+1 (binding) Azeez
On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 12:57 AM, Dave <snoopd...@gmail.com> wrote: > I would like to call for a new vote on Usergrid, a multi-tenant > Backend-as-a-Service stack for web & mobile applications based on RESTful > APIs, as an Apache Incubator podling. > > The original proposal has been revised to name Dave Johnson as the Champion > and to bring Jim Jagielski back in as a Mentor and to add John Lewis > Mcgibbney as a Mentor. I also add some text to the Initial Committers > section and a new Interested Contributors section to list those who have > expressed interest in contributing. > > Here is a link to the revised proposal: > https://wiki.apache.org/incubator/UsergridProposal > > It is also pasted below: > > > = Usergrid Proposal = > > == Abstract == > > Usergrid is a multi-tenant Backend-as-a-Service stack for web & mobile > applications, based on RESTful APIs. > > > == Proposal == > > Usergrid is an open-source Backend-as-a-Service (“BaaS” or “mBaaS”) > composed of an integrated distributed NoSQL database, application layer and > client tier with SDKs for developers looking to rapidly build web and/or > mobile applications. It provides elementary services (user registration & > management, data storage, file storage, queues) and retrieval features > (full text search, geolocation search, joins) to power common app features. > > It is a multi-tenant system designed for deployment to public cloud > environments (such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, etc.) or to run on > traditional server infrastructures so that anyone can run their own private > BaaS deployment. > > For architects and back-end teams, it aims to provide a distributed, easily > extendable, operationally predictable and highly scalable solution. > For front-end developers, it aims to simplify the development process by > enabling them to rapidly build and operate mobile and web applications > without requiring backend expertise. > > > == Background == > > Developing web or mobile applications obviously necessitates writing and > maintaining more than just front-end code. Even simple applications can > implicitly rely on server code being run to store users, perform database > queries, serve images and video files, etc. Developing and maintaining such > backend services requires skills not always available or expected of app > development teams. Beyond that, the proliferation of apps inside of > companies leads to the creation of many different, ad-hoc, unequally > maintained backend solutions created by employees and contractors alike and > hosted on a wide variety of environments. This is causing poor resource > usage, operational issues, as well as security, privacy & compliance > concerns. > > In response to this problem, companies have long tried to standardize their > server-side stack or unify them behind an ESB or API strategy. > Backends-as-a-Service follow a similar approach but their unique > characteristic is strongly tying 1) a persistence tier (typically a > database), 2) a server-side application tier delivering a set of common > services and 3) a set of client-side application interface mechanisms. For > example, a BaaS could package 1) MongoDB with 2) a node.js application that > offers access through 3) WebSockets. In the case of Usergrid, the trifecta > is 1) Cassandra, 2) Java + Jersey and 3) a RESTful API. > > The Backend-as-a-Service approach has steadily gained popularity in the > last few years with cloud providers such Parse.com, Stackmob.com and > Kinvey.com, each operating tens of thousands of apps for tens of thousands > of developers. The trend has already reached large organizations as well, > with global companies such as Korea Telecom internally building a > privately-run BaaS platform. But so far, there have been limited options > for developers that want a non-proprietary, open option for hosting and > providing these services themselves, or for enterprise and government users > who want to provide these capabilities from their own data centers, > especially on a very large scale. > > > == Rationale == > > The issue this proposal deals with is implicit in the name. > Backend-as-a-Service platforms are usually offered solely as proprietary > cloud services. They are typically closed sourced, hosted on public clouds, > and require subscription payment. Usergrid opens the playing field, by > making a fully-featured BaaS platform freely available to all. This > includes developers that previously could not afford them, such as mobile > enthusiasts, small boutiques, and cost-sensitive startups. This also > includes large companies that benefit from a reference implementation they > can deploy in trust, or extend to their needs without losing time writing > less-vetted, less-performant boilerplate functionality. > > Usergrid has been open source since 2011 and has grown as an independent > project, garnering 11 primary committers, 35 total contributors, 260+ > participants on its mailing list, with 3,700+ commits, 200+ external > contributions, 350+ stars and 100+ forks on Github, not to mention several > large scale production deployments at major global companies in the media, > retail, telecommunication and government spaces. > > The Apache Software Foundation's "Way", by putting community before the > code, will help Usergrid establish a vibrant, more diverse community to > provide these features freely to downstream users. The incubation process > will help build this community and clear out the cobwebs, while vetting the > IP to provide a pristine ASLv2 licensed product