This proposal seeks to create a project within the Apache Software
Foundation to continue the development and advancement of Jini
technology. It has broad backing from the Jini Community, and
includes core developers from Sun Microsystems (original developer
of the technology) as well as Community technical leaders.
Thank you for your consideration.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
JiniProposal
*Proposal for new project Jini*
19 June 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
(0) rationale
Jini technology is a service oriented architecture that defines a
programming
model which both exploits and extends Java technology to enable the
construction
of secure, distributed systems consisting of federations of services and
clients. Jini technology can be used to build adaptive network
systems that are
scalable, evolvable and flexible as typically required in dynamic
computing
environments.
Quoting from The Jini Specifications <http://java.sun.com/docs/books/
jini/spec/>
book:
"Jini technology is a simple infrastructure for providing services
in a
network, and for creating spontaneous interactions between
programs that
use these services. Services can join or leave the network in a
robust
fashion, and clients can rely upon the availability of visible
services,
or at least upon clear failure conditions. When you interact with
a service,
you do so through a Java object provided by that service. This
object is
downloaded into your program so that you can talk to the service
even if
you have never seen its kind before - the downloaded object knows
how to
do the talking. That's the whole system in a nutshell."
Sun Microsystems originally introduced the technology in January,
1999 by
providing a Jini Technology Starter Kit <http://starterkit.jini.org/
>. This
includes a contributed implementation of all of the specifications,
as well as
helpful utilities and tools. The source code was made available
through the Sun
Community Source License (SCSL) as an attempt to make the code widely
available
and accessible to both individuals and companies. Sun has continued
to innovate
throughout the years, releasing many versions of the starter kit. The
license
associated with the starter kit was changed
<http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0503&L=jini-
users&O=A&P=36217>
in March, 2005 to the Apache License, Version 2.0.
Since its beginning, there was desire and effort to form a developer
community
around the technology. This has helped to create an interesting,
active, and
passionate community - the Jini Community. This global Community has
engaged on
technology projects, discussions and debates, events, and a decision
making
process. It has contributed to, and helped influence the direction of
the
starter kit. Some of the collaborative technology projects have led
to key
contributions being used by other technology projects as well as
commercial
products. One example is the Service UI API <http://www.artima.com/
jini/serviceui/>,
which is a way to attach user interfaces to Jini services.
Despite the obvious successes of the technology and Community, some
changes are
in store as outlined in a recent note to the Community: "A New Day"
<http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0604&L=jini-
users&F=&S=&P=4029>.
The most critical part of the new plan is to find the right place for
the future
development and advancement of the core Jini technology. We wanted an
environment that was synergistic with our exisiting Community culture
-- so one
that is active, with open communication and collaboration, and a
reputation for
producing high quality software. We think we've found that place with
the Apache
Software Foundation.
(0.1) criteria
/Meritocracy:/
The Jini project will be meritocractic. The project will follow the
guidelines
<http://apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#meritocracy> of the
Apache
Software Foundation. In order to achieve this, we plan on proactively
recruiting
individuals in the Community to get involved in the project:
specifying work
that needs to be done, encouraging bug fixes, enhancements, and
advancements,
and engaging in discussion on how the code works and is structured.
In the end,
we are committed to creating an environment to foster a meritocracy.
/Community:/
There has been a diverse and active Community built around Jini
technology since
it was first introduced in January, 1999. The Jini Community consists
of a
global set of individuals, companies, non-profit organizations, and
universities. The Community has had a web center at Jini.org
<http://www.jini.org> (around 35K accounts, and over 100 projects)
and primarily
communicated through various email lists: jini-users
<http://archives.java.sun.com/archives/jini-users.html> (~1800
subscriptions),
javaspaces-users <http://archives.java.sun.com/archives/javaspaces-
users.html>
(~950 subscriptions), and community discuss list
<http://community.jini.org/servlets/SummarizeList?listName=discuss>
(~200
subscriptions). There are a variety of events <http://www.jini.org/
events> (for
example, Jini Community Meetings, Webinars, etc) that the Community has
leveraged to share ideas and come together. There are also many
individuals in
the Community who have chosen to evangelize the technology at various
conferences, user groups, blogs, etc. In summary, while it isn't
quite the same
as running an open source community, we believe we've developed an
incredibly
strong base on which to build.
/Core Developers:/
Most of the initial core developers are key members of Sun's Jini
development, test,
and Community management team. The other three (non Sun) initial core
developers
are well recognized technology and thought leaders in the Jini
Community,
including giving presentations
<http://www.jini.org/nonav/meetings/eighth/J8abstracts.html#Brouwer>
at Jini
Community Meetings, and receiving the annual Jini Community
Contributor's Award
<http://www.jini.org/Contrib_Award/> in recognition of their
contributions to
the Community. There are a number of other strong developers in the
Community
interested and we expect will prove themselves worthy committers in
short order.
