External Scala Maintainers

The Scala project is constantly evolving and expanding; at times it is difficult for the Scala Core Team to follow all of the components of the distribution and its supporting tools.

We are therefore grateful to the volunteers who help us with the day-to-day maintenance of components that are part of, or related to, the main Scala software distribution. We list on this page the maintainers of each of those components; if you would like to help us with one of the currently unmaintained components, or if you would like to point out an error, please let us know via our mailing lists, or privately by using our contact form. If the component already has an active maintainer, your additional help is also appreciated: just contact the current maintainer by clicking on the links below.

Here are is a summary, more detailed information is available below:
 

Scala Tools

The following components are either part of the main Scala distribution or closely related to it, and are either maintained by external contributors, in the process of being taken over by external contributors, or in need of external contributors.

• Scalap
  Scalap is a Scala class file inspector; the tool is not currently included in the main Scala distribution, but will be available again in Scala 2.8. The tool is able to read a class file generated by the Scala compiler, and display object and class definitions. Scalap is maintained by Ilya Sergey (since Jan 2009).
   
• Scaladoc
  Scaladoc is the tool that automatically generates documentation for the Scala API. The Scaladoc tool is currently unmaintained. The current plan is that a branch of the existing Scaladoc tool, called VScaladoc, will be merged back into the main distribution.  However, there is currently no one available to do this merge or add other important features missing in both Scaladoc and VScaladoc. Scaladoc is currently unmaintained, while VScaladoc has been maintained by David Bernard (since before Jun 2008).
   

Scala Core

Some portions of the Scala core, which are generally working, could be improved. If you think you could devote some time to these modules, possibly becoming their official maintainers, please let us know.

• Pattern Matcher
  One crucial component in the Scala system is its pattern matcher. It is not a very large piece of software, it consists of about one thousand lines of code; nonetheless, it is a crucial component. The help of an external maintainer is precious to address the occasional Trac tickets and to make sure that everything works. The current maintainer of the Pattern Matcher is David MacIver (since Sep 2008).
   
• Interpreter
  The Scala Interpreter is implemented by adding an additional layer on top of the regular Scala compiler, offering an interactive environment in which it is easy to experiment with Scala code. The same infrastructure is also used to support Scala-based scripting. The Scala Interpreter is maintained by Paul Phillips (since Jan 2009).
   
• XML support
  The XML infrastructure contains all that is necessary to integrate seamlessly XML manipulation within the Scala language; it is a core component of the Scala system. It is currently maintained by Alex Cruise (contact person), Normen Müller, Michael Fogus, and David Pollak.
   
• Testing
  We would like to improve our testing suite, so that Scala can remain robust and reliable in the face of changes and new features. That involves reviewing currently incomplete or buggy tests, writing new ones, and generally exercise the corner cases of the language. Similarly, when tricky bugs are fixed in the compiler, it would be useful to have a corresponding test, so that the same bug is not reintroduced by mistake later. Maintenance of the testing suite can be easily subdivided into multiple maintainers and done in small portions, so the more maintainers, the better.
   

Packaging Tool

We welcome help and new ideas with our packaging infrastructure. We primarily rely on a management tool, Sbaz, that was originally developed within our team, but that may change in the future.

• Sbaz
  We appreciate any additional help with maintaining Sbaz, but also with assistance by people who can help us with a conversion to Maven (see below). Currently Sbaz is maintained by James Matlik, detailed information on this page.
   
• The Maven Project
  An experimental project aimed at using Maven as the core Scala packaging system was started in September 2008. The current members of the project are: Joshua Suereth (contact person), Rob Dickens, David Bernard, and Arnaud Bailly.
  The project aims to:
  • provide Maven packages for the software currently available using Sbaz, manage the repository
  • automatically generate Maven packages for the core Scala distribution as part of the distribution building process
  • provide documentation for installation and use of the Scala Maven packages
Please send a message by using this contact form if you are interested in joining this effort. The project has also a Google Group: Maven and Scala.
 

Distributions

We are looking for regular maintainers for various Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, as well as people who can look into creating installers for Windows, Mac OS X, or other platforms. If you believe you can lend a hand with this task, please contact us either by sending a message to our mailing lists, or by sending us a private message.

• Debian
  The main Scala distribution is available as a Debian package; additional components might not be available in this format. The Debian package of Scala is currently maintained by Mehdi Dogguy and Min Huang (since Aug 2008).
   
• Fedora
  Scala is now are available as part of the standard Fedora 9 stable repository, this link refers to the detailed approval process. The Fedora packages of Scala are managed and maintained by Geoff Reedy (since Dec 2007).
   
• Gentoo
  Scala is available as part of Gentoo. The Fedora packages of Scala are managed and maintained by the Gentoo team, please contact Anders Bach Nielsen for more information.
   
• MacPorts
  Scala is part of the MacPorts repository, and can be installed with "sudo port install scala". The MacPorts portfile of Scala is managed and maintained by Blair Zajac (since May 2007).
   
• openSUSE
  Scala is also is available as an RPM on openSUSE, and can be installed with a simple 1-Click Install. The openSUSE packages of Scala are managed and maintained by Erik Putrycz (since Jan 2009).
   

Trac bugs

If you do not think you have the time to maintain a whole component, but you would still like to contribute to the Scala code base, please have a look at our Trac bug database. We have a number of smaller issues currently assigned to scala_community that are waiting for your contribution. You can inspect any of them, and submit fixes by either attaching a diff as a comment, or by describing the necessary change; it will be a helpful contribution for the entire community. Fixes and comments related to any other open tickets, assigned or not, are welcome as well.

Thanks to all of our Maintainers!