Ryzom

h1. Help Us

This project requires a lot of work and this page will list in order of importance what you can do to help us:

h2. Promoting The Project

If you like this project please tell your friends, post on forums, blog about it, tweet about it, and do whatever else you can to spread the word.

h2. Improving GNU/Linux and MAC OS X and ports

Currently Ryzom is natively compiling and running on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. However, the two last ports are very recent and need to be improved. We are looking for people who want to help to improve Ryzom to their preferred operating system.

h2. Porting Tools

* 3D objects were made with 3dsmax. Work is already underway to eliminate that dependency and use free software alternatives like Blender.

* [[Georges]], the tool used to describe all items in the world (monsters, npc, items, stats) was written for Windows with MFC. So it needs to be adapted to work on GNU/Linux using Qt.

* [[ObjectViewer]] will be adapted to work on GNU/Linux using Qt thanks to a trainee from the Google Summer of Code but the task is big and help is welcome.

* [[WorldEditor]] is also made with MFC and only for Windows. We have a very precise vision of what we want to do to replace this tool. Using new web technology and "some tools":http://maps.bmsite.net already made by some Ryzom fans, we want to create collaborative online tools to directly edit and apply world modification into the servers. This will require lot of knowledge in Javascript and PHP.

These are the next big tasks that need to be done to make Ryzom even more useful to the free software community, so if you'd like to help, please [[Contact_the_community|contact us]].

h2. Source Code Packaging

One of the first big changes to the Ryzom project will be to eliminate the build-specific files. Currently Ryzom uses a custom Makefile system for building on Linux and Visual Studio solutions and projects to build on Windows. The goal is to unify all of the disparate build environments under the CMake umbrella.

CMake provides a certain level of automated packaging through CPack. We would like to start harnessing CPack to generate releases so that the release cycle can be shorter and easier. In addition we are seeking Debian and Fedora package maintainers to help build and maintain Ryzom packages for the various Debian-based distributions and the RedHat-based systems.

Packagers for other distributions and distribution systems are eagerly welcomed as well. We would like to release often and to as many platforms as possible.

h2. Documentation

Documentation is something we readily admit is a weak point for us. If you're good at technical writing but not confident in your programming skills this could be a great way for you to contribute. We have a variety of documentation tasks including these examples:

* Convert existing "NeL":http://dev.ryzom.com/projects/nel/wiki documentation to the new site.

* Convert the "OpenNeL Handbook":http://www.opennel.org/confluence/display/~mattr/MtrNelManualNotes to this site.

* Write tutorials on basic usage.

* Create simple sample demonstrations.

* Create tutorials and videos on things such as using the tools, creating content, etc.

In addition to these examples we also very much need a developer willing to dig through obscure code and work on understanding how much of the lesser known pieces of code and functionality work and document them as well.

h2. Security Reviews and Patches

The Ryzom Project has gone through lengths in an attempt to mitigate as many of the potential security threats as possible but we know we're not perfect. We seek eager individuals to help us identify potential or actual security problems and work with us to resolve them.

h2. Bug Slaying

Every project has bugs and we are no exception. It takes a special person to catch those little flaws in code and figure out the right way to fix the problem.

h2. Do some never ending tasks

It's often a very good way to start to contribute.

Never ending tasks are special tasks that are... never ended. They often are easy but sometime boring but they are very important to maintain the quality of Ryzom Core. You can see the list of "never ending tasks":http://dev.ryzom.com/projects/nel/issues?query_id=1 (fix the link). For example, it's code/comments cleaning, some small refactoring... Well, it's often easy to do when you read a header for example. If we all regularly work on these tasks, the project will become stronger.

h2. Resolve a known issue

There are some "bugs and features":http://dev.ryzom.com/projects/nel/issues?query_id=2 that have been requested by the community, you can take one and resolve it.

h2. Do what you want

After all, it's a Free Software project, you can do what you want! Just do it!