I agree with Greg.

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Chris Mattmann, Ph.D.
Senior Computer Scientist
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena, CA 91109 USA
Office: 171-266B, Mailstop: 171-246
Email: [email protected]
WWW:  http://sunset.usc.edu/~mattmann/
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Adjunct Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089 USA
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-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Stein <[email protected]>
Date: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 1:33 AM
To: Ant Elder <[email protected]>
Cc: jpluser <[email protected]>,
"[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [DISCUSS] probationary TLP experiment

>Thanks, Ant. I'm on a phone right now, and have not read the background.
>(so, terse response). But the dev@ list is fine. In my mind, a
>probationary TLP is a conversation between a community and the Board. And
>dev@ is the community, so is the best
> place to discuss before bringing an idea to the Board.
>On Aug 6, 2013 1:10 AM, "ant elder" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>I was wondering if the Stratos dev list is the best place to be
>discussing this, there are probably interested people who aren't
>subscribed or following here, though maybe general@incubator wouldn't
>be ideal either. I've cc'd Chris and Greg in this email so they at
>least know its here as they've expressed interest in the past.
>
>   ...ant
>
>On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 7:04 AM, Sanjiva Weerawarana <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>> I'm happy to drive the proposal .. can we do it on dev@? I'm not on the
>> PPMC.
>>
>> If so, Ant, lets catch up a bit one of these so we can start a Wiki
>> proposal. Maybe target August board meeting at this point?
>>
>> Sanjiva.
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 10:40 AM, Ross Gardler
>><[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> There needs to be a concrete proposal from this PPMC and its mentors,
>>>so
>>> no we are not on track.
>>>
>>> However, Ant did mail me offlist a few days ago to let me know he's
>>>been
>>> swamped but does plan to get to this soon.
>>>
>>> Of course the discussion doesn't need to be led by Ant.
>>>
>>> Ross
>>>
>>> Sent from my Windows Phone
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: Sanjiva Weerawarana
>>> Sent: 7/20/2013 9:30 PM
>>> To: dev
>>> Subject: Re: [DISCUSS] probationary TLP experiment
>>>
>>> Looks like there was no follow-up to this. Ross are you still on track
>>>to
>>> put this forward?
>>>
>>> Sanjiva.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Ross Gardler
>>><[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> During the proposal phase for the Stratos podling I floated the idea
>>>>of
>>>> the IPMC using the podling to experiment with a more streamlined
>>>>incubation
>>>> process.
>>>>
>>>> It is not my intention to drive this experiment. Ant Elder expressed a
>>>> desire to explore the idea during recent discussions among the IPMC.
>>>>Whilst
>>>> we were drawing up the Stratos proposal I asked Ant if he would be
>>>>willing
>>>> to lead the experiment. He agreed.
>>>>
>>>> In this mail I will summarize the relevant parts of the discussion
>>>>thread
>>>> on the [email protected] list. The intention is to give
>>>>Ant a
>>>> starting point for the discussions here. It's up to the Stratos
>>>>community to
>>>> ensure the experiement does not limit the project in any way and up
>>>>to Ant
>>>> to drive the experiment for the IPMC. Naturally, the IPMC mentors
>>>>will be a
>>>> very important part of defining the model and feeding back on the
>>>>experiment
>>>> to the IPMC. I'll be lad to help evaluate as an IPMC member too.
>>>>
>>>> Chris' original skeleton proposal is at [1]. This outlines who is
>>>> responsible for what in the new model. I'll remind the team that the
>>>>board
>>>> has not discussed the proposals here and a number of board members
>>>>have
>>>> expressed concern about it, while a couple are actively pushing for
>>>>it.
>>>>
>>>> The following specific questions were raised during discussions. These
>>>> will need to be addressed in any proposal.
>>>>
>>>> # Who's responsible for monitoring the probation, the IPMC or the
>>>>board?
>>>>
>>>> This is perhaps the biggest potential area for pushback is moving
>>>> oversight for the project to the board. Going to board certainly
>>>>bypasses
>>>> the problem of the IPMC often getting in the way of efficient process
>>>>but it
>>>> also removes the valuable input that some members of the IPMC often
>>>>provide.
>>>> Furthermore, should there be a problem it means it is the board that
>>>>must
>>>> fix the problem. Podling mentoring is not, traditionally, a role the
>>>>board
>>>> has ever taken on (fixing broken communities is not the same as
>>>>mentoring
>>>> fledgling communities).
>>>>
>>>> Note that one Director explicitly stated that he will vote -1 on any
>>>> proposal that has a "podling" reporting directly to the board. This
>>>>doesn't
>>>> mean it won't be approved by the board, but it does mean it will be
>>>> rigorously discussed.
>>>>
>>>> # What bits must absolutely be done before probation begins?
>>>>
>>>> We dodged this question in the discussion thread  by saying we'd go to
