52 We have many classes, but we have not implemented in
53 many cases the serialization and re-incarnation support in
54 them (this is pretty straight forward code, and simple,
55 but there is a lot to be done here).
58 <a name="compile-service">
59 * C# Compilation Service
61 If you are working on a class for the Mono project, but do not
62 have a C# compiler available or a Windows machine to run the
63 .NET SDK, you can use the compilation service that Derek
64 Holden setup in the following URL: <a
65 href="http://toilet.2y.net:8080/">http://toilet.2y.net:8080/</a>
67 The service will let you compile a source file and get back a
68 list of errors in the class file. You will not be able to run
69 the code, but at least you can get some code written that will
70 help us further down the line.
72 You can contact (and thank) Derek for this service by sending
74 href="mailto:derek@Draper.Com">derek@draper.com</a>
76 * Books on C# and DotNet.
79 * Dotnet Books (<a href="http://www.dotnetbooks.com">http://www.dotnetbooks.com</a>)
81 * Dotnet Resources (<a href="http://www.dotnetexperts.com/resources/">
82 http://www.dotnetexperts.com/resources</a>)
84 * O'Reilly C# Essentials (<a href="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/csharpess/">
85 http://www.oreally.com/catalog/csharpess</a>)
87 * O'Really .NET Essentials (<a href="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/dotnetfrmess/">
88 http://www.oreally.com/catalog/dotnetfrmess</a>)
92 If you have looked at Microsoft's implementation of .NET or
93 their shared source code, you may not be able to contribute
94 to Mono. Details will follow when we know more about this.
96 In general be careful when you are implementing free software
97 and you have access to proprietary code. We need to make sure
98 that we are not using someone else's copyrighted code
101 Please do not use the <b>ildasm</b> program to disassemble
102 proprietary code when you are planning to reimplement a class
103 for Mono. If you have done this, we might not be able to use
106 Please stick to published documentation for implementing any