Quick administrative note: I don't see any reason why this vote should take a long time, so I expect to close the process and tally the votes in not much more than 48 hours.
On Sat, Mar 15, 2025 at 4:35 PM Mark Hamstra <markhams...@gmail.com> wrote: > > There has been enough discussion on this topic already, so I think > that an immediate vote on the validity of Dongjoon's technical > justification for his veto of the "Retain migration logic ... in Spark > 4.0.x" proposal is in order. That technical justification has been > called into question, and the guidance at > https://www.apache.org/foundation/glossary.html#Veto leaves it to the > PMC to determine whether the technical justification is valid: "In > case of doubt, deciding whether a technical justification is valid is > up to the PMC." As such, only PMC votes will decide the outcome of > this vote. This is neither a vote on a code change itself not a vote > on whether a package is ready for release, so it a procedural vote on > whether the technical justification is valid. As such, the vote will > be decided by a simple majority where +1 votes hold that the technical > justification is not valid and -1 votes hold that the technical > justification is valid. > > I would request that at least PMC members post more than just a naked > vote, but instead endeavor to give some reason why they have assessed > the technical justification as they have. I'll start: > > Despite all of the discussion related to Dongjoon's -1 vote, I must > confess to still not being entirely clear on what is his technical > justification for that veto. I see claims that including an admonition > in the Spark 4.0.x release notes that a prior upgrade to 3.5.5 is > required to maintain the integrity of already existing data streams, > and I see assertions about the maintenance burden that including the > migration logic would impose on future Spark versions, but I don't > think that I see any other technical objections. I do not believe that > the claimed technical justification is valid. > > In requiring that a veto of a code change be accompanied by a > technical justification for the veto, the Apache Voting Process states > that: "To prevent vetoes from being used capriciously, the voter must > provide with the veto a technical justification showing why the change > is bad (opens a security exposure, negatively affects performance, > etc. ). A veto without a justification is invalid and has no weight." > This strongly implies that there must be something objectively wrong > with the proposed code change in that it causes significant harm in > the way of opening a security exposure, negatively affecting > performance, or presumably other significant user harms or perhaps > even developer burdens. > > The proposed addition of the migration logic to Spark 4.0.x does not > cause any harm to Spark's users. For many users, those not using > streaming data, the change will have no effect. For streaming users > the change will be beneficial, not harmful. > > Neither do I find the claim of excessive, ongoing developer burden to > be persuasive. The changes are tiny and easily maintained -- in fact, > it wouldn't surprise me if no further changes to this migration logic > would be needed for a very long time. > > Some of what we are left with is just an expression of preference for > a technical alternative to the migration logic -- i.e. including in > the release notes an admonition to first upgrade to 3.5.5. But the > Apache Voting Process does not say that in the face of code > alternatives A and B, a qualified voter is justified in vetoing A if > they prefer B. Instead, the Voting Process strongly implies that > something more is needed to justify a veto, as I've already covered. > Thus I don't find Dongjoon's preference for the release notes option > to be adequate justification for the veto. > > The only remaining question I see is whether including "databricks" in > the Apache Code is ever allowed or if any such instance must be > expunged as soon as possible. I am not aware of any ASF policy that > strictly forbids the mention of a vendor in Apache code for any > reason, even if that vendor has a product based on Apache code, even > if that vendor enjoys a uniquely influential position vis a vis some > Apache code or project. Certainly the PMC has a duty to see to it that > neither Databricks nor any other vendor exercises influence or control > over Apache Spark outside of the established Apache process, but the > proposed migration code changes do not advantage Databricks -- if > anything they remove a minor avenue of influence, and simply need to > mention "databricks" once in order match and transform a configuration > into a vendor neutral equivalent. While not optimal, I can't find such > a one-time inclusion of "databricks" to be truly offensive to any > non-technical policy concern -- certainly not offensive to the point > that it outweighs the user advantage of including the migration logic > in Spark 4.0.x. > > In summary, I do not find Dongjoon's given technical justification to > be valid relative to the Apache requirements for a veto of a code > change, so I must vote... > > +1 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@spark.apache.org
