+1 binding Upayavira
On Sun, 2010-07-18 at 12:07 -0700, Chris Hostetter wrote: > +1, binding (as of this morning if i did my math correctly) > > > : I would like to call a vote for accepting "Apache Lucy" for incubation in > the > : Apache Incubator. The full proposal is available below. We ask the > Incubator > : PMC to sponsor it, with myself (hossman) as Champion, and mattmann, > upayavira, > : mikemccand, and hossman volunteering to be Mentors. > : > : Please cast your vote: > : > : [ ] +1, bring Lucy into Incubator > : [ ] +0, I don't care either way, > : [ ] -1, do not bring Lucy into Incubator, because... > : > : This vote will be open for 72 hours and only votes from the Incubator PMC > are > : binding. > : > : http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/LucyProposal > : ------------------------------------ > : PREFACE > : Lucy is a sub-project which is being spun off from the Lucene TLP but is > : not yet ready for graduation. We propose to address certain needs of > the > : project by transitioning to an Incubator Podling, and assimilating the > : KinoSearch codebase. > : > : ABSTRACT > : Lucy will be a loose port of the Lucene search engine library, written > in > : C and targeted at dynamic language users. > : > : PROPOSAL > : Lucy has two aims. First, it will be a high-performance C search engine > : library. Second, it will maximize its usability and power when accessed > : via dynamic language bindings. To that end, it will present highly > : idiomatic, carefully tailored APIs for each of its "host" binding > : languages, including support for subclasses written entirely in the > : "host" language. > : > : BACKGROUND > : Lucy, a "loose C" port of Java Lucene, began as an ambitious, > : from-scratch Lucene sub-project, with David Balmain (author of Ferret, a > : Ruby/C port of Lucene), Doug Cutting, and Marvin Humphrey (founder of > : KinoSearch, a Perl/C port) as committers. During an initial burst of > : activity, the overall architecture for Lucy was sketched out by Dave and > : Marvin. Unfortunately, Dave became unavailable soon after, and without > a > : working codebase to release or any users, it proved difficult to replace > : him. Still, Marvin carried on their work throughout a period of > : seemingly low activity. > : > : In the last year, that work has come to fruition: major technical > : milestones have been achieved and Lucy's underpinnings have been > : completed. Additionally, other developers from the KinoSearch community > : have taken an interest in Lucy and have begun to ramp up their > : contributions. The next steps for Lucy were articulated by the Lucene > : PMC in a recent review: make releases, acquire users, grow community. > : > : To implement the Lucene PMC's recommendations and get to a release as > : quickly as possible, the Lucy community proposes to assimilate the > : KinoSearch codebase, which has been retrofitted to use Lucy's core. > Lucy > : still lacks a number of important indexing and search classes; we wish > to > : flesh these out via IP clearance work rather than software development. > : > : Because Lucene is working to move away from being an "umbrella project", > : a long term goal of the Lucy project is to graduate to an ASF TLP. With > : that in mind, it seems more appropriate for the KinoSearch software > grant > : to take place within the context of the Incubator, and that a Lucy > : podling and PPMC be established which will ultimately take > responsibility > : for the codebase. > : > : RATIONALE > : There is great hunger for a search engine library in the mode of Lucene > : which is accessible from various dynamic languages, and for one > : accessible from pure C. Individuals naturally wish to code in their > : language of choice. Organizations which do not have significant Java > : expertise may not want to support Java strictly for the sake of running > a > : Lucene installation. Developers may want to take advantage of C's > : interoperability and fine-grained control. Lucy will meet all these > : demands. > : > : Apache is a natural home for our project given the way it has always > : operated: user-driven innovation, security as a requirement, lively and > : amiable mailing list discussions, strength through diversity, and so on. > : We feel comfortable here, and we believe that we will become exemplary > : Apache citizens. > : > : INITIAL GOALS > : * Make a 1.0 stable release as quickly as possible. > : * Concentrate on community expansion. > : * Expose a public C API. > : > : CURRENT STATUS > : Meritocracy > : Our initial committer list includes two individuals (Peter Karman and > : Nathan Kurz) who started off as KinoSearch users, demonstrated merit > : through constructive forum participation, adept