Thank you for raising this! Learnt a lot about mea. I'm happy with the new name.
On Wed, Aug 12, 2026, at 20:28, Twice wrote: > Hi IPMC, > > I would like to propose Asyncband [1] as a new Apache Incubator > project, you can find the proposal of Asyncband [2] for more details. > > The project was previously named MEA and was discussed in an Incubator > thread [3]. Based on community feedback, we decided to rename the > project Asyncband because MEA was too short and could be ambiguous in > some languages. > > I'm acting as the champion, and we currently have 4 mentors (including me). > > Full proposal inlined below for easy reading. > > [1] https://github.com/fast/mea > [2] > https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/spaces/INCUBATOR/pages/446071349/Asyncband+Proposal > [3] https://lists.apache.org/thread/5pb2rtzjmn1rzchfglokslgwwg293o47 > > Best regards, > Twice > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Abstract > Asyncband is a runtime-agnostic Rust library of composable > synchronization, coordination, channel, and concurrency-control > primitives for asynchronous applications. > > Proposal > Asyncband provides reusable building blocks for asynchronous Rust > programs without coupling applications or libraries to a particular > async runtime. Its primitives interoperate through Rust’s standard > Future, Context, and Waker interfaces and can therefore be used with > Tokio, async-std, or other executors. > > The proposed project scope includes: > - Synchronization primitives such as Mutex, RwLock, Semaphore, > Barrier, Condvar, Latch, WaitGroup, Once, OnceCell, and OnceMap. > - Communication primitives such as one-shot, bounded and unbounded > MPSC, and broadcast channels with different delivery and overflow > strategies. > - Composed coordination utilities such as graceful shutdown signaling. > - Concurrency-control utilities such as admission control and > duplicate-call suppression. > The following areas are intentionally outside the project’s scope: > - I/O reactors or proactors for filesystems, networking, signals, > timers, or similar facilities. > - Task schedulers or complete async runtimes. > - General-purpose Future or Stream combinator libraries already > covered by the Rust futures ecosystem. > Asyncband is intended to be a focused, commons-style foundation for > async synchronization and coordination in Rust rather than another > async runtime. > > Background > Asyncband was started by Zili Chen (tison) in October 2024 and has > been developed publicly on GitHub under the Apache License, Version > 2.0. The project was previously named MEA and publishes the mea crate > on crates.io and versioned API documentation on docs.rs. Right now, we > have four active contributors and the crate has been downloaded more > than 5M times. > > Rationale > Async Rust libraries frequently need synchronization and coordination > facilities even when they do not want to impose a particular runtime > on downstream applications. Runtime-specific primitive implementations > can introduce otherwise unnecessary coupling, while repeatedly > implementing low-level concurrency machinery increases correctness and > maintenance risks. > > Asyncband addresses this gap with a coherent set of > executor-independent primitives and a deliberately small runtime > dependency surface. It gives libraries a shared implementation for > common concurrency behavior while allowing applications to choose > their executor. > > Moving Asyncband to the ASF would establish durable, vendor-neutral > ownership and a transparent, merit-based governance model. It would > also create a neutral place for users of different runtimes and > downstream projects to collaborate on correctness, API design, > performance, documentation, and new primitives within a well-defined > scope. > > Initial Goals > By transferring ownership of the project to the ASF, Asyncband expects > to ensure its neutrality and further encourage and facilitate the > adoption of Asyncband by the community. > > Some of the areas we would like to focus on during the Apache > incubation phase include: > - A healthier community: More contributors could be able to > participate in Asyncband and own different modules. > - Wider adoption: Asyncband can be adopted by more Rust projects, > which in turn drives its own functionality. > - Strengthening correctness evidence through cross-runtime integration > tests, stress and property testing, and targeted model checking. > - Establishing reproducible benchmarks and improving performance > without compromising safety, fairness, or API clarity. > > Current Status > Meritocracy > Asyncband has been developed through public GitHub issues and pull > requests. Contributors receive credit through the repository history > and release notes, but project ownership and release authority are > currently concentrated in the founding maintainer, and no formal > committer-governance model exists yet. > > The initial community intends to adopt the Apache Way. Technical and > governance decisions will be made transparently on ASF-managed > channels, contributions of code and non-code work will be evaluated on > merit, and contributors who demonstrate sustained positive > participation will be invited to become committers and PPMC members. > > Community > Contributors: 9 > > Users: > - Apache OpenDAL > - Prek > - Foyer > - ScopeDB > - ... and more on https://crates.io/crates/mea/reverse_dependencies > The donation discussion is public at https://github.com/fast/mea/issues/140. > > Core Developers > The current core developers have experience with Rust, asynchronous > systems, and public open-source collaboration. Zili Chen is an ASF > Member and IPMC member with experience mentoring incubating projects. > Yunze Xu is an Apache Pulsar PMC member. Dian Luo and Haixu Ouyang > have contributed to the implementation, documentation, testing, and > maintenance of Asyncband and related projects in the fast GitHub > organization. > > This gives