Hi Pei, On Jul 23, 2012, at 11:50 AM, Chen, Pei wrote:
> Hi Chris/Jorn, > Thank you for your excellent mentorship and enthusiasm about the project -- > it is bound to only strengthen cTAKES. Thanks, back at ya. > > I'd like to provide some further clarification. The 50 contributors could be > someone who contributed one way or another to the project- but not > necessarily performing the code commits to SVN. For example, they may > contribute their help with a project in the development of training a model > or documentation. I'd encourage you not to think of contribution == code being an exclusive statement. Contributions come in many forms, including training a model, as well as documentation, as well as issue mongering and release management. :) Those folks gain equal merit within Apache and should also gain equal standing with the (P)PMC and as a committer. > > What would you advise here? cTAKES migration to Apache is very exciting and > has been happening faster than I expected. I think it would actually be okay > if we postpone the current release for a month (and just have the release in > ASF rather than SF)- to give us some time to migrate all of the code from the > SF repo to the ASF repo, test the integration, update any links/references, > and to give a chance for any existing users to be aware of where to expect to > download the new code. +1, if this is acceptable to the rest of the lot, I think this is a fine procedure. I also believe that Steve's suggestion of releasing but with the existing non-Apache namespace is another option, but I'd prefer to simply wait on the release if it can happen to get the namespace porting scripted up. > The current documentation could actually be found across SF, nci wiki, mayo, > etc. and hence would benefit greatly from bringing everyone together onto the > ASF infrastructure. +1. > > We are fully committed to the Apache move. What we proposed as our last SF > release was prompted by our interpretation of these statements from the ASF > policy: > " It may take some time to track down all contributors. It is not necessary > to have paperwork on file for all contributions before the code is imported. > It may be necessary to reverse some patches and rewrite areas of code if > contributors cannot be found or at not happy about given Apache written > permission to use their code. > No releases are possible until the provenance of all the code to be release > has been clearly established and the relevant paperwork filed with Apache. It > is therefore important to keep the status updated. " This is what the Incubator is there to figure out that's for sure. However, the answer to the above is *not* to skip figuring the above out and release at SF.net. The above are merely guidelines (which should be taken into account) for ensuring clean provenance and no surprises. I think we are doing pretty well with Software Grants and with ICLAs and CCLAs from respective partners and leaders who are part of the Apache cTAKES PPMC. I think we have an issue with people who really should be committers and PPMC members here, but that aren't at this time. It would be nice to also try and use this month to rectify that problem as well -- if taking that time is acceptable. > > Please bear in mind, some of the IP clearance items are still in progress. > (Boston's Children's just gave us the verbal software grant and agreements, > Mayo signed theirs.) Thanks for the update there. > Just wanted to triple check that ASF would be okay to take an exact snapshot > of the current code base and create a release with existing package structure > and copyrights, etc. So long as: 1. the licenses of cTAKES dependencies included are acceptable licenses according to Apache's Legal resolved page. 2. the Apache community "owns" the code here at the ASF, and that there are not folks who really should be contributors and part of that Apache community that are being left out. 3. the community and mentors VOTE positively (at least one mentor +1 who is on IPMC, and more +1s than -1s from PPMC members, for example) > We are pushing as hard as we can to get all IP clearance. > We will very much appreciate your advice. Thanks you are doing great, but I would encourage us to not release at SF.net since I think it will only serve to further splinter the community. We need to fix the splintering that already exists and get folks who deserve to be committers on Apache cTAKES over here as Apache committers. > > Also worth noting in case it was not properly expanded on in our proposal is > that cTAKES is made up of a collection UIMA components which could be > developed independently. (Mayo and Children's worked on some of the core > components, other projects/components can in theory migrate/contribute their > code as they feel comfortable and hence building the community.)" Sure, but then we run into trademarks and the name cTAKES, which is now Apache cTAKES the minute you guys came to the Incubator and to Apache. We need to not create consumer confusion with respect to marks and so forth and having those external components (UIMA, etc.) use the cTAKES name is a big no no. Cheers, Chris ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chris Mattmann, Ph.D. Senior Computer Scientist NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena, CA 91109 USA Office: 171-266B, Mailstop: 171-246 Email: [email protected] WWW: http://sunset.usc.edu/~mattmann/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Adjunct Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089 USA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