>>>> podling status first. I guess defining this is part of defining the
>>>>scope of
>>>> the experiment.
>>>>
>>>> # What minimum criteria does a probationary TLP have to meet to stay
>>>>in
>>>> good graces?
>>>>
>>>> Here I suggested the criteria would be the same as a TLP. The problem
>>>>is
>>>> understanding whether we have that documented anywhere. The IPMC has
>>>> addiitonal requirements (e.g. keep the meta-data up-to-date) whilst
>>>>the
>>>> board has, for the last 12 months or so, been pushing to have TLPs
>>>>provide
>>>> some of the same meta-data (e.g. last release date, last committer
>>>>addition,
>>>> last PMC addition).
>>>>
>>>> I suggest trying to come up with using the same criteria for TLPs,
>>>> podlings and pTLPs. Where podlings will have a lower set f
>>>>expectations
>>>> (i.e. no need to have voted in any committers yet, pTLPs have voted
>>>>in a
>>>> committer in the last six months but may not have done an approved
>>>>release
>>>> and TLPs should have a fairly regular flow of committers and
>>>>releases). Note
>>>> these "metrics" ought not be fixed, they should be seen as
>>>>guidelines. A
>>>> project with no recent releases that continues to report and answer
>>>>user
>>>> queries may just be mature, for example.
>>>>
>>>> One measure can be the pTLP PMC membership. Initially it would be only
>>>> the project mentors and champion. Over time active committers from the
>>>> initial committer list are voted into the PMC (recognising merit). So
>>>>we
>>>> then have a possible measure, if there are 3 members of the pTLP from
>>>>the
>>>> initial committer list then there are now sufficient binding votes
>>>>for the
>>>> project to operate as a TLP.
>>>>
>>>> While writing this I realised that we might want to propose an interim
>>>> step in the incubation process. e.g. start as a podling, move to pTLP
>>>>when
>>>> certain criteria are met (e.g. >3 active binding votes) and then TLP.
>>>>I've
>>>> not thought this through, just an idea you might consider.
>>>>
>>>> Another commentator observed that "It would probably be good to be
>>>>clear
>>>> on what are the exact characteristics that make this podling pTLP
>>>>worthy for
>>>> the future.  For example, the number of ASF veterans in its ranks." -
>>>>a good
>>>> observation. The danger here is creating an "us" and "them"
>>>>environment.
>>>> Perhaps the podling -> pTLP -> TLP idea resolves this - not sure.
>>>>
>>>> # What happens if the probationary TLP is not in good graces?
>>>>
>>>> I don't see this as being any different from a TLP. For a TLP the
>>>>board
>>>> says "fix it", if it isn't fixed they clear the decks and invite the
>>>> remaining PMC to fix it. If it still isn't fixed it gets axed. What
>>>>needs to
>>>> be defined is who provides these "fix it" ultimatums and when.
>>>>
>>>> Please be *very* careful here. When we set up the IPMC we said the
>>>>IPMC
>>>> would do this - that's the main failure point now. It is mob rule. If
>>>>a pTLP
>>>> reports to board then it's easy, but if reporting to the IPMC it is
>>>>harder.
>>>>
>>>> Note, a Director said " the Board will need a *definition* of
>>>> probation. This is more than just a wiki page. I believe it needs to
>>>> be a page laid down in www.a.o/dev/ that defines the constraints laid
>>>> down upon a "pTLP"" I believe answering the above question will
>>>>provide
>>>> this.
>>>>
>>>> # What bits must absolutely be done before probation completes?
>>>>
>>>> Here I don't see any reason for it to be different to podling
>>>>graduation
>>>> (proven ability to be open to new community members, properly vetted
>>>> release).
>>>>
>>>> # How do we maintain the "podling" brand?
>>>>
>>>> People are familiar with the concept of a podling. The press
>>>>understands
>>>> the difference between a TLP and a podling. We must not lose this
>>>> distinction. The Apache brand is valuable because of our high quality
>>>>bar.
>>>> If we dilute that quality by allowing projects to claim they are
>>>>official
>>>> before they understand what is required of an ASF project we run the
>>>>risk of
>>>> damaging the brand for all projects.
>>>>
>>>> So there you go. I hope I've done a reasonable job of summarizing a
>>>>55+
>>>> mail thread.
>>>>
>>>> Good luck!
>>>>
>>>> Ross
>>>>
>>>> [1] 
>http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/IncubatorDeconstructionProposal
><http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/IncubatorDeconstructionProposal>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Sanjiva Weerawarana, Ph.D.
>>> Founder, Chairman & CEO; WSO2, Inc.;  http://wso2.com/
>>> email: [email protected]; phone:
>+94 11 763 9614 <tel:%2B94%2011%20763%209614>; cell:
>+94 77 787 6880 <tel:%2B94%2077%20787%206880> |
>>> +1 650 265 8311 <tel:%2B1%20650%20265%208311>
>>> blog: http://sanjiva.weerawarana.org/
>>>
>>> Lean . Enterprise . Middleware
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Sanjiva Weerawarana, Ph.D.
>> Founder, Chairman & CEO; WSO2, Inc.;  http://wso2.com/
>> email: [email protected]; phone:
>+94 11 763 9614 <tel:%2B94%2011%20763%209614>; cell:
>+94 77 787 6880 <tel:%2B94%2077%20787%206880> | +1
>> 650 265 8311 <tel:650%20265%208311>
>> blog: http://sanjiva.weerawarana.org/
>>
>> Lean . Enterprise . Middleware
>
>
>

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