Hi Russell, Thanks for starting this discussion :)
As an active mentor for the podling, I believe Polaris is very mature: - Trademark management aligns with Apache project expectations. - Dependencies and license checks are clean. - The project has completed several releases; the most recent was largely automated, well-documented, and showed great interaction with the ASF infrastructure team. >From a community standpoint, the vast majority of members are well-aligned with the Apache Way, including meritocracy, peer-based collaborative development, consensus-driven decision-making, and responsible oversight. While we do face challenges with a few individuals, I view these as isolated issues rather than a systemic community problem. I trust that with continued mentoring, these individuals can improve. Many established Top-Level Projects (TLPs) have navigated similar situations, and I don't believe this should stall our graduation. The primary responsibility of the incubator is to guide podlings in governing and growing their communities according to the Apache Way. In my view, the podling has reached this milestone. Regarding the maturity of the project, I believe it is time to consider graduation while simultaneously addressing the interpersonal frictions mentioned. For reference, you can find the project health report here: https://github.com/apache/incubator/blob/master/tools/health/reports/Polaris.md and you mentioned the maturity matrix in your email. Regards, JB
