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The "LucyIncubatorProposal" page has been changed by MarvinHumphrey. The comment on this change is: Fix wiki links: disable automatic camelcase links for "KinoSearch", use double brackets for http links.. http://wiki.apache.org/lucy/LucyIncubatorProposal?action=diff&rev1=39&rev2=40 -------------------------------------------------- ## page was renamed from GraduationPlan - For reference, see the original template at [http://incubator.apache.org/guides/proposal.html] + For reference, see the original template at [[http://incubator.apache.org/guides/proposal.html]] == Preface == - Lucy is a sub-project which is being spun off from the Lucene TLP but is not yet ready for graduation. We propose to address certain needs of the project by assimilating the KinoSearch codebase. + Lucy is a sub-project which is being spun off from the Lucene TLP but is not yet ready for graduation. We propose to address certain needs of the project by assimilating the !KinoSearch codebase. == Abstract == Lucy will be a loose port of the Lucene search engine library, written in C and targeted at dynamic language users. @@ -13, +13 @@ Lucy has two aims. First, it will be a high-performance C search engine library. Second, it will maximize its usability and power when accessed via dynamic language bindings. To that end, it will present highly idiomatic, carefully tailored APIs for each of its "host" binding languages, including support for subclasses written entirely in the "host" language. == Background == - Lucy, a "loose C" port of Java Lucene, began as an ambitious, from-scratch Lucene sub-project, with David Balmain (author of Ferret, a Ruby/C port of Lucene), Doug Cutting, and Marvin Humphrey (founder of KinoSearch, a Perl/C port) as committers. During an initial burst of activity, the overall architecture for Lucy was sketched out by Dave and Marvin. Unfortunately, Dave became unavailable soon after, and without a working codebase to release or any users, it proved difficult to replace him. Still, Marvin carried on their work throughout a period of seemingly low activity. + Lucy, a "loose C" port of Java Lucene, began as an ambitious, from-scratch Lucene sub-project, with David Balmain (author of Ferret, a Ruby/C port of Lucene), Doug Cutting, and Marvin Humphrey (founder of !KinoSearch, a Perl/C port) as committers. During an initial burst of activity, the overall architecture for Lucy was sketched out by Dave and Marvin. Unfortunately, Dave became unavailable soon after, and without a working codebase to release or any users, it proved difficult to replace him. Still, Marvin carried on their work throughout a period of seemingly low activity. - In the last year, that work has come to fruition: major technical milestones have been achieved and Lucy's underpinnings have been completed. Additionally, other developers from the KinoSearch community have taken an interest in Lucy and have begun to ramp up their contributions. The next steps for Lucy were articulated by the Lucene PMC in a recent review: make releases, acquire users, grow community. + In the last year, that work has come to fruition: major technical milestones have been achieved and Lucy's underpinnings have been completed. Additionally, other developers from the !KinoSearch community have taken an interest in Lucy and have begun to ramp up their contributions. The next steps for Lucy were articulated by the Lucene PMC in a recent review: make releases, acquire users, grow community. - To implement the Lucene PMC's recommendations and get to a release as quickly as possible, the Lucy community proposes to assimilate the KinoSearch codebase, which has been retrofitted to use Lucy's core. Lucy still lacks a number of important indexing and search classes; we wish to flesh these out via IP clearance work rather than software development. + To implement the Lucene PMC's recommendations and get to a release as quickly as possible, the Lucy community proposes to assimilate the !KinoSearch codebase, which has been retrofitted to use Lucy's core. Lucy still lacks a number of important indexing and search classes; we wish to flesh these out via IP clearance work rather than software development. Since Lucy cannot remain as a sub-project of Lucene under the current ASF policy of breaking up "umbrella projects", it is not appropriate for the software grant to take place within the context of the Lucene TLP. Instead, we advocate that the software grant happen within the context of the Incubator, and that a Lucy podling and PPMC be established which will ultimately take responsibility for the codebase. @@ -33, +33 @@ == Current Status == === Meritocracy === - Our initial committer list includes two individuals (Peter Karman and Nathan Kurz) who started off as KinoSearch users, demonstrated merit through constructive forum participation, adept negotiation, consensus building, and submission of high-quality contributions, and were invited to become committers. Peter now rolls most releases. + Our initial committer list includes two individuals (Peter Karman and Nathan Kurz) who started off as !KinoSearch users, demonstrated merit through constructive forum participation, adept negotiation, consensus building, and submission of high-quality contributions, and were invited to become committers. Peter now rolls most releases. We look forward to continuing to operate as a meritocracy under the established traditions and rules of the ASF. === Community === - Lucy's most active participants of late have been drawn from the KinoSearch and Lucene communities. Having been focused on features and technical goals for a long time, we are considerably overdue for a stable release, and anticipate rapid growth in its wake. + Lucy's most active participants of late have been drawn from the !KinoSearch and Lucene communities. Having been focused on features and technical goals for a long time, we are considerably overdue for a stable release, and anticipate rapid growth in its wake. === Core Developers === - * Marvin Humphrey is the project founder of KinoSearch, and co-founded the existing Lucy sub-project. He is presently employed by Eventful, Inc. + * Marvin