[PROPOSAL] product groups

[robert burrell donkin]

the subject of encouraging products (both sub projects and components) to 
move from jakarta to here has been raised before but without any real 
positive outcome (at least that i can see). but (it seems to me that) the 
board and members believe that a general movement of products from jakarta 
would benefit everyone so probably at least one more effort is justified.

i've been thinking about these issues for a while now and i now think that 
there's a chance now of gaining some momentum towards this goal. i believe 
that there are lots of reasons why many products would benefit from a move 
- even if they can't seem it yet ;)

i believe that it would be possible to encourage this movement providing 
that the right environment was provided for them. most people at jakarta 
like busy mailing lists and like hanging out on the same list so they can 
share ideas - even if this means enduring a massive quantity of email.

jakarta-commons is reaching the limit of it's possible expansion (one 
mailing list can only cope with so much traffic before it becomes 
impossible - as my accumulated 1Gb of mail proves). i'd like to propose 
that apache-commons creates organizational substructures inspired by the 
jakarta-commons model each consisting of a group of related products so 
that products will feel at home.

why do we need groups?
i think that it's clear (from the un-rush) that jakarta products are not 
beating down the doors of apache-commons demanding to be let in. if 
apache-commons wants these products, it needs to offer encouragement. part 
of this needs to be a friendly attitude and part demonstration of synergy 
but i think also a sympathetic organization is important.

here's my list of characteristics for groups:
1. products would still be affiliated with jakarta (and retain links from 
the jakarta site) but would be managed by the apache-commons pmc.
2. products would be grouped together with other similar products to form 
a group  creating synergy. it should be easier to recruit new products 
since this synergy would be much clear than the general 'apache-commons'.
3, each group would have a name and a web page. each product within the 
group would also have web pages organized underneath.
4. each group would be language agnostic based upon a topic.
5. it would be possible for groups to be promoted to top level project 
status (given sufficient momentum).
6. there would be one development mailing list for each group.
7. there would be one user mailing list for each group but products would 
be entitled to retain their existing user lists.

- robert