You might be interested in this discussion on the taverna-hackers mailing
list about potentially moving Taverna ownership into the Apache Foundation:
http://dev.mygrid.org.uk/wiki/display/developer/Apache+Incubator+proposal
What are your views..? (You are allowed to say you are indifferent! :) )
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Stian Soiland-Reyes <[email protected]>
Date: 21 May 2014 16:17
Subject: Taverna move to Apache Incubator?
To: List for general discussion and hacking of the Taverna project <
[email protected]>
Hi,
I and Shoaib Sufi here in Manchester have been talking to Andy
Seaborne with Apache about the possibility of moving Taverna ownership
to the Apache Foundation - making Taverna an Apache Incubator project
https://incubator.apache.org/
The last years Taverna has been managed and primarily developed by the
myGrid group at the University of Manchester, but with several
contributors from around the world, not the least considering the
growing list of plugins and integrations.
Taverna contributors have already signed License Agreements that grant
University of Manchester a copyright license, for instance allowing a
change of source code license.
http://www.taverna.org.uk/about/legal-stuff/contributors-guide/
Moving to Apache would mean changing the ownership of the code base to
the Apache Foundation - which would then become the legal entity that
release the software as opposed to University of Manchester.
University of Manchester would still want to very much play an active
role in the Taverna development - but we also prefer a more
decentralized way we all work with Taverna.
Some reasoning for considering the Apache Incubator:
* Encouraging more open development -- all discussions and
decissions on the mailing list
* Encouraging shared ownership of codebase - anyone can fix anything
* Long-term sustainability - anyone can easily join development
* Apache is recognizable "Brand name"
** More justifiable for other entities to add "Extend Apache
Taverna" to a grant proposal without needing to include Manchester
** Apache's CLA, while very similar to Taverna's CLA, is more
recognizable by legal entities (many organizations have already
signed)
Now one can argue that most of these can be achieved without changing
ownership, and that there are also other, more light-weight
foundations that could take over the ownership. That is a valid
argument that I think we should consider when deciding.
Some of the challenges with moving to Apache is that we would need to :
* Move source code repositories to Apache hardware (but can keep
mirrors on Github)
* Change license from LGPL 2.1 to Apache 2.0 (In theory easy for all
Taverna 2.x and 3.x code as Manchester has copyright or copyright
license)
* Remove dependencies that are LGPL or GPL (e.g. externalize as
plugins, which they generally are already)
** Split between Apache Taverna (Core) and more specific
customization (following style of AstroTaverna)
** Can we still include OpenJDK?
* Check copyright on existing code (commit log) matching against
signed CLAs we have on fily
* Show evidence of new contributors joining the Incubator project
If you think we should move to Apache, then be aware that the
incubating process can take a while.
Andy said that for Apache Jena, which he was part of moving through
Incubator, it took almost 2 years. However, during this process, most
of the development continues to happen as before. Some changes, like
moving repositories and mailing lists, are obviously disruptive right
when they happen, but should not take too long. (Our recent move to
Github took less than a week).
The myGrid team would obviously take a lead in the incubation process,
specially on the legal side, but would also hope for contributions
from the community during the process.
I would like to hear your views on the prospect of Taverna becoming an
Apache Incubator project. If you would like to vote now (I don't think
this count as formal vote yet), then you may respond as:
+1 (positive)
0 (undecided)
-1 (negative)
--
Stian Soiland-Reyes, myGrid team
School of Computer Science
The University of Manchester
http://soiland-reyes.com/stian/work/ http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9842-9718
--
Stian Soiland-Reyes, myGrid team
School of Computer Science
The University of Manchester
http://soiland-reyes.com/stian/work/ http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9842-9718
--
Stian Soiland-Reyes, myGrid team
School of Computer Science
The University of Manchester
http://soiland-reyes.com/stian/work/ http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9842-9718
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