RE: [PROPOSAL] Apache Bloodhound

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Greg Stein [mailto:gstein@gmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, 15 December 2011 1:30 PM
> To: Hyrum K Wright
> Cc: general@incubator.apache.org; Ian Wild
> Subject: Re: [PROPOSAL] Apache Bloodhound
>
> The discussion has been minimal, and has ramped down. Time to move to a
> vote?
>
> (I had hoped to see some people volunteer...)

My py fu isn't great but maybe I can help in some way and be a chance to
learn
some more, so I'll put my name down as committer if you think I'll be
useful.

Gav...

>
> Cheers,
> -g
> On Dec 2, 2011 10:53 AM, "Hyrum K Wright" <hyrum.wright@wandisco.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Hello Incubator!
> >
> > WANdisco would like to propose the inclusion of a new project, Apache
> > Bloodhound, to the Incubator. The proposal has been posted to the
> > wiki[1], and is also included below. We've privately discussed this
> > project with a number of individuals, but would now like to get the
> > discussion rolling here. Bloodhound is new effort, based on Trac[2],
> > to provide issue tracking and collaboration tools for developers.
> >
> > We realize the proposal is a work-in-progress, and as such look
> > forward to feedback and discussion. We hope to attract mentors and
> > other interested parties through the incubation proposal process, and
> > further diversify the community as we move through incubation. In
> > particular, this project is an opportunity to build a new community
> > around the codebase, and we look forward to doing so at the ASF.
> >
> > -Hyrum
> >
> > [1] http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/BloodhoundProposal
> > [2] http://trac.edgewall.org/
> >
> >
> > = Bloodhound - Collaborative development tools based on Trac =
> >
> > == Abstract ==
> >
> > Bloodhound will be a software development collaboration tool,
> > including issue tracking, wiki and repository browsing. Essentially
> > an improved distribution of the well-known Trac project, Bloodhound
> > will include the common and useful plugins to enable a more complete
> > distribution than a typical Trac installation.
> >
> > == Proposal ==
> >
> > Bloodhound will be a software development collaboration tool, based on
> > the existing Trac project, which will include a repository browser,
> > wiki, and defect tracker. In addition to the standard Trac
> > installation, Bloodhound will incorporate a number of popular modules
> > into the core distribution, and include additional improvements
> > developed (as [[http://trac-hacks.org/|plugins]]) outside the Trac
> > project.
> >
> > == Background ==
> >
> > The [[http://trac.edgewall.org/|Trac project]] is a BSD-licensed
> > collaboration tool used to assist in software development. It has a
> > wide user base, a pluggable infrastructure, and is generally
> > considered stable.
> >
> > By it's own recognition, however, the development community
> > surrounding Trac has largely dissipated, with little mailing list
> > traffic, and very few commits to the source code repository (see [2]).
> > Private efforts to engage the existing developers in implementing
> > features have been negatively received. At the same time, other
> > individuals and companies, such as
> > [[http://www.wandisco.com|WANdisco]], have expressed interest in
> > helping continue to develop Trac. These entities would prefer this
> > effort to be at a vendor-neutral location, with the clear process for
> > intellectual property management that comes from the Foundation. As
> > such, the Apache Software Foundation feels like the best fit for this
> > new project based on Trac.
> >
> > == Rationale ==
> >
> > As discussed earlier, the current Trac development community is small
> > and reluctant to accept outside contributions. Given the Foundation's
> > reputation for building and maintaining communities, we feel a new
> > project, based on Trac but incubated under the Apache umbrella, would
> > help re-build the developer community, jump started by developer time
> > donated by WANdisco. Additionally, as a developer tool, Bloodhound is
> > a good fit with other, similarly-focused developer tools at the ASF.
> >
> > Private discussions have shown there is some interest by third-parties
> > to release internal improvements to Trac, and Bloodhound gives them an
> > additional venue to do so.
> >
> > == Initial Goals ==
> >
> > The initial goals for Bloodhound primarily revolve around migrating
> > the existing code base and integrating external features to make the
> > project easy to deploy. Additional ideas will of course follow, but
> > the following goals are sufficiently difficult to be considered early
> > milestones.
> >
> > Some of the initial goals include:
> > * Migrate the existing BSD-licensed Trac code base to the ASF.
> > * Attract developer and user interest in the new Bloodhound project.
> > * Incorporate externally developed features into the core Bloodhound
> > project.
> > * Package the most popular plugins into the core project, so
> > installations and administration of Bloodhound becomes dead simple.
> >
> >
> > = Current Status =
> >
> > == Meritocracy ==
> >
> > Although initially corporate-sponsored, any interested developers
> > would be granted commit access. Even developers employed by the
> > sponsoring companies would be required to demonstrate competency to
> > gain commit privileges. Individuals with corporate affiliations would
> > understandably be known within the community, but would not have
> > bearing on the granting of commit privileges.
> >
> > == Community ==
> >
> > One of the primary purposes of this proposal is to develop a strong
> > developer community around the Trac code base. The current developers
> > and supporting institution have moved on to other things, and this has
> > caused stagnation in the existing community. We want to use the
> > experience of the Incubator PMC, and the incubation process, to reboot
> > the developer community, while at the same time incorporating
> > oft-requested features into the existing product.
> >
> > Building communities carries with it an initial investment, and the
> > corporate sponsors behind this proposal are willing to make that
> > investment in seeing a vibrant and self-sustaining community result
> > from incubation. We recognize this as something of an experiment, and
> > that incubation is not a guarantee of success and graduation a given.
> > However, we feel that the ASF represents the best opportunity to build
