Primary points of contact and resources: the #libreoffice-dev channel at irc.freenode.net, the Development wiki page, and the developers mailing list at FreeDesktop, please read these notes before posting.
All our source code is hosted in git:
LibreOffice is Free Software. Because of its OpenOffice.org origin, LibreOffice is licensed under the LGPLv3 (unless indicated otherwise for any particular file), which gives you key liberties and responsibilities.
The LibreOffice project uses a dual LGPLv3 (or later) / MPL license for new contributions to allow the license to be upgraded. There is no requirement to assign your copyright to anyone in order to get your code contributed - all contributions are welcome, and all we ask is that you license your code to us jointly under both licenses. Please see our guidelines for licensing and copyright attribution (which are there solely to make our life easier). You can also see a list of past and present contributors.
These instructions are primarily aimed at a GNU/Linux user. They are somewhat raw, but they will be improved over time. Bootstrap your system by installing all the packages required to build your distribution's LibreOffice package. The easiest way to do this is to proceed as follows:
sudo apt-get build-dep libreoffice # Debian & derivatives (was openoffice.org)sudo zypper si -d libreoffice # for OpenSUSE 11.4+ (was OpenOffice_org-bootstrap)sudo yum-builddep libreoffice # for Fedora 15+ & derivatives (was openoffice.org)
Then download the complete source code and build it:
./autogen.sh --with-num-cpus=2make
make dev-install
cd install/program ; ./soffice -writer # and you're done
If you have problems with the build, don't be put off, get in touch with us on IRC, and/or read the wiki page, How To Build. To run it, do the following:
cd </path/to/scratch/dir/>/program. ./ooenvgdb --args ./soffice.bin -writer
...
Doing an elite hack by yourself is no fun, so head over to the #libreoffice-dev channel on irc.freenode.net and tell people about it. Or go there and ask for help with your strange and twisted build problems. Failing that, check out the libreoffice@lists.freedesktop.org mailing list, or contact michael.meeks@novell.com.
Many of the things that need fixing in the LibreOffice code require little more than your time and attention. This provides a wonderful opportunity for beginners to get involved in the code, to learn to understand it, and to get sucked into the joy of LibreOffice development. Our wiki contains a page of easy tasks, listing the skills required, and so on. Some of these "easy hacks" need nothing more than the ability to identify unnecessary comments.
Edit the files, and use git diff to extract changes to mail to libreoffice@lists.freedesktop.org (don't be shy, and please mention your code is contributed under the LGPLv3+ / MPL).
Our wiki contains lots of useful development information that you can check out if you have problems. Also, it's another great place to contribute to and improve. The API documentation can be found here.
While recognizing the many key individuals in each module and component, LibreOffice has some lead developers with whom the buck stops: they get to make the horribly-woolly technical decisions, so that you have someone to shout at in a satisfying way. These guys are: Rene Engelhard (_rene_), Caolan McNamara (caolan), Thorsten Behrens (thorsten), Norbert Thiebaud (shm_get) and Michael Meeks (mmeeks). You can find them on the #libreoffice-dev IRC channel, send them private mail, and persecute them with your development-related problem until you get help.
If you have a patch to offer for the bug you are reporting, the best place to announce it is on the mailing list. Alternatively, filing a bug report on our bugzilla is a good thing to do.
To contact the developers team, check the #libreoffice-dev channel at irc.freenode.net, the Development wiki page, and the developers mailing list at FreeDesktop.org, please read these notes before posting.