This is awesome. I'd be happy to help in any way I can.
-Taylor > On Dec 17, 2014, at 2:09 PM, Marko Rodriguez <okramma...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hello, > > My name is Marko A. Rodriguez and am a co-founder of TinkerPop > (http://tinkerpop.com). There has been positive pressure on us (both > internally and externally) to move TinkerPop to The Apache Foundation. This > email contains our proposal and I, on behalf of TinkerPop, thank you for > spending your time reading it. > > Take care, > Marko. > > http://markorodriguez.com > > ------------------------------------ > > > <PastedGraphic-1.tiff> > > A. Abstract > > TinkerPop is a graph computing framework written in Java -- > http://tinkerpop.com. TinkerPop started in 2009 and is currently in the > milestone series of 3.0.0. Graph system vendors such as in-memory graph > libraries, OLTP graph databases, and OLAP graph processors can provide a > TinkerPop implementation > (http://markorodriguez.com/2013/01/09/on-graph-computing/). Once the core > TinkerPop interfaces are implemented, the underlying graph system can be > queried using the graph traversal language Gremlin. TinkerPop was designed to > be used at any scale and as such, can be leveraged by both single-server and > multi-machine compute clusters. For many, TinkerPop is seen as the JDBC of > the graph computing community > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Database_Connectivity). > > B. Proposal > > Since its inception in 2009, TinkerPop has been open source, free to use. > Initially the license was BSD, but as of TinkerPop3, the license is Apache2. > The TinkerPop team is composed of developers as well as representatives from > numerous graph system vendors > (http://www.tinkerpop.com/docs/3.0.0-SNAPSHOT/#tinkerpop-contributors). > TinkerPop has done its best to remain vendor agnostic and works closely with > vendors to ensure that the constructs within TinkerPop are able to > accommodate the requirements of the underlying graph system. To date, over 12 > graph system vendors provide TinkerPop implementations. We believe that by > joining The Apache Foundation, our vendors, users, and contributors will feel > more comfortable in terms of legal protected, in terms of wider-adoption, and > in terms of project stability. > > C. Background > > TinkerPop was founded in 2009 and has had steady, active development since. > Over the years, the Gremlin query language within TinkerPop has been adopted > by various JVM languages and as such, there exists Gremlin-Groovy, > Gremlin-Scala, Gremlin-Clojure, Gremlin-JavaScript, and the like. In many > ways, Gremlin is seen as a traversal language style that can be readily > adopted by developers --- on and off the JVM. TinkerPop is not bound to the > JVM in that developers wishing to interact with a TinkerPop-enabled graph > system can leverage Gremlin Server which provides "over the wire" > communication as well as the entry point for non-JVM language bindings. > TinkerPop is being used is production graph-based applications around the > world and is only getting better with age. > > D. Rationale > > The graph computing space has grown over the years to encompass numerous > graph database and graph processing systems. TinkerPop was created as a > unifying framework for interoperability, language standardization, and data > model standardization. This framework makes it simple to "plug and play" the > back-end graph implementation without affecting the developer's code. This is > analogous to the way in which JDBC allows users to swap relational databases > while keeping the same programming interface. TinkerPop also brings together > OLTP systems (graph databases) and OLAP systems (graph processors) by > providing a single query language, Gremlin, for executing graph algorithms > transparently over either type of system. Finally, TinkerPop unifies > single-machine systems and distributed systems, presenting an identical user > experience within the boundaries of the computational space and time > constraints of the underlying graph system. > > E. Initial Goals > > The goal of this proposal is to migrate TinkerPop to The Apache Foundation to > 1.) get more exposure to the project and 2.) legally protect the developers > and contributors of TinkerPop. > > F. Current Status > > TinkerPop is planning to release TinkerPop 3.0.0.GA early 2015 -- January or > February. We would like to release TinkerPop 3.0.0.GA under The Apache > Foundation. > > G. Meritocracy > > Anyone is welcome to join TinkerPop as a contributor. If an individual > provides successful code updates, documentation updates, etc. then they are > asked to join TinkerPop contributors. Once inside TinkerPop, they are able to > voice their opinions/thoughts on the direction of the project. Moreover, > TinkerPop actively seeks vendors who leverage TinkerPop in their offering to > place a representative on TinkerPop contributors who can speak on behalf of > their organization as it relates to the requirements of their graph system. > Every year or so, we list inactive members and request their permission to > purge them from TinkerPop contributors. In this way, we try and keep the > TinkerPop contributors to the most active, participating members. > > H. Community > > There are 25 TinkerPop contributors which, of those, 12 are representatives > from the various graph system vendors in the market today. The TinkerPop > mailing list has over 1500+ subscribers with a flow of approximately 10 > emails a day > (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gremlin-users). > > I. Core developers > > The primary developers are Marko A. Rodriguez (http://markorodriguez.com) and > Stephen Mallette (http://stephen.genoprime.com/). Over the years, numerous > individuals have come and gone from TinkerPop. Other significant contributors > include Peter