Dear OJ user/developer.
I send this email to the devel list, as here rather the core people are
listening and this is also a discussion list for us.
Now, I have read all the docs required for an OSGEO incubation. I will
attach a rather lenghtly file where I added comments to the different
questions/criteria.
A couple of things will require some work and mentorship but I think it
would be doable to join OSGEO, as the restrictions in terms of
managements seem not to be so tight (i.e. we are require to document the
managment processes, but it is actually not said what management rules
we should implement)
Here is a list of the major things that need to be done (see also the
very end of the text file):
====================================================
Summary - Major Issues with respect to human resources
====================================================
required:
--------
. document (established) license policy
. code contributors need to agree to project's license policy (written
form?).
. do a Code Provenance Review - check of licenses in the source code
(Ohloh may help here) => problem: we probably can not "GPL" or "LGPL"
(i.e. relicense) source code that has been inherited from other
projects, without the author permission (such code needs to be
externalized into a library).
. found a Steering Comittee
. establish documentation on project management procedures for PSC
decisions, contributor guidelines, etc. (see Project Graduation
Checklist point B3)
. start documentation of project decisions
. define release rules and process (not sure if that is a requirement)
. provide marketing material (handout, feature-matrix)
optional:
--------
. wiki + webpage transfer to OSGEO
. introduce automated testing system (junit)
. certification of standards?
=================================================
The only thing I am personally struggling is the definition of release
rules and a development plan if that is required (as this would play
against our "I contribute when I like" idea)
I am awaiting your coments and a OJ-Joins-OSEGEO decision (+1: yes, 0:
don't know, -1 too much work) from the regular contributors, i.e. at
least an oppinion from:
Larry, Michael, Peppe, Andreas, Paul, Landon, Martin.
I also welcome oppinions from Jukka, Jon, Paolo, Eric, Geoff, Sascha,
Lat/Lon, Intevation, Erwan, Arnd, Edgar, Ugo + Steve (if listening
;),... and who ever wants to
my personal vote: 0 (influenced by the work that needs to be done,
listed above)
cheers from sunny Calgary
Stefan
OpenJUMP joining OSGEO: walking through the criteria
OSGEO incubation docs:
1. General Principles of Incubation - [sstein]: read
2. Incubation Process - [sstein]: read
3. Incubator Application Questionnaire - [sstein]: read + answer see
below
4. Project Evaluation Criteria - [sstein]: read + comments see
below
5. Incubation Mentor Guidelines - [sstein]: read
6. Code Provenance Review Process - [sstein]: read
7. Project Status Template - [sstein]: read + comments/
first fill-in see below
8. Project Graduation Checklist - [sstein]: read + comments/
first fill-in see below
see at the very end for a summary of major things to do
=======================================================
OSGEO application form
http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/application.html
=======================================================
1. Please provide the name and email address of the principal Project Owner.
There is actually no "owner" but 2 persons with major admin rights
. Stefan Steiniger: sstein-.-geo.uzh.ch
. Landon Blake: sunburned.surveyor-.-gmail.com
2. Please provide the names and emails of co-project owners (if any).
. ---
3. Please provide the names, emails and entity affiliation of all official
committers
. I am not sure how to handle this, as we want to be as open as possible. That
is some
people join and people leave.
.. regular contributors:
... J. Aquino (Ning, former VividSolutions Inc.) :
... G. Aruta
... P. Austin (RevolSys)
... L. Becker (among others ISA Inc.)
... L. Blake
... M. Davis (Refractions Res., former VividSolutions Inc.)
... M. Michaud
... A. Schmitz (Lat/Lon GmbH)
... S. Steiniger
... others: S.L. Teichmann, E. Lemesre, P. Rizzi, S. Holl, E. Jarvies
... former: S. Tanner, U. Taddei
.. for a more complete list see: http://openjump.org/wiki/show/Contributors
4. Please describe your Project.
The project focuses on the maintenance and the further devlopment of OpenJUMP,
which is
a Java based desktop GIS. It is currently maintained by a community of
volunteers
under the umbrella of the Jump-Pilot Project. We have no strikt rules for
contributions.