to users. Under such > conditions, our hope is that Usergrid will have a brighter future, and > provide better assurances as an independent organic open source project, > instead of continuing forward as a project sponsored by a handful of > companies. > > > == Initial Goals == > > We have no serious codebase concerns at the present moment. Besides vetting > the IP by making sure the dependencies are Apache License 2.0 compatible, > our main initial concern is to grow community and keep adding features to > make Usergrid as robust as possible. However some logistics based goals > include: > > * Move the existing code base to Apache > * Integrate with the Apache development process > * Ensure all dependencies are compliant with Apache License 2.0 > * Set up open-source docs and website > * Incremental development and releases per Apache Guidelines > > > == Current Status == > > > === Meritocracy === > > The project team's goals have always been to grow the community by > encouraging contributors to participate. The project has grown steadily and > smoothly from the efforts of the original creator and project founder (Ed > Anuff) to a small circle of committers (at Apigee), to a distributed, > multi-vendor community (Apigee and Korea Telecom) that also includes > outside committers (Globo and others), as well as non-salaried committers. > Together we discuss the project’s goals and roadmap openly, making drastic > yet positive changes to the project's direction based on everyone's input. > Our goal is to drive further community diversification in a way that only a > foundation-sponsored project can achieve, rather than what a vendor-led > project can accomplish. > > > === Community === > > We have a public Google Group for support here: > https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/usergrid with over 250 > active > participants, 367 threads and new messages every day. Usergrid also has an > active community on Github issues (with over 200 discussions): > https://github.com/apigee/usergrid-stack/issues?state=all. Some of these > users have contributed their open applications back to the community or > have built their own new SDKs for Usergrid found here on Github: > https://github.com/search?q=usergrid&source=cc. > > Expanding and nurturing the Usergrid community is our primary concern and > one of the main reasons for the decision to apply for incubation. Usergrid > has been developed openly on Github for many years and has enjoyed active > developer participation by a committers from all over the globe. However, > due to the disparate nature and wide variety of the Github repos that > comprise the Usergrid project (the Usergrid-stack, 8 separate SDKs, the > Admin Portal, and various samples), it has been challenging to grow a > unified community. Bringing the entire project under the umbrella of > Apache will promote a unification of the Usergrid community and enable all > developers to collaborate on the project. > > > === Core Developers === > > The core developers include Apache Committers, PMC Members, and Members of > the ASF. The developers, some of whom have have been involved with the > Apache Incubator and Apache Lucene as PMC members, are active mentors and > have participated in and contributed to several projects: i.e. Apache, > Lucene, Cassandra, Hibernate, Directory, Wicket, Commons, Roller, MINA, > Karaf, Felix, Cloud Stack, HCatalog, and Commons projects. Many of them are > also active in Open-source beyond code, and have positions on the > committees or organization such as OSCON. > > > === Alignment === > > The initial code base leverages several Apache Software Foundation > products. Usergrid leverages Apache Cassandra for its scalable data store, > and uses Maven for its build system. Almost half of Usergrid's dependencies > are Apache dependencies: > > * Apache Cassandra > * Apache Tomcat > * Apache Commons > * Apache ZooKeeper > * Apache Shiro > * Apache Amber > * Apache Thrift > * Apache ActiveMQ > * Apache HttpClient > * Apache Lucene > * Apache JClouds > > Besides these direct alignments, Usergrid also complements Apache Cordova > and could provide several advantages to the mobile application developer > community they serve. > > > == Known Risks == > > === Orphaned products === > There are now at least two vendors running Usergrid in product. Apigee is > an established startup with a large, diversified customer roster and Korea > Telecom is a major, national telecommunications company. The continuity of > Usergrid, as an open-source, vendor-independent product are in the interest > of all parties. Beyond the vendors, Globo.com and many others large > companies have been relying on Usergrid for critical applications and as > such they are committed to contributing to the effort. > > > === Inexperience with Open Source === > > The Usergrid project has been open source and under the ALv2 for 2 years on > Github and many of its contributors came with previous open-source > experience, (as referenced above), including active members of these > communities: > > * Apache > * Cassandra (& Hector) > * Lucene > * Hibernate > * CouchDB > * PhoneGap > * jQuery > > Development in this open forum has resulted in a growing community of > contributors, and the Usergrid project is now ready and eager to embrace > and learn from Apache's wealth of experience. Usergrid would like to > embrace an even greater culture of open participation as witnessed on so > many Apache projects. > > > === Homogenous Developers === > > The core development team for Usergrid is a geographically and > technologically diverse