On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 4:55 AM, Bertrand Delacretaz <bdelacre...@apache.org> wrote: > Hi, > > I'd like to write a blog post (on the foundation blog, or might be a > good opportunity to start the comdev blog) about the basic rules of > Apache projects. > > Trying to keep it as short as possible, with links to more info. > > Feedback/corrections/additions are welcome - I will invite our PMCs > and members to this thread to try and get a nice > bikeshedding^H^H^H^H^H^H consensus. > > -Bertrand > > > > DRAFT: What are the basic, invariant rules of Apache projects? > > The below rules and best practices aim to make ASF projects > sustainable and open to new community members, and to make sure source > code is released in a legally clean way. > > Projects enter the ASF via the Incubator, anyone can suggest a new > project as described on the Incubator website. > > Each project is led by its elected Project Management Committee (PMC).
I think it's worth being a little clearer what's meant by "led" - or removing that word entirely. Otherwise it's easy to miss the "JFDI" side of things and get hung up on the corporate structure. As a very simple edit, how about "A Project Management Committee (PMC) is appointed by the board of the ASF to oversee each project." > New committers and PMC members are elected by the PMC based on merit. > > Committers and PMC members are not necessarily ASF members, they have > to be elected separately for that (LINK). > > Each project has at least one private and one public (development, > "dev") mailing list which are the only official communication channels > for the PMC members and committers. > > Discussions and decisions about people (such as the above elections) > usually happen on the project's private list, but that's not a hard > rule, the PMC can decide. > > All other decisions happen on the dev list, discussions on the private > list are kept to a minimum. > > "If it didn't happen on the dev list, it didn't happen" - which leads > to two sub-rules: > > a) Elections of committers and PMC members are published on the dev > list once finalized. > > b) Out-of-band discussions (IRC etc.) are summarized on the dev list > as soon as they have impact on the project, code or community. > > All decisions are made by consensus, following the ASF's voting rules (LINK). This reads a little oddly to me - also, not all decisions are consensus (I've often heard "you can't veto a release"). How about "Where possible, decisions are made by consensus. The ASF has voting procedures that projects can use to determine whether consensus has been reached: http://www.apache.org/foundation/voting.html"; > ASF releases consist of source code, binaries are provided as a > convenience only (LINK). Someone else has edited this downthread, I think - anyway, I'm not sure that this statement is entirely true or agreed upon? > Release artifacts are created according to the ASF's release rules (LINK). > > A formal PMC vote is required to publish a release. > > Each PMC reports to the board of directors, at least every three > months, mentioning progress, problems and perspectives in terms of > community, releases, code and compliance with the above rules. This seems like a complicated sentence... How about "Each PMC reports to the board, usually quarterly. The PMC's report should mention progress made, and any problems encountered. Items of particular relevance to the board include community, releases, development work and compliance with the rules above." > Trademarks and logos used by ASF projects belong to the ASF. > > That being said: have fun at the ASF, and commit early, commit often, > and let everything happen in the open. Just a style thing, but I would rephrase as something like: "However, the Apache Way is better learnt by joining in than by reading a list of rules. Get involved, have fun! Commit early and communicate often. And remember that if it's open, it's probably Apache!" That last bit might be a bit much, but I find "let everything happen in the open" hard to swallow in a 101 post like this. It's a very good rule of thumb for established folk, but it can be hugely problematic for people coming here at first, and disproportionately off-putting to minorities. If you want the full explanation, we should probably start another thread, but http://geekfeminism.org/2009/11/29/questioning-the-merit-of-meritocracy/ includes some of the reasons. Noirin
