> For the vote to promote new committers, my understanding is that this is > usually handled through a private PMC member vote, right?
Yes, that's correct. it is voted within PPMC members on a private email list. This is following ASF's policy. You can read more about this process at https://community.apache.org/pmc/adding-committers.html#tldr---inviting-a-new-committer. Basically one PPMC may start a disucssion about a candidate, if the discussion goes well, then a formal vote will be casted. Result is based on the vote. > Also, would it be possible to share the criteria or reasoning used to promote > recent committers? Well first of all, there is indeed no such a criteria.. That's why there is a discussion first, then followed by a vote. It needs a discussion because the PPMC who is backup the candidate may not be sure what other PPMC may think about the case, so he/she may start a discussion to gather ideas and feedbacks. A vote means there might be PPMCs who disagree and the vote may not pass: each vote is case by case. And to keep the privacy for Meng and Xuan or any prior committers/PPMCs, I am afraid I or any PPMC member is not allowed to share you more details about their particular discussions and vote... but there really isn't any criteria. The reasonings for those cases are all aspects mentioned in the above email, code, tests, documents, discussions, and all sorts of contributions, you name it. In those discussions and votes I have personally pushed every PPMC to provide as many evidence as possible, to make each case stronger to pass and to be justified. > I ask because I had expected open-source projects to be more open in many > aspects, including criteria, rules, goals, and decision-making processes.... > Still, I was surprised to hear that other open-source projects may follow > similar practices. We are being very open on this.. there is really no such a criteria... And it is true that most of Apache projects are the same on this. We are following ASF's guidance post on how to become a committer: https://community.apache.org/contributors/becomingacommitter.html. I am quoting some from this post, and I hope you see that whatever I said in the previous email was not came up only in the context of Texera: • "It’s important to remember that becoming a committer is not a reward, or a recognition, so much as that it is the project expressing self-interest. That is, people are added as a committer to a project because it benefits the project, not because it’s some kind of pat on the back for the individual in question. As such, every behavior suggested here is about advancing the interests of the project. It is critical that you think, first and foremost, about being a project owner, and working towards the benefit of the project and its users." • "Code contributions are not the only type of contribution that counts towards becoming a committer, it’s just the most common. Design, documentation, marketing, event management, and many other ways of contributing to the success of a project are also often considered in making someone a committer. While the term “committer” implies committing code, it can also be interpreted as someone who is committed to the project." • "Finally, a reminder – there’s no way to guarantee promotion to committer or the PMC. However, if you make your goal the improvement of the project, rather than just about personal promotion, and approach these recommendations as a path to project ownership, in good faith, these are your best path towards that goal." • “Nothing in this post should be construed as a guarantee. You can do everything listed here, for years, and still not become a committer.” > To me, the “open” in open source feels like a strong value, so I’m trying to > better understand where openness applies and where trust-based or private > decision-making is considered appropriate. Yes, "open" is super important to us. Before incubating in Apache, we have already been open source this project for years, and that matters a lot to us. I hope you see that we are really being open, there is nothing to hide here. Each case is being discussed and decisions are made in a group, there is no particular rule or criteria. One thing I can say is that our group is very very supportive in the direction to get more committers and PMCs, as our project is growing. We are in great need of ppl like you to help make Texera better! I would once again encourage you, and everyone, to contribute more, here and there! Best, Yicong Huang [email protected] On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 7:32 PM Carlos Ernesto Alvarez Berumen <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Yicong, > > Thanks for sharing this. I have a couple of follow-up questions. > > For the vote to promote new committers, my understanding is that this is > usually handled through a private PMC member vote, right? Also, would it be > possible to share the criteria or reasoning used to promote recent > committers? > > I ask because I had expected open-source projects to be more open in many > aspects, including criteria, rules, goals, and decision-making processes. > My experience is limited compared to yours, and I