This is excellent news and a good proposal. I'm a Jena user myself and would like to volunteer as a mentor for the new podling, if an additional hand is needed.
- Dave On Monday, November 8, 2010, Ross Gardler <rgard...@apache.org> wrote: > I am pleased to offer, for your consideration, the following proposal to > accept Jena, a semantic web framework into the incubator. The text of the > proposal is copied here for your convenience and can be found at > http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/JenaProposal > > We currently have two mentors so we're looking for at least one more. > > Note that there is already an overlapping discussion about interaction > between this and other semantic web projects in the incubator. As champion of > this proposal I have recommended that the Jena team participate in this > discussion. I'm not able to speak for the Jena committers, but I am keen to > see *appropriate* sharing of code between projects. > > However, I don't believe that this should be forced upon the three projects > as part of their incubation. Such collaboration should emerge through > community engagement, with mentor guidance, rather than through incubator > conditions of entry or graduation. > > Comments and volunteers welcome. > > Now for the proposal: > > = Jena, a Semantic Web Framework = > == Abstract == > Jena is a semantic web framework for Java, based on W3C standards. > > == Proposal == > Jena provides a semantic web framework in Java that implements the key W3C > recommendations for the core semantic web technologies of RDF and SPARQL. > Jena is a number of components and modules built on this core system. It > currently includes: > > * an API for working with RDF > * Parsers and writers for the RDF formats (RDF/XML, Turtle, N-triples, > NQuads, TriG) > * an implementation of SPARQL, the W3C standard RDF query language > * multiple storage systems for RDF data including in-memory, file-backed, in > SQL databases and in custom scalable storage systems > * an API for manipulation of OWL > * a rule-based inference engine > * an implementation of GRDDL for extraction of RDF from XML formats > * a standards compliant IRI library. > > The project includes facilities based around this core to encourage the > creation of components and contributions both as part of Jena and also as > companion open source activities. > > This proposal includes the main components of Jena: the main Jena download, > ARQ, GRDDL, SDB, TDB, the IRI library and Joseki. Other components may be > contributed later - we're just starting with the main part of Jena for now. > > == Background == > The W3C recommendations provide detailed specifications and it is important > to follow these standards so that independently built applications can > exchange data over the web. Jena provides high quality Java implementations > of RDF input/output and storage so that application writers can concentrate > on the application, not the low-level details. > > W3C Semantic Web: http://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/ > > Jena has been on !SourceForge since 2001. > http://sourceforge.net/projects/jena/ > > == Rationale == > The open source project was originally created as part of a research activity > in HPLabs. In building new systems, the researchers identified the value of > a common platform that dealt with the low level details of the standards. > This lead to engagement with the standards process and the creation of a > framework that provided a library to deal with the details of semantic web > standards. This work was released as Jena. The developers have contributed > implementation experience back to the working groups. > > None of the contributors now work for HP. Providing a uniform contributor > and licensing framework assists commercial use of Jena. > > == Current Status == > Jena is already an established project with a large user base in industry and > academia. It currently uses a BSD-style three-clause license with a number > of contributing copyright holders. Support is primarily provided via the > jena-...@groups.yahoo.com mailing list. The majority of the team was employed > in HPLabs, and HP holds the majority of the copyright over the code - there > are contributions from non-HP companies. HP decided to close the research > group as of October 2009 and the people from HPLabs connected with the > project have moved on to several different semantic web companies. > > This change does not immediately affect Jena because the people who were in > HP still remain active contributors to Jena. The project continues to be > supported and actively enhanced. There is now the opportunity to become an > open source project without a single large organisation involved. > > === Meritocracy === > The Jena team has always been self-determining; there has not been a project > manager in charge of the effort. Instead, it has grown through individuals > contributing to the codebase as part of their research activities. The team > has organised itself to create the framework for builds, releases and public > support, and people who had worked on Jena in HP, and moved to other > companies