Community is everything
Far more than a development model, open source is driven by collaboration and trust. With OpenTAP, you have found a community that shares in these beliefs.
We learn from each other and grow together.
We provide OpenTAP as open source to build community bridges across the test and measurement ecosystem. We aim to provide a comparable standard that will foster interoperability and better support organizations building and testing hardware and software.
Ways to Contribute
Contribute packages or plugins to the package repository.
Whether you are an OEM, test and measurement vendor, integrator, or individual, you can contribute to and benefit from the OpenTAP ecosystem by contributing plugins. Except for the core OpenTAP engine and utilities, the OpenTAP architecture is built out entirely as plugins, which may use open source or even commercial licensing. This approach builds a rich ecosystem that supports collaboration through shared code, but also supports incorporation and integration of commercially licensed technologies.
Opportunities for Contributors
To better understand the technical and business opportunities possible, get to know the various plugin types.
DUT
DUT (Device Under Test) plugins represent a broad and varied set of use cases, with each DUT potentially entailing unique tests and test harnesses for different device types, configurations, connectivity, etc.
Test Step
Test step plugins and flow control enable sharing of new plugins from ecosystem participants and within development groups.
Instrument
Instrument plugins help instrumentation vendors foster greater interoperability for their new and existing equipment.
User Interface
User interface plugins accompany the core OpenTAP project. Keysight offers a professional-quality GUI for creating test plans while other open and proprietary UI plugins are underway from ecosystem participants.
Result Listener
Result listener plugins convert test results into familiar document formats (CSV, Excel, etc.) input into SQL and other types of databases, or raw data.
OpenTAP Core
The core sequencing engine including shared features, APIs, overall execution performance, and documentation.
Contribute Plugins to the Repo
Anyone can choose to contribute plugins they have created to the community. This is a great way to collaborate on development, find additional testers, get recognized for you work, and help create a standard. In order to help maintain the community ecosystem we support plugins to be licensed under MIT, BSD, or your own proprietary licensing.
1. Publish Checklist
Contributing is easy, and only requires a few basic steps including creating an account and providing some basic info about your plugin in the package.xml file.
2. Create a Token
A token is what allows you to upload your package to the repo. Keep this token somewhere safe.
3. Upload Your Plugin
This can be done manually through the Repo Web UI or through a CLI (useful if you want to embeds this as part of a CI/CD process). At this point, your plugin is still private, but you are able to do some final testing.
4. Submit for Publication
Once your package is in the repo, provide some basic info to the OpenTAP team and they will promote your plugin to make it publicly available.
5. Integrate with CI/CD for easy updates
Once your plugin is published, you can integrate the build and publish into a CI/CD pipeline to easily keep your plugin up to date.
Contributing to the OpenTAP Project
The OpenTAP core is released under the Mozilla Public License version 2.0 which:
Imposes no significant impediments or obligations to test and measurement users
Encourages (but does not require) contribution of modifications back to the OpenTAP community
Plugins can be licensed under other permissive licenses such as MIT and BSD
This license, along with the OpenTAP architecture, allows development, use, and commercialization of proprietary plugins without loss of control over intellectual property.
Based on the simple copyleft licensing provided by MPLv2, any changes to the OpenTAP core that are made and distributed must be contributed back for the benefit of all.
After signing the CLA, follow the standard Github Fork and Pull Request workflow for contributing to the OpenTAP project.
Contribution Process
The OpenTAP project features a repository for publication of, collaboration around, and promotion of plugins, providing instant access to:
Open source plugins, including those from the core OpenTAP project and community contributions
Commercial plugins (open and closed)
The Contributor License Agreement, along with the OpenTAP architecture, allows development, use, and commercialization of proprietary plugins without loss of control over intellectual property.
Contributor License Agreement ->
The Logo Usage Agreement lets everyone know that you are a member of the OpenTAP community. It allows us to collaborate with marketing as well as show your logo on our Ecosystem Partners page