Excellent doc On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 9:45 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
> Management and > Voting<https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OPENEJB/Management+and+Voting> > Page > *added* by David > Blevins<https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/%7Edblevins> > Basic info > > Apache has a few roles that relate to all Apache projects: > > - Contributors http://www.apache.org/dev/contributors.html > - Committers http://www.apache.org/dev/committers.html > - PMC Members http://www.apache.org/dev/pmc.html > > Despite there being various roles, we try extremely hard to keep the > project flat. All feedback is welcome, all people matter. Everyone should > feel very encouraged to participate regardless if they are new or old to the > project. If you are new and want to participate, please speak up, we'll > always be happy to hear from you. > > If anything there is a reverse hierarchy that is not unlike traffic laws; > pedestrians (users) always have the right of way, bikes (contributors) yield > to pedestrians, automobiles (committers) yield to bikes and pedestrians. > Depending on what you're driving you have a greater responsibility to those > around you. Be careful not to run anyone over. > PMC > > We don't focus on the PMC in this project so many may not have a clear > concept of it. Every project at Apache has a PMC which at minimum represents > Apache from a legal perspective. The people on it are expected to provide > legal oversight, making sure that the legal entity that is Apache has > awareness enough to legally protect the code that leaves it's doors, the > users that use it, and the people who create it. This means making sure any > contributions going into the project are clean and can be legally projected > and making sure any binaries going out meet the legal requirements so they > as well can be legally protected. It's a lot of watching all commits, > keeping an eye on doc contributions, ensuring CLAs are on file for anything > of substantial size, screening release binaries and source for headers, > license files, making sure any binaries being widely distributed have been > voted on, etc., etc. If you are on the PMC and you vote on a release it > means *you* have done all these things to the best of your ability. If you > have not, you either should not be on the PMC or should not vote +1. > > Being on the PMC is a service, not an achievement. Therefore if someone is > added to the PMC you should not say "congratulations", but simply "thank > you." It does not mean anything more than they have the time to help us > function legally. If someone is perpetually too busy to provide legal > oversight and steps down or goes emeritus, it does not mean they are > leaving, just that they are too busy for the extra legal responsibility. > > Some projects go beyond that and use the PMC as the decision makers and > leaders of the project. We do not. We make all our decisions on the dev > list. We don't even focus on who is a committer and who is not, which is a > major factor of our family-like community and general "everyone is welcome > and matters" spirit. If someone doesn't feel like their input matters till > they are a committer, or any other status, we've done something wrong. > Fortunately, this is one of our strongest attributes and part of the magic > that is this community. > FAQ Q. Whose votes count? > > Apache requires a minimum of three +1 PMC votes which have legal > significance to Apache as a corporation. That said, all votes from the > community are significant to the project and decision making and any -1 is > cause for pause and discussion. We frequently encourage and welcome votes > from anyone in the community regardless of status. > Q. Voting on people: Is it hard to vote -1 in public / Can someone get > their feelings hurt ? > > Yes and yes. Voting in public requires greater care and sensitivity on > behalf of everyone; the vote proposer, the voters, and the votee. Prior to > voting the proposer should create several opportunities for feedback, > hopefully positive and constructive. Community members with concerns should > get involved early and actively mentor potential committers, taking > opportunities for feedback as queues to get involved, encourage, and work > through areas where they see said person needs more help. The contributor > should actively solicit and welcome all help and feedback and encouragement > and feel welcome to give it in return. Do not rush; all parties (proposer, > voters, and votee) have work to do in grooming contributors, etc., and that > work takes time. Votes that result in one or more -1s should not be seen as > a failure of any one individual and instead be seen as an opportunity for > all parties (proposer, voters, and votee) to make improvements, be more > active, and give the process more time. > Change Notification > Preferences<https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/users/viewnotifications.action> > View > Online<https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OPENEJB/Management+and+Voting>| > Add > Comment<https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OPENEJB/Management+and+Voting?showComments=true&showCommentArea=true#addcomment> > -- Karan Singh Malhi
