Title: Contribute
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# Join the Apache Directory Community

The Apache Directory Project is an [Open Source](http://www.opensource.org) volunteer project under the auspices of [The Apache Software Foundation (ASF)](http://www.apache.org). We welcome your input and contributions - either with direct participation (coding, documenting, answering questions, proposing ideas, reporting bugs, suggesting bug-fixes, etc..). You can also contribute to [The Apache Software Foundation (ASF)](http://www.apache.org) by [resource donations](http://apache.org/foundation/contributing.html) (money, time, publicity, hardware, software, conference presentations, speeches, etc...) of through [the sponsorship program](http://apache.org/foundation/sponsorship.html) .

To begin with, we suggest you to subscribe to the [Directory Mailing Lists & IRC](mailing-lists-and-irc.html) (follow the link for information on how to subscribe and to access the mail list archives). Listen-in for a while, to see how others make contributions.

Then you can :

* Answer questions posted to the mailing lists.
* Contribute to the FAQ or Wiki.
* Contribute other documentation patches, either for the website or for the Apache Directory user documentation.
* Investigate bugs that have been reported and provide patches where appropriate.
* Help with development for the next release of the Directory project and subprojects.

## What we are looking for

* Source code and fixes contributions
* Documentation assistance
* Product and feature suggestions
* Detailed and constructive feedback
* Articles and white papers

## How do I contribute

* To discuss Apache Directory topics check out the [mailing lists](mailing-lists-and-irc.html).
* Informal discussion also occurs on the [#apache-directory](irc://irc.freenode.net/apache-directory) Users IRC channel or on the [#apache-directory-dev](irc://irc.freenode.net/apache-directory-dev) Developers IRC channel on [freenode.net](http://freenode.net).
* Bugs and other issues can be posted on the project [issue tracking system](issue-tracking.html).
* Additional documentation and discussion can be found on the project [wiki](http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/dashboard.action).