Andy Seaborne wrote:
> Please vote to approve this release:
> 
>   [ ] +1 Approve the release
>   [ ]  0 Don't care
>   [ ] -1 Don't release, because ...

+1

With a couple of important (short) comments:

I suggest to put the files in a directory named 'apache-jena-2.7.0-incubating'
in the Jena dist area (*not* in the root):

  http://people.apache.org/~andy/dist-apache-jena-2.7.0-incubating-RC-1/*
  http://www.apache.org/dist/incubator/jena/apache-jena-2.7.0-incubating/*

If this is what you already had in mind, great.

I suggest not to publish the 'apache-jena' artifact in the Maven repository.
It is not an artifact people can use for their dependencies and the files
for the distribution are all in the dist area.

Thank you Andy.


                                   - o -

Comments and rationale (longer version):


The dist area is used by people and reducing choices there, in future releases,
would be a great improvement. For example, I was not sure about the difference
between:

  apache-jena-2.7.0-incubating.tar.bz2      14-Dec-2011 15:50   14M
  apache-jena-2.7.0-incubating.tar.gz       14-Dec-2011 15:44   16M

I did not find a difference, so is apache-jena-2.7.0-incubating.tar.bz2
necessary?


The instruction to recreate the release in the BUILD file found in
apache-jena-2.7.0-incubating-source-release.zip involve a lot of manual
steps (fortunately it's something most of the people will not need to go
through). Ideally, it could be: download, uncompress and run a command.
Easier to document, less likely something goes wrong.

This is an example of ideal 'dist' area which I would be more happy with:

  http://w.a.o/dist/incubator/jena/apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating/

  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.tar.gz
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.tar.gz.asc
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.tar.gz.md5
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.tar.gz.sha1
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.zip
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.zip.asc
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.zip.md5
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.zip.sha1
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating-source-release.tar.gz (*)
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating-source-release.tar.gz.asc
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating-source-release.tar.gz.md5
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating-source-release.tar.gz.sha1

... or, if people on Windows can uncompress a .tar.gz, and there is no
difference between the content of:
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.tar.gz
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.zip

Then, the 'dist' are could have even less choices (even better):

  http://w.a.o/dist/incubator/jena/apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating/

  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.tar.gz
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.tar.gz.asc
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.tar.gz.md5
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.tar.gz.sha1
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating-source-release.tar.gz (*)
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating-source-release.tar.gz.asc
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating-source-release.tar.gz.md5
  apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating-source-release.tar.gz.sha1

(*) this file should (if future) contain all the sources necessary to rebuild
the binary release (i.e. apache-jena-x.y.z-incubating.tar.gz). People who
want to recreate the binary release can download (*), uncompress and run a
command.

With the dist area above, users are presented with just one choice:
binary or sources?

An example of an Apache multi-module project which keep a 'dist' area very
clean and usable for people is Apache Whirr:
http://www.apache.org/dist/incubator/whirr/whirr-0.6.0-incubating/


In relation to the artifacts in the Maven repo, we currently have:

  
https://repository.apache.org/content/repositories/orgapachejena-334/org/apache/jena/

  apache-jena/
  jena-arq/
  jena-core/
  jena-iri/
  jena-top/

My suggestion here, if possible, is not to publish the 'apache-jena' artifact.
Rationale: the files of the distribution are all available in the 'dist' area
and apache-jena is not something people can use as their dependencies.
Right now, you cannot have:

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.apache.jena</groupId>
      <artifactId>apache-jena</artifactId>
      <version>2.7.0-incubating</version>
    </dependency>

While an artifact repository is supposed to be used by programs rather than
people, people often browse artifact repositories to find their dependencies
or the latest version for a dependency they already have.

The principle of less choices is still valid here. More importantly,
apache-jena would be the wrong choice and probably cause frustration
and questions as result.

Paolo

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