1 INTRODUCTION ============== 1.1 Apache Xerces is a collaborative software development project dedicated to providing robust, full-featured, commercial-quality, and freely available XML parsers on a wide variety of platforms supporting several languages. This project is managed in cooperation with various individuals worldwide (both independent and company-affiliated experts), who use the Internet to communicate, plan, and develop XML software and related documentation. 1.2 This charter briefly describes the mission, history, organization, and processes of the project. 2 MISSION ========= 2.1 Apache Xerces exists to promote the use of XML. We view XML as a compelling paradigm that structures data as information, thereby facilitating the exchange, transformation, and presentation of knowledge. The ability to transform raw data into usable information has great potential to improve the functionality and use of information systems. We intend to build freely available XML parsers in order to engender such improvements. 2.2 The Apache Xerces parsers support standard APIs (formal, de facto, or proposed). They are designed to be high performance, reliable, and easy to use. To facilitate easy porting of ideas between languages, the API's supported should be as similar as possible, given the constraints of the languages and existing architectures. Apache Xerces parsers should also be designed to work efficiently with other Apache projects that deal with XML whenever possible. 2.3 We believe that the best way to further these goals is by having both individuals and corporations collaborate on the best possible infrastructure, APIs, code, testing, and release cycles. Components must be vendor neutral and usable as core components for all. 2.4 In order to achieve a coherent architecture between Apache Xerces parsers and other components and applications, standards (formal or de facto) will be used as much as possible for both protocols and APIs. Where appropriate, experiences and lessons learned will be fed back to standards bodies in an effort to assist in the development of those standards. We will also encourage the innovation of new protocols, APIs, and components in order to seed new concepts not yet defined by standards. 3 HISTORY ========= 3.1 The Apache Xerces project was originally part of the Apache XML Project. In early 2004, reflecting the growth both in the Apache XML project and in Apache Xerces, Apache Xerces became a formal project of the Apache Software Foundation. However, Apache Xerces still shares much infrastructure with the Apache XML project and the other subprojects of Apache XML that have become projects in their own right. 4 TERMS ======= 4.1 The ASF Board. The management board of the Apache Software Foundation. 4.2 The Project. The Apache Xerces Project; intended to refer to the source code, website and community that are Apache Xerces. 4.3 Subproject. Apache Xerces is comprised of a number of subprojects, corresponding to each of the languages for which a parser has been produced. Currently, there are parsers for Java, C/C++ and Perl. 4.4 Contributor. Anyone who makes a contribution to the development of the Apache Xerces project or a subproject. 4.5 Committer. Apache Xerces has a set of committers. Committers are contributors who have read/write access to the source code repository. 5 THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE ================================== 5.1 The Apache Xerces project is managed by a core group of contributors known as the Project Management Committee [PMC], which is composed of all active committers (see 8.3 below) from all subprojects. 5.2 The activities of the PMC are coordinated by the Chairperson, who is an officer of the corporation and reports to the Apache Board. The Chairperson will, on the request of the Apache Board, provide reports to the Board on issues related to the running of the Apache Xerces project. 5.3 The PMC has the following responsibilities: a) Accepting new subproject proposals, voting on these proposals and creating the subproject (see SUBPROJECTS below). This is done in collaboration with the Incubator (see http://incubator.apache.org). b) Facilitating code or other donations by individuals or companies, in collaboration with the Incubator. c) Resolving license issues and other legal issues in conjunction with the ASF board. d) Ensuring that administrative and infrastructure work is completed. e) Facilitating relationships among subprojects and other Apache projects. f) Facilitating relationships between Apache Xerces and the external world. g) Overseeing Apache Xerces to ensure that the mission defined in this document is being fulfilled. h) Resolving conflicts within the project. i) Reporting to the ASF board (through the Chair) on the progress of the project. 5.4 In cases where the sub-project is unable to directly provide at least one representative on the PMC--implying that there are no active committers on that code base--then the subproject should be considered dormant, and any relevant Apache policies for dormant projects should be implemented. At the least, the subproject's status should be updated on its website. 5.5 Every 12 months, or at the request of the Board, the PMC will provide a recommendation to the Apache Board for the position of Chairperson of the PMC. 5.6 This recommendation will be made on the basis of an election held within the PMC. The election will be performed using a simple majority vote of PMC members. 5.7 Upon agreement by the Apache Board, the recommended Chairperson will, if they are not already, be appointed an officer of the corporation. See http://www.apache.org/foundation/bylaws.html for more information. 5.8 In the unlikely event that a member of the PMC becomes disruptive to the process, ceases to make codebase contributions for an extended period, or ceases to take part in PMC votes for an extended period of time, said member may be removed by unanimous vote of remaining PMC members. 