Humphrey is the project founder of !KinoSearch, and co-founded the existing Lucy sub-project. He is presently employed by Eventful, Inc. * Peter Karman has contributed to several open source projects since 2001, including being a committer at http://swish-e.org/ (a search engine), http://code.google.com/p/rose/ (an ORM) and http://catalyst.perl.org/ (web framework). He is employed by American Public Media. - * Nathan Kurz is excited by the intersection of search and recommendations, and has been a KinoSearch committer since 2007. As the owner of Scream Sorbet (http://screamsorbet.com), he divides his time between code and fruit. + * Nathan Kurz is excited by the intersection of search and recommendations, and has been a !KinoSearch committer since 2007. As the owner of Scream Sorbet (http://screamsorbet.com), he divides his time between code and fruit. === Alignment === - One Apache value which is particularly cherished by the Lucy community is codebase transparency. We have developed institutions which enable us to measure and maximize usability (see [http://wiki.apache.org/lucy/BrainLog]), and we feel strongly that the bindings for Lucy must present APIs and documentation which are idiomatic to the host language culture so that end users can consume our work as easily as possible. + One Apache value which is particularly cherished by the Lucy community is codebase transparency. We have developed institutions which enable us to measure and maximize usability (see [[http://wiki.apache.org/lucy/BrainLog]]), and we feel strongly that the bindings for Lucy must present APIs and documentation which are idiomatic to the host language culture so that end users can consume our work as easily as possible. The controlled competition of meritocratic community development is also very important to us. There has been substantial cross-pollination of ideas between Lucene and Lucy, yielding considerable benefits for both projects. The Lucy developers envision that our host-language sub-communities will approach using and extending the library in distinct ways; we hope to harness the creative tension between them to drive innovation, building productive relationships akin to the one that Lucene and Lucy have today. @@ -73, +73 @@ We attribute some of our difficulties to the what may have been excess ambition in the original Lucy plan, given the scope of the project and the size of the initial committer list: - . [http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#incubator] + . [[http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#incubator]] . The basic requirements for incubation are: * a working codebase -- over the years and after several failures, the foundation came to understand that without an initial working codebase, it is generally hard to bootstrap a community. @@ -81, +81 @@ By rebooting the project with a working codebase, we expect to avoid the trap that ensnared Lucy's first incarnation: we will release early, release often, accumulate users, nurture contributors, and grow our community. == Documentation == - * Subversion repository: [http://www.rectangular.com/svn/kinosearch/] + * Subversion repository: [[http://www.rectangular.com/svn/kinosearch/]] - * Perl API documentation: [http://www.rectangular.com/kinosearch/docs/devel/] + * Perl API documentation: [[http://www.rectangular.com/kinosearch/docs/devel/]] - * Discussion list: [http://www.rectangular.com/mailman/listinfo/kinosearch/] + * Discussion list: [[http://www.rectangular.com/mailman/listinfo/kinosearch/]] == Initial Source == - The initial source will be a snapshot from the KinoSearch subversion repository. + The initial source will be a snapshot from the !KinoSearch subversion repository. == Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan == - KinoSearch is currently under a GPL/Artistic license. There are five individuals who have made multiple significant contributions to the codebase and whose participation is either essential or would be very helpful: Marvin Humphrey, Peter Karman, Nathan Kurz, Chris Nandor, and Father Chrysostomos. All have been contacted and are amenable to re-licensing their work and contributing it to Apache. We will contact as many other contributors as possible; if there are any that we cannot obtain permission from, we will refactor to expunge their work. + !KinoSearch is currently under a GPL/Artistic license. There are five individuals who have made multiple significant contributions to the codebase and whose participation is either essential or would be very helpful: Marvin Humphrey, Peter Karman, Nathan Kurz, Chris Nandor, and Father Chrysostomos. All have been contacted and are amenable to re-licensing their work and contributing it to Apache. We will contact as many other contributors as possible; if there are any that we cannot obtain permission from, we will refactor to expunge their work. == External Dependencies == - The Perl bindings for KinoSearch currently depend on a few CPAN modules which do not have Apache-compatible licenses. It will be possible to eliminate all such dependencies if necessary. + The Perl bindings for !KinoSearch currently depend on a few CPAN modules which do not have Apache-compatible licenses. It will be possible to eliminate all such dependencies if necessary. == Required Resources == === Mailing lists === @@ -102, +102 @@ * lucy-users === Subversion Directory === - [http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/lucy] + [[http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/lucy]] === Issue Tracking === Lucy already has a JIRA tracker: Lucy (LUCY) @@ -124, +124 @@ * Chris Mattman (mattman AT apache DOT org) === Sponsoring Entity === - Lucy is currently sponsored by Lucene as a sub-project. This proposal advocates changing Lucy's relationship with Apache from developing all new code as a Lucene sub-project, to instead assimilating existing code (KinoSearch) under the sponsorship of the Incubator. + Lucy is currently sponsored by Lucene as a sub-project. This proposal advocates changing Lucy's relationship with Apache from developing all new code as a Lucene sub-project, to instead assimilating existing code (!KinoSearch) under the sponsorship of the Incubator.
