David, You're too modest, really. I don't mean to speak for BJ, but that's what I understood him to be implying, as well, when he asked if this were a "vialed(sic) attempt to look like a community with only one persons(sic) Making the decisions."
Tonality is difficult to construe from email, I'll admit, but the wording of your reprimand of Si's date format commit, has to make one suspect that you see yourself in that light as well. You weren't saying that my comment was without value when you said in OFBIZ-81: "I wouldn't worry too much about this comment. It shows a misunderstanding of the data model and the patterns we use in various places." and "Please don't hesitate to ignore this last comment from Chris" What was I thinking? >>This discussion probably wouldn't even be happening >>because it probably would not have even been of >>interest to someone in your position. ;) What position do you assume that I'm in that the general field of ERP software wouldn't be of interest to me? --- "David E. Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Chris, > > Are you implying that I might be the BD for OFBiz? > > That is rather flattering, though probably not > entirely correct. I'm more of an administrative > assistant to the community than anything else these > days... especially with the ASF effort. On the > technical side if you look at the commit history > over recent months you'll see that I'm responsible > for very few of them in reality. Much of what I do > on the technical side is review commits and issues > and comments for potential problems or opportunities > that might go unnoticed, and comment on them as I > can. > > If there is something potentially confusing or > misleading I try to comment on that too, which was > the case with OFBIZ-81 and my intent there was > mostly to make sure the others involved with that > (as I really wasn't involved with the development) > did not get distracted by your comments. My hope is > that those involved spent very little time on this > distraction and were able to go about their efforts > without worrying about it. > > I'm not saying that your comments were without > value, otherwise I would not have bothered to > comment. I am saying that for this particular issue > they were a distraction and an encouragement to go > in a direction that I though was simply bad for the > project, so I asserted my opinion. > > In reality aside from my involvement with the > initial design, direction, and "recruiting" (mostly > facilitation) for OFBiz in the early stages of the > project and my work to get it into the ASF family, > I'm just another consultant with more financial > obligations than resources who is hanging out in > this little world of OFBiz (or rather, Apache OFBiz) > trying catch scraps as they fall from the tables of > larger projects based on the software. > > I'm as powerless to assert control over the project > as anyone else. In fact I have the same power as > anyone else to participate and introduce new > resources and possibilities for the project. Well, > in reality I have far less power than many because > of other liabilities that take up so much of my > time. The only difference is that I've done this > enough times over the years with OFBiz that it is a > fairly normal mode of operating and therefore has a > better chance of being accepted. Aside from that, > there is nothing special about the time or money I > put into the project or the opinions I express. > > The real truth is I can only take credit for a minor > part of OFBiz, and I'm only involved to a limited > extent. Without the efforts of others, especially > Andy Zeneski in the earlier years and Si Chen and > Jacopo Cappellato in the last couple of years, OFBiz > would simply not be what it is today. This > discussion probably wouldn't even be happening > because it probably would not have even been of > interest to someone in your position. ;) > > -David > > > Chris Howe wrote: > > Thank you Ashish, that's great reading material. > I > > particularly enjoyed these two sections: > > > > > http://producingoss.com/html-chunk/setting-tone.html#prevent-rudeness > > > > > http://producingoss.com/html-chunk/social-infrastructure.html#benevolant-dictator-qualifications > > > > For those keeping tabs, this post is admitingly, > > trolling - trying to elicit a response. Most > previous > > messages were offering criticism and more > importantly, > > solutions. > > > > --- Ashish Vijaywargiya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > >> David, > >> Here is the book "Producing Open Source Software > by > >> Karl Fogel" link that is freely available........ > > >> http://producingoss.com/ > >> > >> Regards > >> Ashish Vijaywargiya > >> "David E. Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> wrote: > >> > >> BJ Freeman wrote: > >>> If this is truly a community, and there are > people > >> involved that really > >>> have knowledge about something, What is the > >> Hierarchy of Decisions based > >>> on the ASF way? > >>> > >>> Or is this a vialed attempt to look like a > >> community with only one > >>> persons Making the decisions. > >>> > >>> From what I have seen certain individuals do > >> commit and contribute, > >>> without a problem. So this is not a one man > show. > >>> > >>> What seems to be the questions is the guidelines > >> for making decisions. > >>> it is truly a community when all seem to have > >> access to the guidelines. > >>> I think getting a set of guidelines for all to > >> have access to would > >>> alleviate the pressure felt when there is an > >> disagreement. > >> > >> I'm not sure what sort of guidelines would be > >> applicable here. Because of human nature the > >> possible problems arising are nearly limitless... > >> > >> Still, I guess the basic structure is simple. The > >> committers make the decisions. Of course, part of > >> the responsibility of being a committer (as > >> described in the OFBiz Committers Roles and > >> Responsibilities page, linked to below), is > >> facilitating community interaction and > >> contributions, so a lot of this "decision making" > is > >> just review, feedback, and a yes or no decision > on > >> whether a patch is ready or not. > >> > >> So no, committers don't drive everything that > >> happens in the project, but they are the filter > that > >> everything goes through to try to keep the > project > >> clean and vital. > >> > >> I'll talk more about the already established > >> guidelines below. > >> > >>> I have purchased the Vol 1 and II and will begin > >> reading them this > >>> winter, maybe on the train ride to Portland. > >> Which volumes are these? I'm not aware of any > books > >> (especially specific to OFBiz) that talk about > >> decision making guidelines like this... Actually > >> there are some books about managing open source > >> projects that are interesting, like: > >> > >> "Producing Open Source Software" by Karl Fogel > >> > >> Note that this is a very general book and is not > >> necessarily about the ASF way or the way things > are > >> done in OFBiz. It is good general commentary and > >> I've found it interesting and helpful. It is > >> available for download (I have a PDF sitting on > my > >> machine), but I don't remember exactly where I > >> downloaded. > >> > >>> So if there are other documents that are > involved, > >> I will purchase or > >>> read those. > >>> > >>> Just point me to the documents that define the > >> framework for decision > >>> making on this project. > >> The best documents about this for ASF are on the > ASF > >> site itself. There are quite a few things to read > >> through in different places, but a good place to > >> start is: > >> > >> > http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html > >> > >> The whole page is good, but the Meritocracy > section > >> is especially important. > >> > >> One things to keep in mind with OFBiz is that > much > >> of the software is business automation oriented > and > === message truncated ===