> > the vibrant community that this project needs.
> >
> > == Core Developers ==
> >
> > The initial set of developers will be primarily individuals from
> > WANdisco, and may be augmented with other interested persons we have
> > privately contacted. This list contains at least one Apache Member,
> > as well as others who have participated in Apache projects in various
> > capacities (patch contributors, bug reports, etc.). It also includes
> > people who are familiar with open source development, but have not
> > previously participated in Apache projects.
> >
> > Realizing that incubation is an opportunity to grow the community, we
> > plan to make every attempt possible to invite additional developers
> > from the existing Trac user and developer communities, including those
> > involved in plugin development.
> >
> > == Alignment ==
> >
> > Bloodhound aligns well with the Apache Software Foundation. It makes
> > extensive use of Apache Subversion, and includes tools to browse and
> > interact with Subversion repositories. As previously mentioned,
> > Bloodhound is primarily a developer-oriented tool, which follows the
> > historical Apache philosophy of providing high-quality developer
> > tools. Eventually, Bloodhound could become a viable alternative to
> > Jira or Bugzilla for projects hosted at Apache.
> >
> > = Known Risks =
> >
> > This proposal is not without its risks, some of which are outlined
below.
> >
> > == Orphaned Projects ==
> >
> > The current Trac project lacks much developer interest. Although the
> > entities behind this proposal desire to make a viable developer
> > community, there is no guarantee that such a community will develop.
> > Should this happen, there will likely be insufficient heterogeneity in
> > the project to warrant graduation.
> >
> > == Inexperience with Open Source ==
> >
> > The initial groups of developers have extensive experience with open
> > source, primarily with the [[http://subversion.apache.org/|Apache
> > Subversion]] project. The target audience for growing the developer
> > community is the current Trac user and developer communities, many
> > members of which are familiar with open source in general. There may
> > be some learning curve as community members familiarize themselves
> > with the ASF and the Apache Way, including individuals employed
> > specifically to work on the project.
> >
> > == Homogeneous Developers ==
> >
> > The current list of committers are primarily from WANdisco. One of
> > the key purposes of proposing Bloodhound for incubation is to
> > resurrect a currently-small (~3 key developers, but very few commits
> > per week) development community by attracting and infusing it with new
> > code and new individuals. The ASF has a well-deserved reputation of
> > fostering and building open source communities, which makes it the
> > ideal location to attempt this community reboot.
> >
> > == Reliance on Salaried Developers ==
> >
> > Most of the initial committers are supported by their employers to
> > work on Bloodhound, and may be assigned to work on other projects in
> > the future. However, the employers of these salaried individuals have
> > an interest in seeing Bloodhound thrive as a long-term, sustaining
> > project. WANdisco understands that their employees are acting as
> > individuals when contributing to Apache projects, but has already
> > brought additional staff on board to assist with Bloodhound
> > development.
> >
> > == Relationship with Other Apache Projects ==
> >
> > Bloodhound integrates heavily with Apache Subversion, although that
> > integration is becoming more de-coupled making it possible to replace
> > with other version control systems. Bloodhound optionally runs on
> > Apache httpd.
> >
> > == An Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand ==
> >
> > One of the primary motivators in creating the Bloodhound project as
> > part of the Incubator is to leverage the vendor-neutral nature of the
> > Apache Software Foundation. The ASF has a strong and recognized brand
> > as being a leader in open source, and by hosting Bloodhound at the
> > Foundation, we hope to attract developers to build a viable community
> > for the project.
> >
> > = Initial Source =
> >
> > The original Trac code base has been under development for more than 8
> > years, though development has become minimal over the past 2 years.
> > We have sync'd the existing Trac repository, including history, and
> > are using it as the basis for Bloodhound. We also plan to incorporate
> > appropriately-licensed plugins into the core Bloodhound system.
> >
> > == Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan ==
> >
> > The initial source will be from the Trac repository. Additional
> > functionality may come from private development, and will be folded
> > into the open source version after Bloodhound is loaded in the main
> > ASF repository. Any relevant Trac-hacks with appropriate licenses may
> > also be migrated.
> >
> > == External Dependencies ==
> >
> > The bulk of the initial code will be from the Trac project, which is
> > licensed under the BSD license. Bloodhound also relies upon
> > BSD-licensed subcomponents for HTML templating.
> >
> > = Required Resources =
> >
> > == Mailing lists ==
> >
> > The initial set of mailing lists will be:
> > * bloodhound-private (with moderated subscriptions)
> > * bloodhound-dev
> > * bloodhound-commits
> > * bloodhound-user
> >
> > == Subversion Directory ==
> >
> > https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/bloodhound
> >
> > == Issue Tracking ==
> >
> > Bloodhound would like to self-host its issue tracking, see below.
> >
> > == Other Resources ==
> >
> > In the interests of eating our own dogfood, Bloodhound would like to
> > self-host the issue tracker and related tools. The team will work with
> > Infrastructure to define and manage this configuration.
> >
> > == Initial Committers ==
> >
> > * Mat Booth (mat.booth at wandisco dot com)
> > * Mark Poole (mark at wandisco.com)
> > * Hyrum Wright (hyrum.wright at wandisco dot com)
> > * John Chambers (john.chambers at wandisco.com)
> > * Gary Martin (gary.martin at wandisco.com)
> >
> > == Affiliations ==
> >
> > * Mat Booth, WANdisco
> > * Mark Poole, WANdisco
> > * Hyrum Wright, WANdisco
> > * John Chambers, WANdisco
> > * Gary Martin, WANdisco
> >
> > = Sponsors =
> >
> > == Champion ==
> >
> > Hyrum Wright
> >
> > == Nominated Mentors ==
> >
> > * Hyrum Wright
> > * Greg Stein
> >
> > == Sponsoring Entity ==
> >
> > The Apache Incubator
> >

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