Hello developers,
The last few weeks we have seen several discussions on the way the community is working - or not working, as the case may be - when it comes to stimulating development of MMBase, and assisting developers in their efforts to do so. Various issues have been brought forth. The need for guidance in starting projects, support when hosting components, desires for change in the way documentation or source repository are made available, the composition and tasks of the MMC, and much more. It is time that we get together so people have an opportunity to give us their ideas and to react on ideas of others.
Therefor, the MMC is organizing a meeting to discuss the functioning of the developers community, and to accept ideas on how things can be improved.
The initial date set for this meeting is Thursday, 10 February (next
week). The meeting is to start at 16:00 hours and continue in the
evening. Unless another location is presented we will hold the meeting
at OIS (Omroep Internet Services), at the mediapark in Hilversum.
The meeting is a developers meeting and will focus on the developer
community and the tasks and responsibilities of developers, committers,
and the MMC. As such we expect mainly developers to attend (and likely a
fair amount of tech talk).
Drinks will be provided, food (pizzas or some other easy to order food, to be determined on site) will be ordered (the Foundation has offered to sponsor this).
It is likely not everyone can be present for the entire meeting (some
may be late and some may have to leave early), but since we will collect
ideas and comments during the meeting, and presenting them afterwards
for further discussion if needed, this should not be an issue.
Of course, the meeting is on short notice. If not enough people can show
on this date, we will move the meeting one week further, to Wednesday 16 February. We prefer to hold it as soon as possible, therefor we need you to confirm (by private mail) whether you can attend on either of these dates.
There is no agenda for that evening yet, as items may be brought forth in the coming week. There are a few points we will certainly discuss, which include the following items:
[1] The tasks and responsibilities of the MMC We feel that it may be much clearer if individual MMC members get appointed certain tasks, so they can function as a point of contact in certain issues. Tasks we might appoint may include: - release management - MMBase.org and hardware - licensing - CVS monitoring - strategies - vote manager
The exact definition of these tasks (and whether they should be part of the MMC or not) will be discussed.
[2] Committers and MMC membership A discussion on whether the current rules for membership of either the committer group or the MMC are sufficient. Should they be changed, and if so, how? We also would like to know who would be interested in a function as either committer or (if you are a committer yourself) as a MMC member. While you can always present yourself later, this evening may be a chance to present yourself as a candidate for either group, and provide insight in what way you are an asset to the community.
[3] Tasks for the Technical Coordinator The Foundation will sponsor a Technical Coordinator, who can execute tasks for which the MMC has little or no time. We need, very soon, to set up a task lists so we can have a good profile for people suitable for the job (there have been offers but we need to make sure they fit the profile). The tasks for this coordinator are also up for discussion. We invite candidates for that position to participate in the meeting and present us with their won ideas. Note that we currently do NOT expect the coordinator to develop as part of it tasks.
[4] Applications and 3rd party components The MMC is planning to relax the requirements for including applications (or software components related to MMBase) in the CVS respository. The initial proposal is to allow applications in the MMBase CVS under the following conditions: - The software complies with the MMBase code conventions and structure (i.e. has a build file, standard directory layout, etc). - The software is released under the MPL - The software is a component or applications that can be incorporated with other components. This is a bit vague as a description, but basically we do not feel that complete systems, such as LeoCMS or Wiab, are suitable for inclusion in that part of CVS. - The software is sponsored by a maintainer that has committer rights. It is of course possible for someone who desires to propose the application/component to request committer rights for that purpose. - The committer has to propose the component through a vote, so the developer community has the final say whether CVS should be granted to the component or not. - Some applications will be marked 'core' applications (i.e. taglibs or editwizards). These will be maintained by the community. Non-core applications will be maintained by their committer. If an application loses his maintainer, it may be removed (archived) in future versions of MMBase if it cannot keep up with development in the MMBase core applications. - The applications will, for the time being, be added in the applications branch of CVS. It is also possible that we create a separate '3rd-party' branch, but this may be at a later date.
Some of the conditions noted above may be changed in the future, depending on needs and experience with initial component proposals. It's not perfect yet, but it's a start. Of course the meeting gives the developers a chance to request changes to these conditions before we implement it. We plan to implement this change as soon as possible, but not before the meeting, as we do want input form people before we implement it. (Watch this space.)
You are all invited to participate in these discussions, and present your own cases. Since not everyone will be able to attend, we will open up a separate thread where you can post your ideas.
To participate in this meeting, or for questions, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (if you have a general question we ask that you ask on the list).
Include in your email whether you can attend on Thursday 10 February or on Wednesday 16 February (the latter will be used as a backup date if not enough people can attend next week).
The MMC _______________________________________________ Developers mailing list Developers@lists.mmbase.org http://lists.mmbase.org/mailman/listinfo/developers
