Perhaps during ATO we can hack on the ICLA process. There was an attempt a couple of years ago but it stalled.
1. It is time consuming for committers to print, sign, scan, and email the form. Not every committer has legible handwriting and it can be a challenge to read the forms. Digital forms are much better to handle. 2. PMCs don't always follow the guidelines at http://community.apache.org/newcommitter.html with the effect that when the prospective committer files the ICLA, one or more of the following are missing or wrong: committer id project [VOTE][RESULT] If there is a failure here, it is time consuming to sort who does what, how, and when. New committers get a bad impression of Apache when there is a delay in processing their new account. 3. Last name first name are still issues. What is Kim Jung Un's first name? 4. Email addresses on the form that differ from the sender's address are a challenge. They need to be entered manually. I envision a process whereby the PMC invites a candidate to fill an online form, which generates a digital document, signed by gpg, and which sends mail to verify the email address. When the email address is verified, secretary gets mail to review the filed document which is then processed as today but with nothing to do but verify the document and file it. Secretary hates typing. I remain leery of processes that allow users to "agree to the terms and conditions of a document that you might choose to read" and then grant commit privileges. Provenance is still a key legal issue for me. Craig L Russell Secretary, Apache Software Foundation c...@apache.org http://db.apache.org/jdo