the initial group some ASF experience, but not every core > developer is familiar with ASF release, governance, and communication > practices. The Mentors will help the whole community learn and > consistently apply those practices. > > Alignment > Asyncband is already licensed under Apache-2.0, is developed in > public, and is directly used by Apache OpenDAL. Its purpose as > reusable, vendor-neutral infrastructure aligns with the ASF’s emphasis > on community-led development and long-term stewardship. > > The ASF hosts a growing set of Rust projects and Rust components, > including Apache OpenDAL, Apache DataFusion, and parts of Apache > Arrow. Asyncband can provide shared async coordination infrastructure > for Apache projects where appropriate while remaining useful to the > wider Rust community. > > Known Risks > Project Name > This project was previously named MEA, which stands for “Modular > Essentials for Async”. During previous discussions at the Apache > Incubator, we realized that MEA might be too short and ambiguous in > some languages, so it was renamed Asyncband. > > Orphan Products > Asyncband is a small library whose maintenance has so far been led > primarily by one person, so loss of interest by the founding > maintainer is a real risk. Existing downstream adoption and the > commitment of four active contributors reduce the immediate risk, but > they do not eliminate it. > > The central incubation goal is to distribute ownership across a larger > group of committers and downstream stakeholders. Transparent > governance, documented maintenance practices, and ASF-controlled > project assets will make continuation less dependent on any one > individual. > > Inexperience with Open Source > Asyncband has been developed openly on GitHub since its inception, and > all initial committers have participated in public open-source > workflows. Zili Chen and Yunze Xu have substantial ASF experience, > while other initial committers are newer to ASF governance, > mailing-list-based decision-making, release voting, and policy > requirements. > > The project will rely on its Mentors and experienced initial > committers to teach these practices and ensure that knowledge is > shared rather than concentrated. > > Length of Incubation > Expect to enter incubation in two months and graduate in about two years. > > Homogenous Developers > The initial active developers are geographically concentrated in China > and share overlapping professional interests in Rust infrastructure. > They are not all employed by the same organization, but the current > group is still too small and homogeneous for a sustainable Apache > community. > > The project will actively recruit contributors through downstream > users, Rust runtime communities, ASF Rust projects, documentation > work, testing initiatives, and well-scoped issues suitable for new > participants. > > Reliance on Salaried Developers > Asyncband is not known to depend on a development team funded by a > single employer. The more significant risk is concentration of > maintenance work in the founding maintainer, regardless of whether > that work is salaried or voluntary. > > The project will mitigate this risk by sharing release, review, > triage, and technical ownership among multiple committers and by > recognizing sustained non-code contributions as well as code > contributions. > > Relationships with Other Apache Products > - Apache OpenDAL directly depends on Asyncband and uses it throughout > its Rust implementation. > - prek depends on Asyncband and is used in Apache Airflow’s > development workflows, creating an indirect relationship with Apache > Airflow. > - Asyncband may be useful to other ASF Rust projects that need > executor-independent synchronization or coordination, but no project > will be expected to adopt it merely because it is hosted by the ASF. > > An Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand > The proposal is motivated by neutral ownership, durable > infrastructure, transparent governance, and community growth rather > than by endorsement or marketing value. The initial community > understands that the Apache name does not guarantee adoption and that > incubation requires sustained work on releases, policy compliance, and > community development. > > Documentation > The API documentation of Asyncband is hosted at https://docs.rs/mea. > > If the proposal is accepted, the community may establish a project > website at asyncband.apache.org; docs.rs will continue to host API > documentation for published crate versions. > > Initial Source > The project currently holds a GitHub repository and a Cargo crate: > - https://github.com/fast/mea > - https://crates.io/crates/mea > The crate will retain its name, while the repository will be moved to > the Apache org. > > Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan > External Dependencies > The published crate currently has one direct runtime dependency: > > MIT > slab 0.4.12 (It is planned to be removed) > > Cryptography > N/A > > Required Resources > Mailing Lists > [email protected] > [email protected] > [email protected] > [email protected] > [email protected] > Subversion Directory > N/A > > Git Repositories > From https://github.com/fast/mea > - https://gitbox.apache.org/asf/repos/asyncband > - https://github.com/apache/asyncband > > Issue Tracking > The community would like to continue using GitHub Issues. > > Other Resources > The community has already chosen GitHub Actions as continuous integration > tools. > > Initial Committers > tison [[email protected]] > Dian Luo [[email protected]] > Yunze Xu [[email protected]] > Haixu Ouyang [[email protected]] > > Sponsors > Champion > Mingyang Liu [[email protected]] > > Nominated Mentors > tison [[email protected]] > Hao Ding [[email protected]] > Jean-Baptiste Onofré [[email protected]] > Mingyang Liu [[email protected]] > > Sponsor Entity > The Incubator -- Xuanwo https://xuanwo.io/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
