Ted Husted wrote:
>
>> o At any time, the majority of committers of a code base may vote
>> to remove their project from Jakarta.
>
> I don't know if that's exactly true. Anyone can go off and start a new
> codebase based on any Apache product, but they are suppose to use a new
> name and their own copyright. An active codebase exists whereever people
> want to work on it. If a bunch of committers decide to go elsewhere,
> either some other developers will step up to the plate, or the codebase
> will grow obsolete. The code belongs to the developers who want to
> improve it, but the brand belongs to Apache. Once the brand is donated,
> I don't think the donation is revockable by anyone except the ASF.
Two points.
First, ASF > Jakarta. If Ant wanted to become a top level project, that
wouldn't affect anything from a copyright perspective.
Second, while the ASF clearly owns the code; it respects the wishes of the
majority of committers. So while there wouldn't be anything automatic
about code leaving the ASF entirely, I would do my part to assist with the
transition.
I look at this way - the way our current society is structured, a true
meritocracy where the contributors are the owners and can proceed without
fear of liability is not possible. So the ASF was formed to create a
bubble in which such a system can thrive. Legally, the projects are owned
by the ASF. In practice, the ASF serves the projects.
- Sam Ruby
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