The discussion has been minimal, and has ramped down. Time to move to a vote?
(I had hoped to see some people volunteer...) Cheers, -g On Dec 2, 2011 10:53 AM, "Hyrum K Wright" <hyrum.wri...@wandisco.com> wrote: > Hello Incubator! > > WANdisco would like to propose the inclusion of a new project, Apache > Bloodhound, to the Incubator. The proposal has been posted to the > wiki[1], and is also included below. We've privately discussed this > project with a number of individuals, but would now like to get the > discussion rolling here. Bloodhound is new effort, based on Trac[2], > to provide issue tracking and collaboration tools for developers. > > We realize the proposal is a work-in-progress, and as such look > forward to feedback and discussion. We hope to attract mentors and > other interested parties through the incubation proposal process, and > further diversify the community as we move through incubation. In > particular, this project is an opportunity to build a new community > around the codebase, and we look forward to doing so at the ASF. > > -Hyrum > > [1] http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/BloodhoundProposal > [2] http://trac.edgewall.org/ > > > = Bloodhound - Collaborative development tools based on Trac = > > == Abstract == > > Bloodhound will be a software development collaboration tool, > including issue tracking, wiki and repository browsing. Essentially > an improved distribution of the well-known Trac project, Bloodhound > will include the common and useful plugins to enable a more complete > distribution than a typical Trac installation. > > == Proposal == > > Bloodhound will be a software development collaboration tool, based on > the existing Trac project, which will include a repository browser, > wiki, and defect tracker. In addition to the standard Trac > installation, Bloodhound will incorporate a number of popular modules > into the core distribution, and include additional improvements > developed (as [[http://trac-hacks.org/|plugins]]) outside the Trac > project. > > == Background == > > The [[http://trac.edgewall.org/|Trac project]] is a BSD-licensed > collaboration tool used to assist in software development. It has a > wide user base, a pluggable infrastructure, and is generally > considered stable. > > By it's own recognition, however, the development community > surrounding Trac has largely dissipated, with little mailing list > traffic, and very few commits to the source code repository (see [2]). > Private efforts to engage the existing developers in implementing > features have been negatively received. At the same time, other > individuals and companies, such as > [[http://www.wandisco.com|WANdisco]], have expressed interest in > helping continue to develop Trac. These entities would prefer this > effort to be at a vendor-neutral location, with the clear process for > intellectual property management that comes from the Foundation. As > such, the Apache Software Foundation feels like the best fit for this > new project based on Trac. > > == Rationale == > > As discussed earlier, the current Trac development community is small > and reluctant to accept outside contributions. Given the Foundation’s > reputation for building and maintaining communities, we feel a new > project, based on Trac but incubated under the Apache umbrella, would > help re-build the developer community, jump started by developer time > donated by WANdisco. Additionally, as a developer tool, Bloodhound is > a good fit with other, similarly-focused developer tools at the ASF. > > Private discussions have shown there is some interest by third-parties > to release internal improvements to Trac, and Bloodhound gives them an > additional venue to do so. > > == Initial Goals == > > The initial goals for Bloodhound primarily revolve around migrating > the existing code base and integrating external features to make the > project easy to deploy. Additional ideas will of course follow, but > the following goals are sufficiently difficult to be considered early > milestones. > > Some of the initial goals include: > * Migrate the existing BSD-licensed Trac code base to the ASF. > * Attract developer and user interest in the new Bloodhound project. > * Incorporate externally developed features into the core Bloodhound > project. > * Package the most popular plugins into the core project, so > installations and administration of Bloodhound becomes dead simple. > > > = Current Status = > > == Meritocracy == > > Although initially corporate-sponsored, any interested developers > would be granted commit access. Even developers employed by the > sponsoring companies would be required to demonstrate competency to > gain commit privileges. Individuals with corporate affiliations would > understandably be known within the community, but would not have > bearing on the granting of commit privileges. > > == Community == > > One of the primary purposes of this proposal is to develop a strong > developer community around the Trac code base. The current developers > and supporting institution have moved on to other things, and this has > caused stagnation in the existing community. We want to use the > experience of the Incubator PMC, and the incubation process, to reboot > the developer community, while at the same time incorporating > oft-requested features into the existing product. > > Building communities carries with it an initial investment, and the > corporate sponsors behind this proposal are willing to make that > investment in seeing a vibrant and self-sustaining community result > from incubation. We recognize this as something of an experiment, and > that incubation is not a guarantee of success and graduation a given. > However, we feel that the ASF represents the best opportunity to build > the vibrant community that this project needs. > > == Core Developers == > > The initial set of developers will be primarily individuals from > WANdisco, and may be augmented with other interested persons we