# Contacting the development team

- Security Issues
- Mailing lists
- IRC discussion

## Security Issues

If you think that an issue with libvirt may have security implications, please do not publically report it in the bug tracker, mailing lists, or irc. Libvirt has a dedicated process for handling (potential) security issues that should be used instead. So if your issue has security implications, ignore the rest of this page and follow the security process instead.

## Mailing lists

There are three mailing-lists:

libvir-list@redhat.com (for development)
  Archives at https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list
  This is a high volume mailing list. It is a place for discussions about the development of libvirt.
  Topics for discussion include:
  - New features for libvirt
  - Bug fixing of libvirt
  - New hypervisor drivers
  - Development of language bindings for libvirt API
  - Testing and documentation of libvirt
libvirt-users@redhat.com (for users)
  Archives at https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvirt-users
  This is a moderate volume mailing list. It is a place for discussions involving libvirt users.
  Topics for discussion include:
  - Usage of libvirt / virsh
  - Administration of libvirt
  - Deployment of libvirt with hypervisors
  - Development of applications on top of / using the libvirt API(s)
  - Any other topics along these lines
libvirt-announce@redhat.com (for release notices)
  Archives at https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvirt-announce
  This is a low volume mailing list, with restricted posting, for announcements of new libvirt releases.
  Subscribe to just this if you want to be notified of new releases, without subscribing to either of the other mailing lists.

It is recommended but not required that you subscribe before posting to the user and development lists. Posts from non-subscribers will be subject to manual moderation delays. You can subscribe at the linked web pages above.

Patches with explanations and provided as attachments are really appreciated, and should be directed to the development mailing list for review and discussion. Wherever possible, please generate the patches by using `git format-patch` in a git repository clone. Further useful information regarding developing libvirt and/or contributing is available on our Contributor Guidelines page.

## IRC discussion

Some of the libvirt developers may be found on IRC on the OFTC IRC network. Use the settings:

- server: irc.oftc.net
- port: 6667 (the usual IRC port)
- channel: #virt

NB There is no guarantee that someone will be watching or able to reply promptly, so use the mailing-list if you don't get an answer on the IRC channel.