Subversion Under Control

Now its time to access the source code of Audacity! Like most FOSS, Audacity uses Source Control Management (a.k.a. Revision Control or Version Control) to manage and update changes in documents and source code for each of the projects developers. Changes are usually identified by the SCM with a number or letter code. For example, an initial set of files is "version 1". When the first change is made, the resulting set is "version 2", and so on. Each update is associated with timestamps and the person making the change. Changes in versions can be compared, restored, and with some types of files, merged. SCMs most commonly run as stand-alone applications, but version control can also be found embedded in word processors (i.e. Google Docs) and in content management systems (e.g. Wikipedia's Page History).

Joining the Project

Audacity is very helpful in getting new developers incorporated into the project's community. First off, the Audacity wiki has a New Developers Guide which includes topics such as:

• Tips for New Developers
• Platform Specific Developing Guides
• Design Topics
• Improving and Adding Features
• Bug Fixing

Audacity also has a Developer's mailing list that I immediately signed up for. The list is not only for Audacity developers but anyone else interested in following or contributing to Audacity's development. I already have been getting emails from the core development team talking about certain high priority bugs that need to be fixed in the current release.