/Alignment:/
Jini is aligned well with Apache in terms of technologies and
licensing. It fits
in well technologically with other Apache projects, which also focus on
clustering, web frameworks, and Java technolgies. Also, the starter
kit build
framework is based on Ant. The license of the initial source being
proposed is
already aligned as it is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
(0.2) warning signs
/Orphaned products:/
The project being proposed is a natural evolution of the technology and
Community. Sun has shepherded both since 1999, and in recent years
the Jini
Community has been pressing to be more involved and empowered. Once
the license
for Jini technology was opened up and the Apache License, Version 2.0
was chosen
for Sun's contributions
<http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0503&L=jini-
users&O=A&P=36217>,
an open development model was the obvious next step. The response
from the Jini
Community on this direction has been very positive, with many
Community members
anxious to get active. This is a proposal we're making with a full
committment
to construct an active and successful project.
/Inexperience with open source:/
The initial committers have varying degrees of experience with open
source
projects. All have been involved with source code that has been
released under
an open source license, but there is limited experience developing
code with an
open source development process. We do not, however, expect any
difficulty in
executing under normal meritocracy rules.
/Homogenous developers:/
Since the Jini Technology Starter Kit has been mainly developed to
date by Sun
Microsystems, the vast majority of initial committers to the project
are from
Sun. Over the years, Sun has received bug fixes and enhancements from
other
developers which have been incorporated into the code. Our plan is to
work with
these other developers and add them as committers as we progress.
There are
three other initial committers (non Sun): Bill Venners, Dan Creswell,
and Mark
Brouwer. Bill is the lead of the Service UI API work, Dan has been
involved with
much Jini-based development, including an implementation of the
JavaSpaces
service called Blitz <http://www.dancres.org/blitz/>, and Mark is
veteran of
much Jini-based development, including commercial work at Virgil
<http://www.virgil.nl> as well as leading the open source Cheiron
<http://www.cheiron.org> project.
/Reliance on salaried developers:/
It is expected that Jini development will occur on both salaried time
and on
volunteer time, after hours. While there is reliance on salaried
developers
(currently from Sun, but it's expected that other company's salaried
developers
will also be involved), the Jini Community is very active and things
should
balance out fairly quickly. In the meantime, Sun will support the
project in the
future by dedicating 'work time' to Jini, so that there is a smooth
transition.
/No ties to other Apache products:/
Currently the only tie to Apache projects is the starter kit's use of
the Ant
build tool. There are potential future ties (http server, database
backend, etc)
that will be explored.
/A fascination with the Apache brand:/
Many of us have been working on advancing Jini technology and
developing the
Jini Community for many years. We care deeply about it and want the
technology
and Commutity to continue to flourish. As we considered options for
where/how to
move Jini technology to an open source development model, our respect
and
admiration for the work done by the Apache Software Foundation drove
us to
choose this as our best option. As a Java-based infrastructure for
building
systems, Jini fits in well with the other projects at Apache, and the
Community
we've built shares many philosophies (open communication, fairness,
diversity,
etc). We believe there are strong synergies here.
(1) scope of the project
The scope of the Jini project would be the continued development of Jini
technology core infrastructure software, including the implementation
of Jini
specifications, related utilities and tools. The development would
include
adding new features and improving performance, scalability, quality, and
extensibility.
(2) identify the initial source from which the project is to be
populated
The initial resources would be garnered from:
* Jini Technology Starter Kit
<http://starterkit.jini.org/downloads/2.1/> project on Jini.org,
* Service UI implementation
<http://www.artima.com/jini/serviceui/CodeAccess.html> from
Artima.com,
* QATests <http://qatests.jini.org> project on Jini.org
(3) identify the ASF resources to be created
(3.1) mailing list(s)
* jini-ppmc (with moderated subscriptions)
* jini-dev
* jini-commits
* jini-user
(3.2) Subversion or CVS repositories
Jini would like to use a Subversion repository.
(3.3) Jira (issue tracking)
Since Jini would have its own release cycle, it should have its own
JIRA project
* Project Name: Jini
* Project Key: Jini
(4) identify the initial set of committers
* Dan Creswell ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Bill Venners ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Mark Brouwer ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Geir Magnusson Jr ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Bob Scheifler ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Jim Waldo ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* John McClain ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Brian Murphy ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Peter Jones ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Juan Ramirez ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Frank Barnaby ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Nigel Daley ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Fred Oliver ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Robert Resendes ([EMAIL PROTECTED]
* Vinod Johnson ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Ron Mann ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Jim Hurley ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
(5) identify apache sponsoring individual
* Champion
- Geir Magnusson Jr.
* Mentors
- Geir Magnusson Jr.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
/last edited 2006-06-19 9:27:33 by Jim Hurley/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
