On 3/16/07, Craig McClanahan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The policy I'm most concerned with in this thread is whether incubating project releases are "official" Apache releases, that provide the ASF legal protections to the authors, and assurances to the downstream users that ASF has done its usual vetting of these releases. If we indeed want that to be the result, then sure ... get rid of the incubating repository, get rid of the restrictions on posting incubating releases to the central repository, and so on. But also get rid of all the other useless crap (requiring "incubating" in version numbers etc.) that does not accomplish anything useful in this scenario.
Though incubating would also indicate that the/a community is still not mature, and that the project may well not graduate and become ASF. The fact that *a* release is vetted by the IPMC for any given podling suggests that the legalities are met, but not necessarily the other exit criteria for the podling. So from a legal point you are right IMO, but the label is still a good warning sign for downstream users.
Is everyone in ASF willing to be comfortable with the ASF stamp of approval on a project that might still be in the process of vetting code provenance, or still checking licenses, but chooses to do an incubating release anyway?
Given that the IPMC should/must withhold a podlings release when the legalities have not been met, I would feel comfortable. If a podling still can release under the incubator umbrella, without the IPMC's consent, I would not feel comfortable. A release under the incubator umbrella indicates that the code has been checked for any legal issues (provenance, 3rd party licenses, CLA's, grants). It must meet the legal standards set by the ASF. If not, then the podling should not be able to release using the incubator brand. The incubator process for podlings is more than just taking care of the legalities: it should also foster a community that works in the Apache way (tm). Therefore the incubating label is still needed. Martijn -- Learn Wicket at ApacheCon Europe: http://apachecon.com Join the wicket community at irc.freenode.net: ##wicket Wicket 1.2.5 will keep your server alive. Download Wicket now! http://wicketframework.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
