+1 (almost binding... once I graduate from mike to Mike)
Mike On Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 6:23 PM, Chris Hostetter <hossman_incuba...@fucit.org> wrote: > > I would like to call a vote for accepting "Apache Lucy" for incubation in > the Apache Incubator. The full proposal is available below. We ask the > Incubator PMC to sponsor it, with myself (hossman) as Champion, and > mattmann, upayavira, mikemccand, and hossman volunteering to be Mentors. > > Please cast your vote: > > [ ] +1, bring Lucy into Incubator > [ ] +0, I don't care either way, > [ ] -1, do not bring Lucy into Incubator, because... > > This vote will be open for 72 hours and only votes from the Incubator PMC > are binding. > > http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/LucyProposal > ------------------------------------ > 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 transitioning to an Incubator Podling, and 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. > > PROPOSAL > 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. > > 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. > > Because Lucene is working to move away from being an "umbrella project", > a long term goal of the Lucy project is to graduate to an ASF TLP. With > that in mind, it seems more appropriate for the KinoSearch software grant > to take place within the context of the Incubator, and that a Lucy > podling and PPMC be established which will ultimately take responsibility > for the codebase. > > RATIONALE > There is great hunger for a search engine library in the mode of Lucene > which is accessible from various dynamic languages, and for one > accessible from pure C. Individuals naturally wish to code in their > language of choice. Organizations which do not have significant Java > expertise may not want to support Java strictly for the sake of running a > Lucene installation. Developers may want to take advantage of C's > interoperability and fine-grained control. Lucy will meet all these > demands. > > Apache is a natural home for our project given the way it has always > operated: user-driven innovation, security as a requirement, lively and > amiable mailing list discussions, strength through diversity, and so on. > We feel comfortable here, and we believe that we will become exemplary > Apache citizens. > > INITIAL GOALS > * Make a 1.0 stable release as quickly as possible. > * Concentrate on community expansion. > * Expose a public C API. > > 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. > > 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. > > 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. > * 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. > > 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. > > 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. > > A third priority of ours is to be bound by existing Apache institutions, > for the protection of all our stakeholders. > > KNOWN RISKS > Orphaned products > All core developers have been associated with the project for several > years across multiple jobs. However, at this time, the project would > probably not survive the departure of Marvin Humphrey, so there is a risk > of being orphaned. Marvin has no plans to leave, but we have been > actively working to disperse his knowledge of the code base and > administrative responsibilities in order to make him dispensable. Having > staggered badly after Dave Balmain's departure, we are keenly aware of > this vulnerability and highly motivated to eliminate it. > > Inexperience with Open Source > The core developers all have significant experience with open source > development, and include one present Apache committer. We recognize that > we lack PMC experience and seek to address that deficiency by using the > Incubator environment to educate ourselves and prepare for responsible > self-governance. > > Homogenous Developers > Our community is geographically dispersed, with members in San Diego, > Oakland, and Minneapolis. We all work for different organizations. > > Reliance on Salaried Developers > Marvin Humphrey has a great job at Eventful working primarily on this > project and supporting applications that use it. Nevertheless, he is > extremely dedicated to Lucy and is determined to see it through to the > point where it becomes self-sustaining, regardless of work circumstances. > > Relationships with Other Apache Products > Lucy's relationship with Lucene of cordial "coopetition" has produced > benefits for Lucene users in terms of indexing speed, near-real-time > search support, and more. We expect this dynamic to continue delivering > improvements for all parties involved. > > An Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand > Our desire to maintain Lucy's affiliation with Apache has less to do with > the brand and more to do with our conviction that developing the project > The Apache Way under Apache institutions is in Lucy's best interests. > However, we have to acknowledge that during its time as a Lucene > subproject, Lucy has not always fulfilled certain key requirements for an > Apache project. In particular, it has failed to "release early, release > often", and it has made minimal progress in expanding its community. > > 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 > > 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. > > 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 > > * Current Lucy website: http://lucene.apache.org/lucy/ > * Current Lucy Subversion repository: > http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/lucene/lucy/ > * Current Lucy mailing lists: > http://lucene.apache.org/lucy/mailing_lists.html > * KinoSearch Subversion repository: > http://www.rectangular.com/svn/kinosearch/ > * KinoSearch Perl API documentation: > http://www.rectangular.com/kinosearch/docs/devel/ > * KinoSearch Discussion list: > http://www.rectangular.com/mailman/listinfo/kinosearch/ > > INITIAL SOURCE > 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. > > 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. > > REQUIRED RESOURCES > Mailing lists > * lucy-dev > * lucy-private (with moderated subscriptions) > * lucy-commits > * lucy-users > > Lucy already has lucy-dev, lucy-users, and lucy-commits mailing lists > under lucene.apache.org. Perhaps these could be deactivated and the > memberships migrated to the appropriate lists under incubator.apache.org, > leaving the lucene.apache.org archives as read-only. > > Subversion Directory > Lucy already has a Subversion directory at > http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/lucene/lucy. In keeping with naming > conventions, it could be moved to > http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/lucy. > > Issue Tracking > Lucy already has a JIRA tracker: Lucy (LUCY) > > Other Resources > Lucy already has a MoinMoin wiki at wiki.apache.org/lucy. It would be > convenient to keep it, especially since its current location is also > where it would end up upon TLP graduation, but we will defer to the > wishes of the Incubator PMC if standard Incubator wiki placement is > recommended. > > INITIAL COMMITTERS > NAME EMAIL AFFILIATION CLA > Marvin Humphrey marvin AT apache DOT org Eventful yes > Peter Karman peter AT peknet DOT com American Public Media yes > Nathan Kurz nate AT verse DOT com Scream Sorbet yes > Simon Willnauer simonw AT apache DOT org yes > > SPONSORS > Champion > * Chris Hostetter (hossman AT apache DOT org) > > Nominated Mentors > * Chris Mattmann (mattmann AT apache DOT org) > * Upayavira (upayavira AT apache DOT org) > * Mike McCandless (mikemccand AT apache DOT org) (pending IPMC > membership) > * Chris Hostetter (hossman AT apache DOT org) (pending IPMC membership) > > 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. > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org
