It wasn’t long ago when I could count the number of core WordPress committers on one hand. These days, it’s hard to keep track of who does and doesn’t have access. In fact, some developers are getting temporary access for release cycles to work on specific features.
I remember in 2010, community member DD32 or Dion Hulse was granted core commit access. When Dion Hulse was hired by Automattic, the move generated discussions on whether or not it was ok for Automattic to have so many employees with core commit access versus those with no affiliation with the company. Fast forward four years later and the subject appears to have been a moot point.
On the last day of 2013, Andrew Nacin outlined the number of people with permanent access to commit code to the core of WordPress as well as those who have received temporary access. It now takes three hands to count all of the people who have the permanent ability to commit code.
Here’s a full list of those with permanent commit: @markjaquith, @ryan, @westi, @matt, @azaozz, @dd32, @koopersmith, @duck_, @helen, and me (@nacin); @lancewillett for bundled themes; @iammattthomas for UI. You might have also seen commits before from @josephscott (XML-RPC), @nbachiyski (internationalization), and @mdawaffe (secret weapon for really tricky problems).
It’s great to see so many talented people involved with the core of the project. It would be awesome to see more companies like 10up find a way to sponsor an employee to work on WordPress full-time. However, you don’t need to be employed to make a huge, positive impact on the project.
Qualities Of A Great Contributor
If you’re interested in becoming a core contributor, Andrew Nacin has published a fantastic post that looks at the qualities of a great WordPress contributor. The post is making the rounds throughout the community and some have called it required reading.
“It’s great to see so many talented people involved with the core of the project.”
Amen to that Jeff