Is the PMC for a podling different from the PMC for the resulting project? Should it be? Or should the PPMC simply roll into their new role as a PMC?
Don On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 9:48 AM, Rob Weir <apa...@robweir.com> wrote: > Since almost all of us are new to Apache we're learning a lot about > how Apache projects organize themselves. Based on my reading, I > understand that Apache projects have three degrees of participation: > > 1) Developer (or Contributor might be the preferred term, since it > doesn't depend on coding), who is a project member that contributes > patches, helps with support, reports bugs, etc. The main thing they > cannot do is commit changes directly to the product repository. They > need to submit patches, which are then reviewed and checked in by a > "committer". > > 2) Committers are elected based on their sustained contributions to > the project. They have an apache userid and email alias. They can > commit changes to the repository. They are also responsible for > reviewing patches submitted by other contributors. A Committer must > have an ICLA on file. > > 3) Project Management Committee (PMC) are Committers or Contributors > who are elected, based on merit, to help provide oversight to the > project. They approve releases and elected new Committers and PMC > members. > > As the Apache OpenOffice podling was bootstrapped, all of the > volunteers who signed up on the wiki, before the vote, were > automatically able to become Commtters and PPMC members. But to > actually take on those roles, a number of steps needed to occur, > mainly dependent on the new member submitting the Apache ICLA. Once > that is done, account creation, etc. takes some time, but is routine. > > What we need to decide going forward is how we define the details of > the Contributor/Committer/PPMC roles. > > Specifically: > > 1) In the future, will all Committers be PPMC members? In other > words, will these two groups be identical? I've heard that other > Apache projects have a subset of Committers serve on the PMC, but they > rotate membership, so all Committers get a chance to be on the PMC. > > 2) If the Committer and PPMC groups are not identical, then what > criteria should we use to determine who becomes a PPMC member? > > 3) If someone is offered the role of Committer, how long do they have > to sign ICLA? > > 4) If someone is an incredible contributor to the project, say in > testing or event planning, can they become a PPMC member? Would they > need to sign the ICLA even if they are never actually need to commit > project resources? In other words, can someone be a PMC member > without being a Committer? Or should we think of these as being > progressive degrees of involvement, strictly Contributor --> Committer > --> PMC member? > > 5) Is there an term limit on PPMC membership, or criterion for > sustained contributions and activity level? In other words, is it a > case of "Once elected, always a PMC member"? > > 6) Similar for Committers. Is there a minimum threshold level of > activity that is needed to sustain that role? > > -Rob >
