The roles and responsibilities that people can assume in the project are based on merit. Everybody can help no matter what their role. Those who have been long term or valuable contributors to the project obtain the right to vote and commit directly to the source repository.

Users are the people who use the products of the Project. People in this role aren't contributing code, but they are using the products, reporting bugs, making feature requests, and such. This is by far the most important category of people as, without users, there is no reason for the Project.

When a user starts to contribute code or documentation patches, they become a developer.

Developers are the people who write code or documentation patches or contribute positively to the project in other ways. A developer's contribution is always recognized. In source code, all developers who contribute to a source file may add their name to the list of authors for that file.

Developers who give frequent and valuable contributions to a subproject of the Project can have their status promoted to that of a "Committer" for that subproject. A Committer has write access to the source code repository and gains voting rights allowing them to affect the future of the subproject.

In order for a Developer to become a Committer, another Committer can nominate that Developer or the Developer can ask for it. Once a Developer is nominated, all of the Committers for a subproject will vote. If there are at least 3 positive votes and no negative votes, the Developer is converted into a Committer and given write access to the source code repository for that subproject.

At times, Committers may go inactive for a variety of reasons. A Committer that has been inactive for 6 months or more may lose his or her status as a Committer.

A list of our current Committers can be found in our Project Credits.

Committers who frequently participate with valuable contributions may have their status promoted to that of a "Project Management Committee Member". This committee is the official managing body of the xml.apache.org Project and is responsible for setting overall project direction. In order to become a Member, someone on the PMC must nominate the Committer. The individual may then be approved with a 3/4 majority of the PMC.

To view the Project Management Committee bylaws, click here.

A list of our current PMC Members can be found in our Project Credits.