Hi Folks,
As a committer of this project, I'd like to reach out and ask for
assistance to help the Apache VCL project grow to become a Top Level
Project(TLP). There are several places where one can assist. If your
interested in contributing in some way and giving back to open-source,
let us know either on the list or directly to me, Josh or Andy (the list
would be better... :) ).
I'm sure many of you are not aware of the Apache Software Foundation
process for projects, so here is a short summary.
Once a project has been accepted by ASF, it goes into what is called the
Apache incubator. This is where we are now.
In the incubator, the project community learns how to work within the
ASF framework. We learn how to apply ASF processes such as developing
the code base within the community, producing documentation, learn how
to properly release and package the code according to ASF standards,
etc. In addition to these tasks, probably the most important part is
learning how to foster a healthy positive community by exchanging ideas,
discussing issues and bugs, and the overall direction of the project.
Once the community has shown it can survive own it's own, it can then
ask to become a TLP, at that point a vote takes place. If mentors vote
positively then the project proceeds to Top Level status. A detailed
guideline for graduation:
http://incubator.apache.org/guides/graduation.html
So on the flip side of this - If a incubator project does not meet the
requirements and does not show it has a positive community in a timely
matter. The project would need to leave ASF and be hosted somewhere
else, as projects are not allowed to stay in the incubator. While being
hosted somewhere else is not necessarily a bad thing. It does provide a
fair amount of work to migrate and simply delays the growth of the
community and of course the development process. Ideally, as a
community, we would like to stay and continue to deliver this worthy
project through ASF.
We're doing good, but have a way to go. We've had 2 releases now, also
we've had good discussions on the dev and user mailing lists in
assisting folks getting VCL instances up and running, addressing
bug-fixes, and features folks would like to see.
But we need more to reach the goal of becoming a TLP. Our remaining
steps are to have more contributions from the community and attract
additional committers that can add value to the project.
There are several ways to help grow VCL and get involved:
* Become more active on the mailing list, share ideas help drive the
direction of VCL.
* Contribute bug-fixes or get involved in the development process.
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/VCL/Becoming+a+Committer
* Help out with documentation, end-user and/or installation guides.
* Web site improvements. We need a cool website...
Again if your interested in any of the areas or another area not
mentioned. Please get involved.
Sincerely,
Aaron Peeler
Apache VCL committer
