How to become a committer (and maybe a PPMC member)
The Committer, Member and (P)PMC Member terms, in particular, have very specific meanings in the Apache Software Foundation (see also https://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html), and need to be used appropriately to avoid confusion:
- Everyone who is listed at https://wiki.apache.org/incubator/NetBeansProposal can become an Apache NetBeans committer and PPMC (Podling Project Management Committee) member by submitting the required paperwork. For those in that list, the final step in becoming a committer is to send your iCLA (individual contributor license agreement) to Apache. Here it is: https://www.apache.org/licenses/icla.pdf. Under "notify project", please put NETBEANS. Under "preferred Apache id(s)", please put an ID of your choice, which does not already exist (check here: http://people.apache.org/committer-index.html). Please print out the iCLA, complete it and sign it, scan it, and then e-mail the PDF file to secretary@apache.org. Once you have sent in your iCLA, you will receive a notification and your Apache ID. You will then be ready to commit code to Apache NetBeans, once the code has been transferred from Oracle. NetBeans PPMC members should also join private@netbeans.incubator.apache.org (by sending a mail to private-subscribe@netbeans.incubator.apache.org) which is the PPMC's private list. Only things that really need to be private are discussed there, such as candidates for committership but not much more than that. As usual at the ASF, everything happens in the open unless really really required.
- Other community members can become Apache NetBeans committers (and maybe also PPMC members) once the NetBeans PPMC elects them to those roles. We will do that once we are a bit further in the process, based on people's merit as usual in Apache projects - you don't ask for committership but add value to the project and expect the PMC to recognize that and vote you in, in due time. At the time of this writing (November 2016 and still true in March 2017), the code has not been transferred yet, so we'll wait for people to be actually able to commit code to Apache NetBeans before electing new committers.
- Being a NetBeans committer or PPMC member does not make you an Apache Software Foundation (ASF) Member - that's a different status that's granted by existing Members to people who show an interest in and add value to the Foundation as a whole, see https://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#roles .