understand that > subjectivity is impossible to remove from any human project. Still, I was > surprised to hear that other open-source projects may follow similar > practices. > > To me, the “open” in open source feels like a strong value, so I’m trying > to better understand where openness applies and where trust-based or > private decision-making is considered appropriate. > > Thanks again for explaining this. > > On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 8:17 PM Yicong Huang <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Carlos, > > > > Thanks for asking this. This is a very good question. Let me put down my > > personal perspective. > > > > For Apache Texera, we do not have a fixed checklist or a formal numerical > > threshold for becoming a committer. This, I believe, is a common practice > > in many projects from Apache or other foundations. Committership is usually > > based on merit, trust, and sustained contribution, and the decision is made > > by the project community through discussion and vote. In Apache's setting, > > PMC members vote for committership. In practice, when existing PMC members > > believe that a contributor has demonstrated meaningful and consistent > > contributions in the project, the PMC may discuss the candidate and make a > > decision through a vote. Contributions can come in many forms, including > > code, tests, documentation, infra construction, issue triage, PR reviews, > > design discussions, release validation, and helping other contributors. > > > > One thing I want to emphasize is that, human efforts are more important in > > the current agent era. With modern AI tools, producing code is noticeably > > becoming cheaper and faster. As a result, in 2026, the more valuable part > > falls on the human efforts: understanding what should be built, discussing > > tradeoffs, reviewing changes carefully, maintaining project quality, and > > supporting the community. Committership is therefore not just a recognition > > of past contributions, but also a responsibility. A committer is trusted to > > help maintain the project, make sound technical decisions, respect the > > project’s processes, and act in the long-term interest of the community. > > This is a serious responsibility, and not every contributor is willing or > > ready to take it on. > > > > Speaking from my own experience, I have a full-time job, but I still > > contribute, in a part time capacity, to Texera. This is indeed because I am > > a Texera committer, and PPMC, and I do care about the project and the > > community. At the same time, I have also been trying to earn trust in the > > Apache Spark community to become a Spark committer, where there had been > > more than 2,200 contributors over time, but only around 100 committers so > > far. I contribute mainly to the PySpark component, there are still a lot of > > areas for me to learn before I can be granted with the committer > > responsibility to make meaningful decisions for spark. > > > > Finally, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to encourage anyone > > interested in becoming a Texera committer to keep participating actively in > > the project. For instance, we are currently working hard towards our first > > Apache release, v1.1.0-incubating. This is a great opportunity for > > contributors to get involved in concrete and meaningful ways! Texera > > has been incubating for Apache projects for more than 1 year now, and we > > really need all of your help to get Texera graduated from the incubation, > > so that we can finally declare that Texera is an "Apache" project. Before > > that, those fancy names (committer, PPMC, etc.) still meant nothing yet. As > > a Texera PPMC member, I want to assure you that we will recognize > > contributors’ efforts. We recently welcomed Meng and Xuan as new > > committers, and we are always happy to see more contributors grow into > > larger roles in the project! > > > > > > Cheers, > > and sincerely, > > Yicong Huang < > > https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2F%2Fyicong-huang.github.io__%3B!!CzAuKJ42GuquVTTmVmPViYEvSg!OWg6q9J1Hv9KFxn6doZfdHSmtyTkgkC5kqck5LX9surZQoLw8-9hiE3UchBpnDU-RC0CswcknuJsejjfMGt-dA%24&data=05%7C02%7Cyiconghuang%40umass.edu%7C9712c392a39447b745fa08deb097e467%7C7bd08b0b33954dc194bbd0b2e56a497f%7C0%7C0%7C639142363619609160%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=0Wobok%2Bim69X6b759nB5sSyZ6F8m1rz9ARaDqCsilis%3D&reserved=0 > > > > > [email protected] > > > > On May 12, 2026 at 5:21 PM -0700, Carlos Ernesto Alvarez Berumen < > > [email protected]>, wrote: > > > > > > Hi Texera community, > > > > I hope you are doing well. > > > > I wanted to ask about the criteria for becoming a committer on Apache > > Texera. I am not sure whether open source projects generally have a formal > > process for this, or whether Apache projects in particular usually define > > one. > > > > Is there already a documented set of criteria or expectations for becoming > > a committer on Texera? If not, is there an expected timeline for > > establishing one, or a reason why the project does not currently have one? > > > > Thanks > > > > > > > > Best regards, > > Yicong Huang > >
