Very well said. Let’s do this! :-)
Harbs > On Aug 29, 2017, at 7:37 AM, Alex Harui <aha...@adobe.com.INVALID> wrote: > > Hi Folks, > > I (and many others on the PMC) believe there are sufficient reasons to ask > the Apache Board of Directors to create a new Apache Top-Level Project > called Apache FlexJS separate from Apache Flex. The Apache Board has > approved splitting other projects in the past and the proposal below is > based on a past proposal to split another Apache project. > > The main reason is that there seems to be a set of folks who are only > working on Apache Flex and another set who are only working on FlexJS. > Only a few have made commits to both products in the past year and the > contribution to one product or the other was minimal. Second, forking > should save time for folks only interested in Flex or FlexJS as you don't > have to filter out emails, web site and wiki information and bugs reports > that apply to the product you are not interested in. Third, forking would > give a cleaner opportunity to try out Apache's GitBox implementation that > allows us to leverage more GitHub functionality and make GitHub more > primary in our development pipeline. Fourth, many folks on the PMC have > not been active in a long time, and a new project with a smaller PMC and > committers list might make it more clear who is involved with FlexJS. > > --------- proposal ----------- > > Apache FlexJS for Apache Top-Level Project > > Abstract > > Apache FlexJS is a new implementation of the principles of Apache Flex but > designed for JavaScript runtimes instead of Adobe Flash/AIR runtimes. > Apache FlexJS was created and released as part of the Apache Flex project > and the UI framework is a full rewrite and does not leverage the code > bases donated by Adobe. Only the FlexJS compiler source was donated by > Adobe. > > Over time, the set of Apache Flex committers who are working on Apache > Flex releases have become distinct from those working on FlexJS. Add to > that the Adobe announcement of the end-of-life for Flash in the browser, > it makes sense to separate FlexJS from Flex so that followers of one side > or the other don't have to filter out emails, bugs, web pages, etc, that > they don't need. > > The proposal is to form an Apache FlexJS top-level project instead of > creating a new Incubator Podling. That is because all of the folks being > proposed to the new Apache FlexJS PMC below have been on the Apache Flex > PMC for months, if not years, and understand how to participate > productively in an Apache project. Plus, Apache FlexJS has already been > released by the top-level Apache Flex project. > > Overview of FlexJS > > Apache FlexJS is designed to improve developer productivity in creating > applications for wherever Javascript runs, including browsers as well as > Apache Cordova applications, Node, etc. FlexJS already has an ecosystem > of folks creating IDEs for FlexJS, and some folks are at various points in > the process of migrating existing Flex applications to FlexJS. > > Current Status > > Meritocracy > > Within Apache Flex, the FlexJS development has been conducted as a > meritocracy. No existing FlexJS developers came with the compiler code > base donated by Adobe nor were they on the initial committers list for > Apache Flex other than Alex Harui. Everyone else has earned their way in > by contributing and earning merit. > > Community > > Many FlexJS users are trying to migrate an existing Apache Flex app off of > Adobe Flash. As their migration progresses they will become less and less > interested in Apache Flex releases and activity. However, the Apache Flex > JIRA project contains some 30,000 Flex issues migrated from Adobe's bug > base, and the team page for Flex makes it hard to determine which > committers are active on FlexJS, and it is frequently hard to determine if > a user's question is about regular Flex or FlexJS. We are seeing an > increase in user interest with the Flash end-of-life announcement and > having separate mailing lists, web pages, and JIRA projects will help save > everyone time and energy. > > Alignment > > Apache FlexJS is already being released by Apache. > > Known Risks > > Code Extraction > > The flex-asjs, flex-tours, flex-typedefs, and flex-falcon Git repos would > be migrated to GitBox. Other Apache Flex repos would be treated as > external dependencies. This includes flex-utilities and the Apache Flex > Installer. > > Orphaned Projects > > Most FlexJS PMC members are planning to remain on the Apache Flex PMC to > help out just-in-case, but are already mostly inactive on the Flex code > bases. However, there are at least 3 Apache Flex PMC members who have not > contributed at all to FlexJS and participate in regular Flex releases, so > the expectation is that Apache Flex will remain a viable project for some > time to come. > > Inexperience with Open Source > > All of the initial team has been contributing to Apache Flex for months if > not years. > > Homogenous Developers > > No company employs more than two of the members of the initial team. > > Reliance on Salaried Developers > > Until about a year ago, only 2 of the proposed PMC members were paid to > work on FlexJS. The rest contributed in their spare time. Two more are > now paid to migrate an existing application and thus contribute to add > missing features and fix bugs. By creating a separate project, we hope to > attract more folks who may not want to be involved with the legacy Apache > Flex code. > > Relationship with Existing Apache Projects > > Apache FlexJS might use some releases from Apache Flex for some features > or for an Installer app. FlexJS can be used to create Apache Cordova > applications and we hope to find time to make the Cordova community aware > of this capability. The Apache FlexJS Compiler has dependencies on Apache > Commons, and we use Apache Ant and Apache Maven for building the various > release artifacts. > > Cryptography > > Apache FlexJS does not currently distribute cryptography code other than > an MD5 hash algorithm. > > Required Resources > > Mailing Lists > > -private@ > -dev@ > -commits@ > -users@ > -issues@ > > Version Control > > We would like to use GitBox if it is practical to convert the current git > repos listed above. We want to explore using GitHub's wiki and > documentation tools. > > Issue Tracking > > If GitBox allows us to use GitHub issues, we will use that, otherwise, we > will request a new JIRA project from Infra. > > Other Resources > > We would like to try using Git for our website version control and > whatever the publishing process is. We will probably continue to run jobs > on builds.a.o. > > Initial PMC > > Harbs > Yishay Weiss > Alex Harui > Peter Ent > Josh Tynjala > Piotr Zarzycki > Carlos Rovira > Greg Dove > Erik De Bruin > Omprakash Muppirala > Frédéric Thomas > Olaf Krueger > Michael Schmalle > Dave Fisher > > > Initial Committers > > Christofer Dutz > Andy Dufilie > Darrell Loverin > > We propose Harbs as initial PMC Chair and VP Apache FlexJS. > > Affiliations > > Alex Harui and Peter Ent are currently employees of Adobe Systems Inc. > Nobody else works for a large corporation. > > --------- end proposal ----------- > > > It isn't clear how much longer Adobe will pay Peter and I to work on Flex > and/or FlexJS. So getting rid of as much overhead as possible so we can > try to get as many folks to use FlexJS in the next few months will help > make a case to keep us on FlexJS longer. Yes there is a risk that forking > may be a distraction and cause a loss of momentum, but whether I get to > continue full-time or in my spare-time, I want to make the most efficient > use of my time. > > > I will be stepping down as Apache Flex chair since I want to spend most of > my time on FlexJS. I will remain on the Apache Flex PMC to help out in > case of emergency. > > Please provide feedback and questions ASAP. The plan is to have a vote in > a few days so we can present this proposal to the board around September 1 > so it can be on the September board agenda along with changes to the > Apache Flex chair. > > > Thanks, > -Alex >