Only repository write access is given after an informal approval by at least 2
project
volunteers. The current development is resources driven. We do not have a formal
development plan except for the case of maintenance. In the last years we had
about one
release a year.
5. Why is hosting at OSGeo good for your project?
. it could encourage the project to adopt more formal guidelines
. publicity
. we feel that we are part of the OSGEO community
6. Type of application does this project represent(client, server, standalone,
library, etc.):
. standalone desktop GIS
7. Please describe any relationships to other open source projects.
OpenJUMP emerged from the JUMP GIS that was developed by VividSolutions Inc.
and Refreactions Research. The JUMP-Pilot Project was founded to
internationalize JUMP and
to overcome a halt in the development of JUMP GIS that was reasoned by a
limited funding for the JUMP Project. In the last 3 years we kept and
intensivied connections to other JUMP forks such as deeJUMP from german Lat/Lon
GmbH, SkyJUMP from US-american ISA Inc./Larry Becker, PirolJUMP from the German
Pirol Projekt and SIGLE JUMP from french SIGLE. This has led partly to a the
decisions for some of the pojects (SIGLE, deeJUMP, Pirol) to maintain OpenJUMP
as common core while delivering additional functionality via plugins. Our work
has been supported by Martin Davis, Maintainer of JTS and GEOS, who was the
architect of JUMP and by Jon Aquino who was the main programmer of JUMP. As
JUMP is build on JTS functionality we are keeping contact to the JTS maintainer
Martin Davis. Occasional we also have information exchange with the projects:
gvSIG, KOSMO, uDig, GeoTools, deegree and OrbisGIS, i.e. the other major Java
GIS projects.
8. Please describe any relationships with commercial companies or products.
.. previously and now involved companies (may be incomplete due to a lack of a
track record)
... Vivid Solutions: original creator of the software (released it under an
Open Source License: GPL)
... Lat/Lon GmbH: contribution in terms of function development on a project
base
... Intevation GmbH: contribution in terms of function development on a project
base
... ISA Inc.: contribution in terms of function development on a project base
... RevolSys: contribution in terms of function development on a project base
... Larry Becker: contribution in terms of function development on a project
base
... CadPlan: in future we probably have contributions of function development
on a project base
9. Which open source license(s) will the source code be released under?
. GPL
10. Is there already a beta or official release?
. yes: OpenJUMP 1.2 (Release F)
11. What is the origin of your project (commercial, experimental, thesis or
other higher education, government, or some other source)?
. commercial, government founded
12. Does the project support open standards? Which ones and to what extent?
(OGC, w3c, ect.)
. OGC: SFS, GML 2.0, WFS, WMS 1.1.1
- Has the software been certified to any standard (CITE for example)?
. no
- If not, is it the intention of the project owners to seek certification at
some point?
. if we find somebody to pay for: yes, otherwise: no
13. Is the code free of patents, trademarks, and do you control the copyright?
. yes: in term of licenses (it is mainly GPL), no: in terms of author copyright
14. How many people actively contribute (code, documentation, other?) to the
project at this time?
. 8 (in the last 4 months)
. 14 (past 12 months)
see also: http://www.ohloh.net/projects/9819
15. How many people have commit access to the source code respository?
. 18 people (inlcuding some people that more or less retired and 2 Google
Summer of Code students)
16. Approximately how many users are currently using this project?
. no idea, but we have about:
.. 300 user-list subscriptions (old user list,
new list since March 2008: 30)
.. 70 on the developer list.
. We had about 3000 downloads of Version 1.2 (Release F) from April to June 2008
17. What type of users does your project attract (government, commercial,
hobby, academic research, etc. )?
. all of them, but focus is on educational + research + government + hobby
18. If you do not intend to host any portion of this project using the OSGeo
infrastructure, why should you be considered a member project of the OSGeo
Foundation?
. because of our tight links to other Java projects,
. we feel that we are part of the OSGEO family
. to improve our visibilty (attracting new users, developers, contributors)
. note: we can imagine to host our wegpage and wiki at OSGEO
19. Does the project include an automated build and test?
. automated build: yes
. tests (such as JUnit): no
20. What language(s) are used in this project? (C/Java/perl/etc)
. JAVA
21. What is the dominant written language (i.e. English, French, Spanish,
German, etc) of the core developers?