5.9 The PMC is responsible for maintaining and updating this charter. Development must follow the process outlined below, so any change to the development process necessitates a change to the charter. Changes must be approved by a two-thirds majority of all members of the PMC. 6 SUBPROJECTS ============= 6.1 Apache Xerces is composed of subprojects; a subproject is responsible for an XML parser implementation in a particular language. 6.2 A new subproject proposal is submitted to the PMC, and then accepted by a two-thirds vote. 6.3 A subproject may be removed by unanimous vote of the PMC, subject to the approval of the ASF board. 7 CONTRIBUTORS ============== 7.1 Like all Apache projects, the Apache Xerces project is a meritocracy -- the more work you do, the more you are allowed to do. Contributions will include participating in mailing lists, reporting bugs, providing patches and proposing changes to a product. 7.2 Developers who make regular and substantial contributions may become committers as described below. 8 COMMITTERS ============ 8.1 Each subproject has a set of committers. Committers are contributors who have read/write access to the source code repository. New committers are added when a contributor is nominated by a committer, approved by at least 50 percent of the active committers for that subproject with no opposing votes, and files a signed Contributor License Agreement with the Secretary of the Corporation. In most cases, new committers will already be participating in the development process by submitting suggestions and/or fixes via the bug report page or mailing lists. 8.2 Although committers have write access to all Apache Xerces subprojects, they are only permitted to make changes to the subprojects to which they have been elected committers. A committer may be elected to multiple subprojects, but, except that no new access need be granted, the process is the same as for any other contributor. 8.3 For the purposes of voting, committers will be classed as "active" or "inactive". Only active committers will be included in the totals used to determine the success or failure of a particular vote, and only active committers are part of the PMC. 8.4 Committers remain active as long as they are contributing code or posting to the subproject mailing lists. If a committers has neither contributed code nor posted to the subproject mailing lists in 3 months, the PMC chair may e-mail the committer, the subproject development list, and the PMC mailing list notifying the committer that they are going to be moved to inactive status. If there is no response in 72 hours, the committer will become inactive, and may be removed from the PMC mailing list. 8.5 An inactive status will not prevent a committer committing new code changes or posting to the mailing lists. Either of these activities will automatically re-activate the committer for the purposes of voting, and necessitate their addition to the PMC mailing list. 9 INFRASTRUCTURE ================ 9.1 The Apache Xerces project relies on the Apache XML project and the Apache Infrastructure project for the following: a) Bug Database -- This is a system for tracking bugs and feature requests. b) Subproject Source Repositories -- These are several repositories containing both the source code and documentation for the subprojects. c) Website -- An xml.apache.org website will contain information about the Apache Xerces project, including documentation, downloads of releases, and this charter. Each subproject will have its own website with subproject information. d) PMC Mailing List -- This list is for PMC business requiring confidentiality, particularly when an individual or company requests discretion. All other PMC business should be done on the general mailing list. e) General Mailing List -- This mailing list is open to the public. It is intended for discussions that cross subprojects. f) Subproject Mailing Lists -- Each subproject should have at least one devoted mailing list. Many subprojects may wish to have both user and development lists. The individual subprojects may decide on the exact structure of their mailing lists. 10 LICENSING =========== 10.1 All contributions to the Apache Xerces project adhere to the "ASF Source Code License." All further contributions must be made under the same terms. All contributed files must contain the full text of the ASF Source Code License. 10.2 When a committer is considering integrating a contribution from a contributor who has no CLA on file with the Corporation, it is the responsibility of the committer, in consultation with the PMC, to conduct due diligence on the pedigree of the contribution under consideration. 11 THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS ========================== 11.1 The development process is intentionally lightweight; like other Apache projects, the committers decide which changes may be committed to the repository. Three +1 ('yes' votes) with no -1 ('no' votes or vetoes) are needed to approve a significant code change. For efficiency, some code changes from some contributors (e.g. feature additions, bug fixes) may be approved in advance, in which case they may be committed first and changed as needed, with conflicts resolved by majority vote of the committers. 12 SUBPROJECT REQUIREMENTS ========================== 12.1 Each subproject must have a set of requirements as well as an up-to-date release plan and design document on its dedicated web page. 12.2 It is recommended that each subproject have a smoke-test system that works at least as a basic integration test. 13 RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER APACHE PROJECTS ======================================== 13.1 The Apache Xerces project should work closely with other Apache projects, such as XML, Jakarta and the Apache Server, to avoid redundancy and achieve a coherent architecture among Apache Xerces and these projects.