On Fri, Jul 02, 2010 at 10:29:45AM -0700, Mattmann, Chris A (388J) wrote: > +1, Marvin. My only comment is that you can hopefully add some additional > committers when you move into the Incubator to really kick start the > project.
Thanks, Chris. Another possibility for us is to delay entry into the Incubator until we have accumulated a larger number of committers. To achieve this, we would make our stable release ASAP under the current KinoSearch namespace and license. We expect to generate significant interest within the Perl community with this release, attracting many new users. If the past is prologue, these users will soon start contributing, and we'll be able to identify and develop some candidates who subsequently become committers. Then we would be able to put our proposal to the Incubator PMC with more names on the list. However, that's not my preferred course of action for a number of reasons. First, I believe that it's in the best interests of the project to launch the modern codebase under the Lucy brand. Making a release under the KinoSearch brand and then switching to Lucy shortly thereafter will be confusing and inconvenient for our users. Second, the more contributors we have, the more complicated the relicensing and software grant becomes. We have all the necessary past contributors on board now. In a worst case scenario, one or more of those individuals becomes unable to participate while we delay. Third, accumulating worthy committers will take time, and it's not clear how much. Fourth, I think it would be good for the project if the release happens while Lucy is in the Incubator under the guidance of Mentors. We have received some thoughtful advice on this general@ list lately. Having Mentors available to provide us with ongoing feedback during this phase of expansion will help us to run as efficiently and effectively as possible, establishing healthy cultural norms within the community that persist for years to come. Our chief challenge is now identifying a Champion and three Mentors. If we can do that and pass an Incubator PMC vote, I believe that Lucy's future is extremely bright. We have solved the technical problems that Dave Balmain and I set out to solve. We have a product that delivers great features like mmap-powered near-real-time search, and offers mechanisms for extension which will entice users to become contributors. We have the institutions, infrastructure, and accumulated wisdom of Apache pushing us forward, particularly the traditions of the Lucene community where Lucy was born. And we have a collectively devised proposal which incorporates lessons learned from past mistakes, and which we are all very excited about. Marvin Humphrey