negotiation, consensus > : building, and submission of high-quality contributions, and were invited > : to become committers. Peter now rolls most releases. > : > : We look forward to continuing to operate as a meritocracy under the > : established traditions and rules of the ASF. > : > : Community > : Lucy's most active participants of late have been drawn from the > : KinoSearch and Lucene communities. Having been focused on features and > : technical goals for a long time, we are considerably overdue for a > stable > : release, and anticipate rapid growth in its wake. > : > : Core Developers > : * Marvin Humphrey is the project founder of KinoSearch, and co-founded > : the existing Lucy sub-project. He is presently employed by Eventful, > : Inc. > : * Peter Karman has contributed to several open source projects since > : 2001, including being a committer at http://swish-e.org/ (a search > : engine), http://code.google.com/p/rose/ (an ORM) and > : http://catalyst.perl.org/ (web framework). He is employed by American > : Public Media. > : * Nathan Kurz is excited by the intersection of search and > : recommendations, and has been a KinoSearch committer since 2007. As > : the owner of Scream Sorbet (http://screamsorbet.com), he divides his > : time between code and fruit. > : > : Alignment > : One Apache value which is particularly cherished by the Lucy community > is > : codebase transparency. We have developed institutions which enable us > to > : measure and maximize usability (see > : http://wiki.apache.org/lucy/BrainLog), and we feel strongly that the > : bindings for Lucy must present APIs and documentation which are > idiomatic > : to the host language culture so that end users can consume our work as > : easily as possible. > : > : The controlled competition of meritocratic community development is also > : very important to us. There has been substantial cross-pollination of > : ideas between Lucene and Lucy, yielding considerable benefits for both > : projects. The Lucy developers envision that our host-language > : sub-communities will approach using and extending the library in > distinct > : ways; we hope to harness the creative tension between them to drive > : innovation, building productive relationships akin to the one that > Lucene > : and Lucy have today. > : > : A third priority of ours is to be bound by existing Apache institutions, > : for the protection of all our stakeholders. > : > : KNOWN RISKS > : Orphaned products > : All core developers have been associated with the project for several > : years across multiple jobs. However, at this time, the project would > : probably not survive the departure of Marvin Humphrey, so there is a > risk > : of being orphaned. Marvin has no plans to leave, but we have been > : actively working to disperse his knowledge of the code base and > : administrative responsibilities in order to make him dispensable. > Having > : staggered badly after Dave Balmain's departure, we are keenly aware of > : this vulnerability and highly motivated to eliminate it. > : > : Inexperience with Open Source > : The core developers all have significant experience with open source > : development, and include one present Apache committer. We recognize > that > : we lack PMC experience and seek to address that deficiency by using the > : Incubator environment to educate ourselves and prepare for responsible > : self-governance. > : > : Homogenous Developers > : Our community is geographically dispersed, with members in San Diego, > : Oakland, and Minneapolis. We all work for different organizations. > : > : Reliance on Salaried Developers > : Marvin Humphrey has a great job at Eventful working primarily on this > : project and supporting applications that use it. Nevertheless, he is > : extremely dedicated to Lucy and is determined to see it through to the > : point where it becomes self-sustaining, regardless of work > circumstances. > : > : Relationships with Other Apache Products > : Lucy's relationship with Lucene of cordial "coopetition" has produced > : benefits for Lucene users in terms of indexing speed, near-real-time > : search support, and more. We expect this dynamic to continue delivering > : improvements for all parties involved. > : > : An Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand > : Our desire to maintain Lucy's affiliation with Apache has less to do > with > : the brand and more to do with our conviction that developing the project > : The Apache Way under Apache institutions is in Lucy's best interests. > : However, we have to acknowledge that during its time as a Lucene > : subproject, Lucy has not always fulfilled certain key requirements for > an > : Apache project. In particular, it has failed to "release early, release > : often", and it has made minimal progress in expanding its community. > : > : We attribute some of our difficulties to the what may have been excess > : ambition in the original Lucy plan, given the scope of the project and > : the size of the initial committer list: > : > : http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#incubator > : > : The basic requirements for incubation are: > : > : * a working codebase -- over the years and after several failures, > : the foundation came to understand that without an initial > working > : codebase, it is generally hard to bootstrap a community. > : > : By rebooting the project with a working codebase, we expect to avoid the > : trap that ensnared Lucy's first incarnation: we will release early, > : release often, accumulate users, nurture contributors, and grow our > : community. > : > : DOCUMENTATION > : > : * Current Lucy website: http://lucene.apache.org/lucy/ > : * Current Lucy Subversion repository: > : http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/lucene/lucy/ > : * Current Lucy mailing lists: > : http://lucene.apache.org/lucy/mailing_lists.html > : * KinoSearch Subversion repository: > : http://www.rectangular.com/svn/kinosearch/ > : * KinoSearch Perl API documentation: > : http://www.rectangular.com/kinosearch/docs/devel/ > : * KinoSearch Discussion list: > : http://www.rectangular.com/mailman/listinfo/kinosearch/ > : > : INITIAL SOURCE > : The initial source will be a snapshot from the KinoSearch subversion > : repository. > : > : SOURCE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SUBMISSION PLAN > : KinoSearch is currently under a GPL/Artistic license. There are five > : individuals who have made multiple significant contributions to the > : codebase and whose participation is either essential or would be very > : helpful: Marvin Humphrey, Peter Karman, Nathan Kurz, Chris Nandor, and > : Father Chrysostomos. All have been contacted and are amenable to > : re-licensing their work and contributing it to Apache. We will contact > : as many other contributors as possible; if there are any that we cannot > : obtain permission from, we will refactor to expunge their work. > : > : EXTERNAL DEPENDENCIES > : The Perl bindings for KinoSearch currently depend on a few CPAN modules > : which do not have Apache-compatible licenses. It will be possible to > : eliminate all such dependencies if necessary. > : > : REQUIRED RESOURCES > : Mailing lists > : * lucy-dev > : * lucy-private (with moderated subscriptions) > : * lucy-commits > : * lucy-users > : > : Lucy already has lucy-dev, lucy-users, and lucy-commits mailing lists > : under lucene.apache.org. Perhaps these could be deactivated and the > : memberships migrated to the appropriate lists under > incubator.apache.org, > : leaving the lucene.apache.org archives as read-only. > : > : Subversion Directory > : Lucy already has a Subversion directory at > : http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/lucene/lucy. In keeping with naming > : conventions, it could be moved to > : http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/lucy. > : > : Issue Tracking > : Lucy already has a JIRA tracker: Lucy (LUCY) > : > : Other Resources > : Lucy already has a MoinMoin wiki at wiki.apache.org/lucy. It would be > : convenient to keep it, especially since its current location is also > : where it would end up upon TLP graduation, but we will defer to the > : wishes of the Incubator PMC if standard Incubator wiki placement is > : recommended. > : > : INITIAL COMMITTERS > : NAME EMAIL AFFILIATION CLA > : Marvin Humphrey marvin AT apache DOT org Eventful yes > : Peter Karman peter AT peknet DOT com American Public Media yes > : Nathan Kurz nate AT verse DOT com Scream Sorbet yes > : Simon Willnauer simonw AT apache DOT org yes > : > : SPONSORS > : Champion > : * Chris Hostetter (hossman AT apache DOT org) > : > : Nominated Mentors > : * Chris Mattmann (mattmann AT apache DOT org) > : * Upayavira (upayavira AT apache DOT org) > : * Mike McCandless (mikemccand AT apache DOT org) (pending IPMC > membership) > : * Chris Hostetter (hossman AT apache DOT org) (pending IPMC membership) > : > : Sponsoring Entity > : Lucy is currently sponsored by Lucene as a sub-project. This proposal > : advocates changing Lucy's relationship with Apache from developing all > : new code as a Lucene sub-project, to instead assimilating existing code > : (KinoSearch) under the sponsorship of the Incubator. > : > : > : --------------------------------------------------------------------- > : To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org > : For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org > : > > > > -Hoss > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org
