I acted as release manager for 2.0. I did that because at the time I had a need for Commons VFS, I had a need to fix a bunch of stuff that didn’t work in 1.0, and I had the necessary privileges to do it. Since that time I have been focused on Log4j 2 almost completely with what little time I have. I have seen others commit fixes and enhancements and like you, I have been surprised that no one has bothered to perform a release. It should have happened a long time ago.
One challenge to releasing VFS is that unlike most Commons projects, it is a multi-module project and it uses the Maven release plugin to perform a release. While this makes things a bit more complicated it still isn’t that hard to do. Unfortunately, I don’t believe I documented the release process but it should be similar to http://wiki.apache.org/logging/Log4j2ReleaseGuide <http://wiki.apache.org/logging/Log4j2ReleaseGuide>, since I based the Log4j build and release process after VFS. Ralph > On Nov 29, 2014, at 8:27 AM, dlmar...@comcast.net wrote: > > > My 2 cents as an outsider, for what it's worth. I have contributed code to > VFS and we use VFS in Accumulo. I and several others have asked for a 2.1 > release, or at least a plan/roadmap so that we know what has to happen before > a release can occur. I even offered to help in any way possible[1]. The > answer I received was that a release manager was assigned, but no other > information. Since then I have seen a bunch of other commons projects being > released. I figure that maybe they are dependencies and need to be released > first before a VFS release. > > Personally, I would like to remove the VFS objects from Accumulo when VFS 2.1 > is released. I know that we are also running into VFS-487, which I spent some > time updating the patch and verifying the tests work. I would like to update > the HDFS dependency to the latest before the 2.1 release (VFS-530), but I > don't know when that is going to happen. I would also like to take advantage > of some of the fixes in 2.1, like VFS-500. > > I understand this is a volunteer organization and everyone is busy. However, > from my perspective, you have turned down an offer to help. FWIW, I have > thought about taking VFS 2.1-SNAPSHOT, applying the patches I want, and > creating a release for use on my project (not Accumulo). > > [1] > http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/commons-dev/201406.mbox/%3c423905266.3540581.1402347208157.javamail.r...@comcast.net%3E > > > - Dave > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Gary Gregory" <garydgreg...@gmail.com> > To: "Commons Developers List" <dev@commons.apache.org> > Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2014 7:42:35 AM > Subject: RE: [ALL] Do we need help? > > It feels overwhelming sometimes sure, but for me I just realize that this is > just a self inflicted feeling. We are all volunteers here with no contractual > or "hard" expectations. We could do better at managing expectations for > certain and recruiting new blood, yes. But that takes time away from fun > development tasks... I usually ask for patches as soon as someone asks for a > fix or feature. At least that should make it more obvious to users and the > community that you get out of Commons what you put in to some extent. > > Gary > > <div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Benedikt Ritter > <brit...@apache.org> </div><div>Date:11/29/2014 05:53 (GMT-05:00) > </div><div>To: Commons Developers List <dev@commons.apache.org> > </div><div>Cc: </div><div>Subject: [ALL] Do we need help? </div><div> > </div>Hi all, > > currently I feel really overwhelmed by the stuff I'd like to do at commons > and the little time I can spend for it. Here is an (incomplete) list of the > things I'd like to work on: > > - get a new release of the build plugin out of the door for auto creating > README.md and CONTRIBUTING.md > - Work on [VALIDATOR] and get a new release out of the door > - Work on [DBUTILS] and get a new release out of the door > - Push [lang] 3.4 out of the door > - Have a look at [compress] 2.0 > - Backport important fixes from [collections] 4.0 to 3.x and create a last > service update > - work on [text] > - help releasing [imaging] 1.0 > - Improve docs on how to get involved at commons > - Organize a logo contest for commons > - ... many more > > I wonder how you feel about this. I have the feeling that a lot of people > ask us to fix stuff and release components but we don't really catch up > with this. This will give people the feeling that we are slow or we simply > don't care. > Whenever I see someone posting on JIRA "can you please fix this, we need > this in out application" and nobody is reacting, I feel tempted to jump > right in, even if I don't know the component (which adds another entry to > the list above). > I don't see a way how we can improve this. My feeling is, that we need more > committers. But then I have the comments of people I've talked to in my > ear: "to old school", "to difficult to get involved", "to slow development > process", "to unwelcoming community". So what do we do? Do we need help? > > I'm excited to hear your thoughts :-) > > Best regards, > Benedikt > > > -- > http://people.apache.org/~britter/ > http://www.systemoutprintln.de/ > http://twitter.com/BenediktRitter > http://github.com/britter >