have > privately contacted. This list contains at least one Apache Member, > as well as others who have participated in Apache projects in various > capacities (patch contributors, bug reports, etc.). It also includes > people who are familiar with open source development, but have not > previously participated in Apache projects. > > Realizing that incubation is an opportunity to grow the community, we > plan to make every attempt possible to invite additional developers > from the existing Trac user and developer communities, including those > involved in plugin development. > > == Alignment == > > Bloodhound aligns well with the Apache Software Foundation. It makes > extensive use of Apache Subversion, and includes tools to browse and > interact with Subversion repositories. As previously mentioned, > Bloodhound is primarily a developer-oriented tool, which follows the > historical Apache philosophy of providing high-quality developer > tools. Eventually, Bloodhound could become a viable alternative to > Jira or Bugzilla for projects hosted at Apache. > > = Known Risks = > > This proposal is not without its risks, some of which are outlined below. > > == Orphaned Projects == > > The current Trac project lacks much developer interest. Although the > entities behind this proposal desire to make a viable developer > community, there is no guarantee that such a community will develop. > Should this happen, there will likely be insufficient heterogeneity in > the project to warrant graduation. > > == Inexperience with Open Source == > > The initial groups of developers have extensive experience with open > source, primarily with the [[http://subversion.apache.org/|Apache > Subversion]] project. The target audience for growing the developer > community is the current Trac user and developer communities, many > members of which are familiar with open source in general. There may > be some learning curve as community members familiarize themselves > with the ASF and the Apache Way, including individuals employed > specifically to work on the project. > > == Homogeneous Developers == > > The current list of committers are primarily from WANdisco. One of > the key purposes of proposing Bloodhound for incubation is to > resurrect a currently-small (~3 key developers, but very few commits > per week) development community by attracting and infusing it with new > code and new individuals. The ASF has a well-deserved reputation of > fostering and building open source communities, which makes it the > ideal location to attempt this community reboot. > > == Reliance on Salaried Developers == > > Most of the initial committers are supported by their employers to > work on Bloodhound, and may be assigned to work on other projects in > the future. However, the employers of these salaried individuals have > an interest in seeing Bloodhound thrive as a long-term, sustaining > project. WANdisco understands that their employees are acting as > individuals when contributing to Apache projects, but has already > brought additional staff on board to assist with Bloodhound > development. > > == Relationship with Other Apache Projects == > > Bloodhound integrates heavily with Apache Subversion, although that > integration is becoming more de-coupled making it possible to replace > with other version control systems. Bloodhound optionally runs on > Apache httpd. > > == An Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand == > > One of the primary motivators in creating the Bloodhound project as > part of the Incubator is to leverage the vendor-neutral nature of the > Apache Software Foundation. The ASF has a strong and recognized brand > as being a leader in open source, and by hosting Bloodhound at the > Foundation, we hope to attract developers to build a viable community > for the project. > > = Initial Source = > > The original Trac code base has been under development for more than 8 > years, though development has become minimal over the past 2 years. > We have sync'd the existing Trac repository, including history, and > are using it as the basis for Bloodhound. We also plan to incorporate > appropriately-licensed plugins into the core Bloodhound system. > > == Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan == > > The initial source will be from the Trac repository. Additional > functionality may come from private development, and will be folded > into the open source version after Bloodhound is loaded in the main > ASF repository. Any relevant Trac-hacks with appropriate licenses may > also be migrated. > > == External Dependencies == > > The bulk of the initial code will be from the Trac project, which is > licensed under the BSD license. Bloodhound also relies upon > BSD-licensed subcomponents for HTML templating. > > = Required Resources = > > == Mailing lists == > > The initial set of mailing lists will be: > * bloodhound-private (with moderated subscriptions) > * bloodhound-dev > * bloodhound-commits > * bloodhound-user > > == Subversion Directory == > > https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/bloodhound > > == Issue Tracking == > > Bloodhound would like to self-host its issue tracking, see below. > > == Other Resources == > > In the interests of eating our own dogfood, Bloodhound would like to > self-host the issue tracker and related tools. The team will work with > Infrastructure to define and manage this configuration. > > == Initial Committers == > > * Mat Booth (mat.booth at wandisco dot com) > * Mark Poole (mark at wandisco.com) > * Hyrum Wright (hyrum.wright at wandisco dot com) > * John Chambers (john.chambers at wandisco.com) > * Gary Martin (gary.martin at wandisco.com) > > == Affiliations == > > * Mat Booth, WANdisco > * Mark Poole, WANdisco > * Hyrum Wright, WANdisco > * John Chambers, WANdisco > * Gary Martin, WANdisco > > = Sponsors = > > == Champion == > > Hyrum Wright > > == Nominated Mentors == > > * Hyrum Wright > * Greg Stein > > == Sponsoring Entity == > > The Apache Incubator >