. English
22. What is the (estimated) size of a full release of this project? How many
users do you expect to download the project when it is released?
. size:
.. sourcecode (zip): 16MB
.. binary (exe): 11.5 MB (without documentation)
. expected downloads:
.. see above: ca. 500-1000/month for OpenJUMP (core only, i.e. without plugins;
see statistics on SourceForge).
=======================================================
OSGEO Evaluation Criteria
http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/evaluation.html
=======================================================
Criteria
--------
1. The code is under an OSI approved license (data & doc projects
need to specify their choice for a type of license).
code:
. OpenJUMP GPL
. JTS: LGPL
. BSD + Apache : e.g. BATIK libs
. freeware ?
TODO
. check library licenses
. some parts of code need to be checked: e.g. L.P. Chews code, JMathTools code
. some file headers need to be revised
2. The project is willing to keep code clear of encumbrances
. yes
3. The project is "geospatial", or directly in support of geospatial
applications.
. yes
Desirable
---------
The following are desirable traits of projects entering into the
community:
1. Open source software is already reasonably mature (working quality code).
. yes, I think so
2. Project already has a substantial user community.
. yes, I think so (what is substantial?)
3. Project already has a substantial and diverse developer community.
. yes, I hope so (what is substantial?)
4. Project members are aware of, and implements support for, relevant standards
(ie. OGC, etc).
. yes
5. Project has linkages with existing foundation projects.
. yes: gvSIG, GeoTools, deegree (see application form point 7)
6. Project fills a gap related to software that the foundation supports.
. well - It depends how one answers whether QGIS, GRASS and gvSIG fill the GAP
;)
. But due to OpenJUMP's features of
.. advanced tools for geometric data editing and data conflation, and
.. enabling some kind of rapid prototyping in Java,
I would say it fills a gap with respect to Desktop GIS.
7. Project is prepared to develop in an open and collaborative fashion.
. yes (we are hosted at SourceForge)
8. Project has contributions and interest from more than just one
company/organization.
. yes: we are mainly volunteers supported by 2-4 companies and at least 2
institutions
9. Project is willing to migrate some or all of its infrastructure
(code repository, web site, wiki, mailing list, etc) to foundation
support infrastructure, and to adopt a website style consistent with the
foundation.
. yes if that would be an requirement,
. but as it is optional: "No", except maybe for the web page and wiki.
I as co-maintainer would prefer to stay with SourceForge at the current
time (this is for us a matter of user support: changing from an official
repository after 3-4 years would be not a good choice. Further, we lack
the resources to move everything: from wikis, webpages, forums, mail lists,
to sources, downloads, bug reports, and feature requests).
======================================
OSGEO Project Status Template
http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/statustemplate.html
======================================
A - General
A1. Has the project been approved for incubation by the OSGeo board?
Yes / No - presumably yes.
. not our beer
A2. Has an Incubation Mentor been assigned to the project?
Indicate assigned committee member acting as mentor.
. not our beer
B - Infrastructure Transition
Note, for each of the following it isn't necessary to move to foundation
infrastructure, but if you aren't a reason should be provided.
B1. Has the projectname.osgeo.org domain been populated with the projects web
presence?
If not why, and has the project page got a prominent link to the real home?
. not our beer
B2. Is the OSGeo bug tracker being used for the project?
If not, why?
. Bug tracker is at the projects SourceForge account
B3. Is the OSGeo mailing list manager (http://lists.osgeo.org/) being used for
the project?
If not, why?
. Lists are at SourceForge
B4. Is the OSGeo SVN being used for the project?
If not, why?
. SVN is at SourceForge
B5. Are binary and source downloads available from http://download.osgeo.org ?
If not, why?
. will be done after enabling
C - Community Functioning
C1. Is there a functioning user support mechanisms (ie. mailing list)?
indicate the available user support mechanisms, and whether they seem to be
functioning well (are getting used and get answers).
. mail lists, Tracker, Forum at SourceForge (mail lists and forum are allways
observed)
C2. Are source and binary downloads for the package available?
yes/no (and any caveats)
. will be done after enabling (currently on SourceForge)
C3. Has a Project Steering Committee been formed, and given control of the
project?
yes/no, indicate members and whether it has effective control.
