When we're talking about this podling having gained 'committers many from outside the company that donated the code', I wonder who we are talking about.
The reports to the IPMC show only numbers (3 in March 2015) and no names. And for what it is worth, the June 2015 report shows a link ( https://ignite.incubator.apache.org/community.html#list) that is pointing nowhere. I assume that it should have been this page: http://ignite.incubator.apache.org/community/resources.html#people. So we have (per today): - http://people.apache.org/committers-by-project.html#ignite , aka ASF list, - http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ignite , aka Incubator list, - http://ignite.incubator.apache.org/community/resources.html#people (showing affiliation), aka podling list And there are discrepancies between the pages. E.g. - http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ignite shows Ryan Rawson as a committer, but is not in http://people.apache.org/committers-by-project.html#ignite If we substract the mentors (4 according to http://incubator.apache.org/projects/ignite, though we can argue whether Henry Saputra should also be in there as he is listed in the March 2015 report to the IPMC as one of the report signers) from any list, we see the following changes: 1. Rayn Rawson (external, Apache Drill committer), 1. Incubator list 2. Sergey Khisamov (external - Fitech Source), 1. ASF list 2. Incubator list, 3. podling list 3. Ilya Sterin (external - ChronoTrack), 1. ASF list, 2. Incubator list, 3. podling list 4. Evans Ye (external - TrendMicro), 1. ASF list, 2. Incubator list, 3. podling list 5. Ognen Duzlevski (external - Shoutlet), 1. ASF list, 2. Incubator list, 3. podling list 6. Gianfrano Murador (external - Engiweb Security) 1. ASF list 2. Incubator list 3. podling list Adding 5 or 6 new committers isn't many. That is a start (regarding diversity). It for sure doesn't scream independence, when the majority (of committers, intended PMC members) is affiliated to one company. As for building the community of the podling, a mentor has the responsibility to keep tabs on contributions to ensure that everything goes according to the policies of the ASF, of the incubator and of the podling and assess (together with the community) everything whether it is in line with those policies. And report. As examples: - Statements (on podling pages re StackOverflow, or on external fora, e.g. Nabble) that questions can be raised via those media, isn't in line with how contributions to an ASF project (or podling) should be done. ASF mailing lists are the primary source for non-JIRA (including code patches) / non-wiki contributions. External sources are a nicety, but unreliable when it comes to feeding back into the ASF mailing lists or identifying active contributors or assessing potential additions to list of the privileged few; - Community pages should reflect how the on-boarding process is, including pointing out/stressing that an iCLA is required (when contributing anything above the level of question or comment); - Committed non-privileged contributors (at least those who have registered an iCLA) should be listed in the pages of the podling, in order to assess who (beyond committers) are enabled to make changes to e.g. wiki pages, and who are eligible for commit privileges. And diversity is not only about the aspect of affiliation. It is also about having (privileged) contributors of another kind other than just those who contribute code changes (or register with JIRA). The pages of the podling should reflect such. And mentors should point that out to the community of the podling. Otherwise the podling might imply (through its pages) that the other kind of contributors aren't welcome, and/or that principles of the ASF (e.g. 'All contributions are equal', 'Contributions buys privileges') aren't applicable in the podling. Apart from the above, the podling could and should do a bit more regarding building an open, transparent project. Having done a cursory review of the mailing list archives of the podling I have found no announcements of organisational changes (e.g. adding the new committer/ppmc changes/mentor changes). Best regards, Pierre Smits