Neubauer, Joshua Shinavier, James Thornton, Matthias Bröcheler, > Daniel Kuppitz, Bryn Cooke, and others. Note that there are numerous > individuals that participate in the TinkerPop ecosystem by providing language > bindings and system implementations. While not contributing to the core > codebase per se, they support TinkerPop via their software and lecture > outreach. > > J. Alignment > > TinkerPop is licensed Apache2. The OLAP reference implementation that > distributes with TinkerPop is based on Hadoop (http://hadoop.apache.org) and > Giraph (http://giraph.apache.org). There has been a push from vendors and > commercial organizations interested in ensuring TinkerPop has the legal > support of a software foundation. We believe The Apache Foundation to be a > great home for TinkerPop. > > K. Known Risks & Abandoned projects > > TinkerPop is currently at TinkerPop 3.0.0.M6. By joining The Apache > Foundation, there is a significant amount of code and time that has passed > since TinkerPop's inception. However, we have done our best to secure CLAs > from contributors and have never gotten into a legal or political issue. > > L. Inexperience with Open Source > > The primary developers of TinkerPop have been providing TinkerPop source and > releases open source and in full public view since 2009 via both our GitHub > repository and our public mailing lists. We pride ourselves in professional > software, documentation, and aesthetics. With its integration to numerous > graph systems in the market, TinkerPop is truly a masterpiece in a open > source technology --- working with both open source and commercial entities > to ensure a solid, respected project. > > M. Homogeneous Developers > > The contributors to TinkerPop run the full gamut of software engineering > expertise. From low-level data serialization to high-level server > interactions, TinkerPop has contributors able to work at the requisite level. > The codebase is complex as it deals with numerous area of software > engineering including: distributed computing, open standards, language > bindings, query language compilers, OLTP databases, OLAP processors, etc. > Over the years, we have gathered a significant level of talent and as a > whole, have all grown as engineers. > > N. Reliance on Salaried Developers > > TinkerPop is open source and no individual is paid for their contributions > except for our logo designer. All the logos and documentation graphics are > released Apache2. > > O. Relationships with Other Apache Projects > > TinkerPop currently leverages Hadoop, Giraph, and in the near future, will > integrate with Spark. Internally, the project leverages Maven3, Apache > Configuration, and Apache Commons. > > P. An Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand > > TinkerPop is primarily interested in The Apache Foundation for the legal > support and protection it can offer our developers and users. Numerous large > software organizations have urged TinkerPop to join a foundation so that they > may more easily provide contributors from their organization and moreover, > maintain confidence in building products atop TinkerPop. With that said, > TinkerPop does respect The Apache Foundation brand and believes that by > joining The Apache Foundation, we will further boost the recognition and > prestige of our product. Finally, note that a TinkerPop book is slated for > 2015 (http://www.tinkerpopbook.com/). Combining The Apache Foundation and a > long awaited book should ensure a new uptake of contributors, users, and > promoters. > > Q. Documentation > > TinkerPop takes pride in its documentation: > AsciiDoc: http://www.tinkerpop.com/docs/3.0.0-SNAPSHOT/ > JavaDoc (core): http://www.tinkerpop.com/javadocs/3.0.0-SNAPSHOT/core/ > JavaDoc (full): http://www.tinkerpop.com/javadocs/3.0.0-SNAPSHOT/full/ > > R. Initial Source > > TinkerPop is currently hosted on GitHub. > https://github.com/tinkerpop/tinkerpop3 > > S. Source & Intellectual Property Submission Plan > > There are no known claims to violations of intellectual property. > > T. External Dependencies > > TinkerPop relies on open source and commercial vendors. We maintain > representatives from the various graph system projects on TinkerPop > contributors. These vendors, in turn, provide TinkerPop adaptors to their > technology and in fact, some of them provide TinkerPop as the sole interface > to their system. > > U. Cryptography > > None. > > V. Required Resources > > The only resource we see moving forward and if Apache wishes, is to fund our > logo designer when we need a logo. We currently spend about $500 a year on > logos. Please look through our documentation to see how much we love giving > character to our work. If this is not something that Apache can do, then we > will continue funding the creation of our artwork as we have done in the past. > > W. Mailing Lists > > We currently have 2 mailing lists: > Gremlin-Users (public user forum): > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gremlin-users > TinkerPop-Contributors (private contributors forum): <private> > > X. Subversion Directory > > TinkerPop uses GitHub for its source control. > > Y. Git Repository > > TinkerPop's GitHub account is: https://github.com/tinkerpop/tinkerpop3 > > Z. Issue Tracking > > TinkerPop uses GitHub's issue tracker for tracking issues: > https://github.com/tinkerpop/tinkerpop3/issues > > AA. Initial Committers > > TinkerPop's contributors are listed here and all those that provide source > code commits have signed a CLA. > http://www.tinkerpop.com/docs/3.0.0.M6/#_graph_developers > > BB. Affiliations > > None. > > CC. Sponsors > > IBM (Kelvin Lawrence and Todd Moore) were the primary proponents of pushing > TinkerPop to join The Apache Foundation. The vendors that support TinkerPop > are listed here: http://www.tinkerpop.com/docs/3.0.0.M6/#_graph_vendors > > > > <gremlin-dashboard.png>