group. Apigee’s team is itself distributed, with > contributors based in each timezone in the continental US. Additional > regular contributors have joined us from India, Asia, Oceania, South > America, the Middle East and Europe. While roughly half of our core > developers come from a Java background, the other half is comprised of iOS, > Ruby, and JavaScript developers. > > > === Reliance on Salaried Developers === > > Most of the principal developers are paid by their employers to contribute, > but not all. Throughout the life of the project, we’ve seen passionate, > personal commitment from all parties, as evidenced by our commit > distribution on weekends ( > https://github.com/apigee/usergrid-stack/graphs/punch-card). We also > believe, given the growing interest in mobile API services and the range of > individuals and corporations that are eager to participate, that > non-salaried contributions will grow. We know the "The Apache Way" will > help us further accelerate this process. > > > === Relationships with Other Apache Products === > > There's much potential for collaboration with Apache Cordova and, of > course, the Cassandra community because of the underlying foundations of > Usergrid's scalability. In the future there may be more interactions with > any of the communities that Usergrid has direct dependencies to. > > > === A Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand === > > Although we are aware of the strength of the Apache brand, we are primarily > interested in the transforming power of the Apache Way to help guide > Usergrid towards a more diversified and meritocratic community. To that > end, the brand's primary benefit for us is to help to attract more > participants and diversify the community. Having several committers, PMC > participants, and members of Apache as developers on Usergrid, there's > little infatuation with the brand, and the Usergrid community is actively > conscious of this not being a driver for joining the Apache community. > > > == Documentation == > > Information on Usergrid can be found at: > https://developers.apigee.com/app-services. > > > == Initial Source == > > All initial sources can be found here: https://github.com/usergrid > > > == Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan == > > The IP transfer for Usergrid is trivial due to it's single source and > existing ASLv2 licensing. > > > == External Dependencies == > > Most dependencies are Apache compatible licenses (Category A). A small set > of Category B licenses, like the CDDL exists. For more details please see > Dependency Licenses. > > > == Cryptography == > > Not relevant to Usergrid since all code dealing with cryptography already > comes from the JDK or from dependencies on Apache Software. > > > == Required Resources == > > > === Mailing lists === > > * priv...@usergrid.incubator.apache.org (moderated) > * d...@usergrid.incubator.apache.org > * comm...@usergrid.incubator.apache.org > > > === Subversion Directory === > > We prefer to use Git as our source control system: git:// > git.apache.org/usergrid/. If possible, we would like to keep leveraging > the > extremely useful github facilities for workflow using a process much like > that employed by the Apache Cordova project (documented here > http://wiki.apache.org/cordova/ContributorWorkflow). > > > === Issue Tracking === > > JIRA Usergrid (USERGRID) > > > === Other Resources === > None. > > > == Initial Committers == > > Below are the initial committers for the project. This list will be used by > the mentors to setup initial accounts. The podling will learn how to > recruit additional committers during the incubation period and all > interested contributors are encouraged to show up and start contributing > once the podling has infrastructure in place. > > * Alberto Leal <albert...@gmail.com> (Globo.com) > * Dave Johnson <snoopd...@apache.org> (Apigee) > * Ed Anuff <e...@anuff.com> (Apigee) > * Nate McCall <zznat...@gmail.com> (The Last Pickle) > * Rod Simpson <r...@rodsimpson.com> (Apigee) > * Scott Ganyo <scottga...@apache.org> (Apigee) > * Shaozhuang Liu <st...@hibernate.org> (Easemob, Inc.) > * Sungju Jin <sun...@softwaregeeks.org> (Korea Telecom) > * Tim Anglade <timangl...@gmail.com> (Apigee) > * Todd Nine <todd.n...@gmail.com> (Apigee) > > > == Interested Contributors == > > Below are the people who have expressed interested in contributing to > Usergrid via the Apache Software Foundation: > * C.S.Nirmal J. Fernando <nirmal070...@gmail.com> (WSO2) > * Dulitha Rasanga Wijewantha <dulit...@gmail.com> (WSO2) > * Imesh Gunaratne <im...@apache.org> (WSO2) > * Niranjan Karunanandham <niranjan.k...@gmail.com> (WSO2) > > > == Affiliations == > > * Apigee > * Easemob, Inc. > * Korea Telecom > * Globo.com > * The Last Pickle > > > == Sponsors == > > > === Champion === > > * Dave Johnson <snoopd...@apache.org> > > > === Nominated Mentors === > > * Jake Farrell <jfarr...@apache.org> > * Jim Jagielski <j...@apache.org> > * Dave Johnson <snoopd...@apache.org> > * Lewis John Mcgibbney <lewis.mcgibb...@gmail.com> > * Luciano Resende <lrese...@apache.org> > > > === Sponsoring Entity === > > Incubator PMC > -- *Afkham Azeez* Director of Architecture; WSO2, Inc.; http://wso2.com, *Member; Apache Software Foundation; **http://www.apache.org/*<http://www.apache.org/> * * *email: **az...@wso2.com* <az...@wso2.com>* cell: +94 77 3320919 blog: **http://blog.afkham.org* <http://blog.afkham.org>* twitter: **http://twitter.com/afkham_azeez*<http://twitter.com/afkham_azeez> * linked-in: **http://lk.linkedin.com/in/afkhamazeez* * * *Lean . Enterprise . Middleware* * *