. What is a Steering Comittee and what are its tasks?
C4. Does the Project Steering Committee have documentation on project
procedures for PSC decisions, contributor guidelines, etc.
yes/no - provide pointers to various related documents.
. no vs. rarely: only contibutor guidelines on the wiki
C5. How many active developers are there? Are they from multiple organizations?
Indicate number and some organizations involved.
. what is an active developer (in terms of output/commitment)?: 3-5 part-time
. organizations: yes (see listing in application form: point 3)
D - Foundation Membership
D1. Have project documents been updated to reflect membership in the
foundation, and the relationship of the project to the foundation?
If not, indicate when this will occur.
. will be done after incubation
D2. Has an effort been made to brand the project web site with OSGeo foundation
web styling and branding marks?
If not, indicate what is planned. (note: currently an OSGeo web style has
not bee established)
. will be done after incubation
E - Code Copyright Review
E1. Has a Code Provenance Review document been prepared for the project?
yes/no - point to review document.
. TODO
E2. Have issues raised in the provenance review been adequately addressed?
indicate outstanding issues.
. TODO
E3. Are Commiter Responsibilities Guidelines covering legal issues in place?
yes/no - point to the guidelines and indicate if it is adopted by PSC, and
accepted by all commiters.
. TODO
======================================
OSGEO Project Graduation Checklist
http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/project_graduation_checklist.html
======================================
Checklist
A - License
1. The code has been adequately vetted to assure it is all properly licensed
(a.k.a provenance review).
. TODO
2. All code contributors have agreed to abide by the project's license policy.
. TODO
B - Processes
B1. The project has a suitable governance policy and project management
committee established that ensures decisions are made, documented and adhered
to?
. yes (probably not that much documented but we have a management and do
descission in most cases based on previous discussions)
B2. The developer community works in a healthy way, open to input, new members
and reaching consensus on decisions. Ideally, the developers come from a
diversity of backgrounds as there will be a greater variety of technical
visions and the project is more resilient to a sponsor leaving.
. yes (although we are only weakly "healthy" in terms of available human
resources)
B3. The project has documented its management processes. This is typically done
within a Developers Guide or Project Management Plan.
. not sure what is expected here, please advise how it should look like
B4. The project has user documentation.
. yes: but only basic documentation in terms of a tutorial (however a function
by function documentation is under way)
B5. The project has developer documentation.
. yes: but only basic documentation (however, the number of people that do
custom programming and the very few requests we optain on the developer list
suggest that the documentation is sufficient)
B6. The project has code under configuration control. Eg, subversion.
. yes
B7. The project uses an issue tracker.
. yes
B8. The project uses public communication channels. Eg achieved email lists.
. yes
B9. The project has an automated build process.
. yes
B10. The project manages quality. Ideally, this includes an automated test
system.
. yes/no: no test system yet, but we try to do quality checks for newly added
features
B11. The project has a defined release process.
. yes/no: currently releases are done upon decision of the project lead, we do
not have a release and feature schedule (i.e. we lack a development plan)
C - Marketing
C1. Marketing material has been created about the project for the OSGeo
Marketting Committee. (can we assume pdf handout, presentation slides and a
feature matrix?)
. TODO
====================================================
Summary - Major Issues with respect to human resources
====================================================
. required:
.. document (established) license policy
.. code contributors need to agree to project's license policy (written form?).
.. Code Provenance Review - check of licenses in the source code (Ohloh may
help here)
=> problem: we probably can not "GPL" or "LGPL" (i.e. relicense) source
code that has been inherited from other projects, without the author permission
(such code needs to be externalized into a library).
.. found a Steering Comittee?
.. establish documentation on project management procedures for PSC decisions,
contributor guidelines, etc. (see Project Graduation Checklist point B3)
.. start documentation of project decisions
.. define release rules and process (not sure if that is a requirement)
.. provide marketing material (handout, feature-matrix)
. optional:
.. wiki + webpage transfer to OSGEO
.. introduce automated testing system (junit)
.. certification of standards?-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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