so please comment, etc.
Inline (just a few of them).
-----------------------------------
xml.apache.org is a collaborative software development project
dedicated to providing robust, full-featured, commercial-quality, and
freely available XML support on a wide variety of platforms. This
project is managed in cooperation with various individuals worldwide
(both independent and company-affiliated experts), who use the
Internet to communicate, plan, and develop XML software and related
documentation.
This charter briefly describes the mission, history, organization, and
processes of the project.
MISSION
=======
xml.apache.org exists to promote the use of XML. We view XML as a
compelling paradigm that structures data as information, thereby
facilitating the exchange, transformation, and presentation of
knowledge. The ability to transform raw data into usable information
has great potential to improve the functionality and use of
information systems. We intend to build freely available XML
processing components in order to engender such improvements.
xml.apache.org defines a set of components that exchange or deal with
"components and applications"?
XML information sets. These components plug into each other using
standard APIs (formal, de facto, or proposed). The components must be
high performance, reliable, and easy to use. The components must be
part of an underlying architectural orchestration that will allow them
to work together without major negotiations or breakage.
We believe that the best way to define this XML information exchange
architecture is by having both individuals and corporations
collaborate on the best possible infrastructure, APIs, code, testing,
and release cycles. Components must be vendor neutral and usable as
core components for all.
In order to achieve a coherent architecture between xml.apache.org
components and other components and applications, standards (formal or
de facto) will be used as much as possible for both protocols and
APIs. We will also allow the innovation of new protocols, APIs, and
components in order to seed new concepts not yet defined by standards.
HISTORY
=======
This project was established under the direction of the newly-formed
Apache Software Foundation in August 1999 to facilitate joint
open-source development.
THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
================================
The xml.apache.org project is managed by a small, core group of
contributors known as the Project Management Committee [PMC]. The PMC
must have at least one officer from the Apache Board, who will be the
Chairperson and report to the Apache Board. See
http://www.apache.org/foundation/bylaws.html for reference. The
Chairperson will serve a term of one calendar year
The PMC has the following responsibilities:
1) Accepting new subproject proposals, formally submitting these
proposals for committer vote, and creating the subproject (see
SUBPROJECTS below).
... in collaboration with the Incubator.
2) Facilitating code or other donations by individuals or companies.
... in collaboration with the Incubator.
3) Resolving license issues and other legal issues.
4) Approving new committers.
5) Ensuring that administrative and infrastructure work is completed.
6) Facilitating relationships among projects.
7) Facilitating relationships between xml.apache.org and the external
world.
8) Overseeing xml.apache.org to ensure that the mission defined in
this document is being fulfilled.
9) Resolving conflicts within the project.
To become a member of the PMC, an individual must be nominated by a
contributor, unanimously approved by all PMC members, and approved by
a two-thirds majority of committers. In most cases, developers will
have actively contributed to development for at least six months
before being considered for membership on the PMC.
In the unlikely event that a member of the PMC becomes disruptive to
the process or ceases to contribute for an extended period, said
member may be removed by unanimous vote of remaining PMC members.
The PMC is responsible for maintaining and updating this
charter. Development must follow the process outlined below, so any
change to the development process necessitates a change to the
charter. Changes must be unanimously approved by all members of the
PMC. A contributor may challenge a change to the charter at any time
and ask for a vote of all committers, in which case a two-thirds
majority must approve the change.
SUBPROJECTS
===========
xml.apache.org is comprised of subprojects; a subproject is a
component whose scope is well defined. Each subproject has its own
component or application
set of developers.
A new subproject proposal is submitted to the PMC, accepted by majority
committer vote, and then subject to final approval by the PMC.
A subproject may be removed by unanimous vote of the PMC, subject to the
approval of the ASF board. A contributor may challenge the removal of a
subproject at any time and ask for a vote of all committers, in which
case a two-thirds majority must approve the change.
COMMITTERS
==========
Each subproject has a set of committers. Committers are developers who
have read/write access to the source code repository. New committers
are added when a developer is nominated by a committer and approved by
at least 50 percent of the committers for that subproject with no
opposing votes. In most cases, new committers will already be
participating in the development process by submitting suggestions
and/or fixes via the bug report page or mailing lists.
CONTRIBUTORS
============
Like all Apache projects, the XML project is a meritocracy -- the more
work you do, the more you are allowed to do. Occasional contributors
will be able to report bugs and participate in the mailing lists.
Specific changes to a product proposed for discussion or voting on the
appropriate development mailing list should be presented in the form
of input to the patch command. When sent to the mailing list, the
message should contain a subject beginning with [PATCH] and including
a distinctive one-line summary that corresponds to the action item for
that patch.
Use the diff -u command from the original software file(s) to the
modified software file(s) to create the patch. Patches should be
submitted against the latest CVS versions of the software to avoid
conflicts and ensure that you are not submitting a patch for a problem
that has already been resolved.
Developers who make regular and substantial contributions may become
committers as described above.
INFRASTRUCTURE
==============
The xml.apache.org project site must provide the following:
Bug Database -- This is a system for tracking bugs and feature
requests.
Subproject Source Repositories -- These are several CVS repositories
containing both the source code and documentation for the
subprojects. Each subproject will have a set of committers to its
repository.
Website -- An xml.apache.org website will contain information about
the xml.apache.org project, including documentation, downloads of
releases, and this charter. Each subproject will have its own website
with subproject information.
PMC Mailing List -- This list is for PMC business requiring
confidentiality, particularly when an individual or company requests
discretion. All other PMC business should be done on the general
mailing list.
General Mailing List -- This mailing list is open to the public. It is
intended for discussions that cross subprojects.
Subproject Mailing Lists -- Each subproject should have a devoted mailing
list. Many subprojects may wish to have both user and development
lists. The individual subprojects may decide on the exact structure of
their mailing lists.
LICENSING
=========
All contributions to the xml.apache.org project adhere to the "ASF
Source Code License." All further contributions must be made under the
same terms. All contributions must contain the following copyright
notice:
IIUC, we cannot include a reference to the license file anymore, but should copy the entire license in the source code file. So we'd better reflect that here. This situation appears to be temporary until the v2 license is finished, approved and adopted.
THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
=======================
The development process is intentionally lightweight; like other
Apache projects, the committers decide which changes may be committed
to the repository. Three +1 ('yes' votes) with no -1 ('no' votes or
vetoes) are needed to approve a code change. For efficiency, some code
changes from some contributors (e.g. feature additions, bug fixes) may
be approved in advance, in which case they may be committed first and
changed as needed, with conflicts resolved by majority vote of the
committers.
Voting should be made a requirement for _releases_ IMHO.
SUBPROJECT REQUIREMENTS
=======================
Each subproject must have a set of requirements as well as an
up-to-date release plan and design document on its dedicated web page.
It must be possible for each subproject to plug into the Gump nightly
build system (see http://jakarta.apache.org/builds/gump). It is
recommended that each subproject have a smoke-test system that works at
least as a basic integration test.
RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER APACHE PROJECTS
=====================================
The xml.apache.org project should work closely with other Apache
projects, such as Jakarta and the Apache Server, to avoid redundancy
and achieve a coherent architecture among xml.apache.org and these
projects.
Cheers,
</Steven> -- Steven Noels http://outerthought.org/ Outerthought - Open Source, Java & XML Competence Support Center Read my weblog at http://blogs.cocoondev.org/stevenn/ stevenn at outerthought.org stevenn at apache.org
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