Apologies for not being clear last week - let's try again.
Until we can allow external contributors to integrate directly to the
O/N gate, Sun developers (sponsors) are pairing with external developers
to follow the O/N code integration processes.
The original concept of sponsoring included two tiers: CRT advocates and
sponsors. Both tiers require some amount of 'significant' experience
working in the O/N source hierarchy. Both can take a request and run
with it.
Because we've had problems covering requests in a timely manner and
because we have interest from people who might not currently meet the
sponsor experience requirements, we propose opening the process by
adding a third tier.
The third tier will allow more people to participate. But since
engineers in the third tier will have less experience, they will need to
partner with someone in one of the other tiers to gain experience.
Which means that an advocate/sponsor will also need to be willing to
partner once in a while.
Information has been added to the proposal below to cite minimum
requirements for the third tier and to outline partner responsibilities
(under "The three tiers" section).
If you think this is a reasonable way to proceed, silence will indicate
agreement.
If you see significant problems with this approach, please respond to
the alias by COB Thu, 10/27.
Thanks for your patience and your input.
John Beck
Bonnie Corwin
===============================
Becoming an OpenSolaris Sponsor
===============================
There are three tiers of sponsors for OpenSolaris:
1. CRT advocates
2. middle-tier sponsors
3. everyone else
For details about what all sponsors need to do, see:
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/onnv/crt/sponsor-tasks/
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/onnv/crt/rti-nits/
The three tiers:
- The advocates are the most senior; for how they are selected, see:
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/onnv/crt/becoming-an-advocate/
- The non-advocate "middle-tier" sponsors are, well, in the middle: some
experience [1] is required, and some in this tier may be "in training"
to become advocates, though many are just helping out as needed. The
complete list of engineers in these top two tiers can be found at:
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/onnv/crt/advocates/
- The remaining group, "everyone else", consists of everyone who has not
yet met the experience requirement for the middle tier, or for
whatever reason is unable or unwilling to mentor less experienced
engineers on a regular basis. Engineers in this group may sponsor
external contributions, but they must partner with an advocate or
middle-tier sponsor. Engineers in this group must have made at least
one successful putback to the current ON development gate within the
six months preceding their commitment to sponsor an external
contribution. The partner is responsible for being available to
answer questions and to review the RTI prior to submission.
How to become a middle-tier sponsor:
- Determine whether your experience falls in the ballpark [1].
- Read the details at the locations cited above.
- Send email to sponsor-signup at opensolaris.org saying that you have
read the information and are willing to perform the tasks.
How to partner with an advocate/middle-tier sponsor:
- Be sure you meet the criteria noted above.
- Contact someone on
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/onnv/crt/advocates/
with your request.
- If you have problems finding a partner, send email to
sponsor-signup at opensolaris.org.
[1] How much experience is enough? As with most things in life, it
depends. :-) Our ballpark metric is 10 successful putbacks to
an ON gate, and note that putbacks done in the role of sponsoring
an external contribution count towards this goal. But not all
putbacks are equal, and judgement is key, so exactly how much is
enough will vary, and will be left to the judgement of the CRT
chair in conjunction with other CRT advocates.