and institutions, have continued to contribute. > > === Core developers === > > Jena originated within a research activity in HPLabs, starting around 2000. > Contributors to jena have been active in W3C working groups including > chairing the "RDF Core" working group and acting as document editors on > several other working groups. W3C processes are public; jena contributors > have been involved in public debate and decision making. People have since > moved on from HP to several semantic web forced companies and to university > positions. > > === Alignment === > Jena is already in use in many commercial systems as well as widely used in > academic research and teaching. We want to continue making this easy and at > the same time encourage contribution in a well-known environment. > > Jena is already pretty much run in a collaborative open development style > with communication on mailing lists. > > == Known Risks == > === Orphaned products & Reliance on Salaried Developers === > Jena is in use by companies we work for so the companies have an interest in > its continued vitality. > > The Jena team members are not employed to work on Jena specifically; while > there is some development as part of their day-jobs, the team members do also > contribute personal time as well. > > === Inexperience with Open Source === > While Jena has been open-source since 2001, the majority of individuals > involved do not have wide experience of contributing to other open source > projects, so the team members need to develop more skills in participating in > open-source communities. > > === Relationships with Other Apache Products === > Jena uses Xerces, Lucene, Apache Commons HttpClient and Apache Commons > FileUpload. > > Jena is used by Clerezza (in incubation). > > === A Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand === > Jena has an established community of users and is used in both academic and > commercial settings. The Apache environment offers Jena the opportunity to > expand the ways that more people can be involved and contribute, and hence to > ensure the project is not dependent on the current members. We hope that > association with Apache will also encourage other open source projects that > use Jena to help develop a healthy and vibrant semantic web open source > ecosystem. > > Apache offers us a clear licensing framework and support infrastructure which > would reassure the many users of Jena who exploit it in commercial > environments as well as those in other open source projects. > > == Documentation == > Overview documentation, tutorials, topic-based how-tos and detailed !JavaDoc > can be found at http://openjena.org/ > > == Initial Source == > The majority of the current codebase resides in the Jena project CVS/SVN on > !SourceForge. Joseki is also on !SourceForge; we later decided to put all > projects under one SF project so this is a historical anomaly. The modules in > the initial source are: > > * [[http://jena.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/jena/|Jena CVS area on > SourceForge]] > * jena2 (the core system, include RDF, rules and OWL subsystems) > * iri (the IRI library) > * Eyeball and !EyeballAcceptance (a checker for RDF) > * [[http://jena.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/jena/|Jena SVN area on > SourceForge]] > * ARQ (SPARQL query and update engine) > * Fuseki (SPARQL server) > * grddl (GRDDL implementation for Jena) > * SDB (SQL database layer for Jena) > * TDB (customer storage layer for Jena) > * Ymris (experimental rules engine) > * Experimental/Jena3 (experiment reorganisation of jena) > * [[http://joseki.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/joseki/Joseki3/|Joseki CVS area > on SourceForge]] > * Joseki3 module. > > == Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan == > > We are in discussions with HP, the largest copyright holder, about licensing > to Apache and currently HP has indicated that it is willing to do so in > principle. > > == External Dependencies == > Details of license of components used by Jena are available at: > http://openjena.org/Licenses/index.html > > The Jena GRDDL Reader has some additional dependencies: > http://jena.sourceforge.net/grddl/license.html > > We are heavily dependent on Xerces for both parsing and also for XML datatype > support. > > == Cryptography == > No specific cryptography. > > == Required Resources == > Mailing lists > > * jena-private (with moderated subscriptions) > * jena-dev > * jena-commits > * jena-user > > Subversion Directory > > * jena > > Issue Tracking > > * JIRA > > Other Resources > > * Hudson > > == Initial Committers == > > The intial committers are the currently active developers for Jena. > > * Chris Dollin > * Paolo Castagna > * Damian Steer > * Jeremy Carroll > * Ian Dickinson > * Dave Reynolds > * Andy Seaborne > > == Affiliations == > > * Epimorphics Ltd: Dave Reynolds, Ian Dickinson, Chris Dollin, Andy Seaborne > * Talis Systems Ltd: Paolo Castagna > * University of Bristol: Damian Steer > * Top``Quadrant Inc: Jeremy Carroll > > == Sponsors == > === Champion === > Ross Gardler (rgardler .at. apache.org > > === Nominated Mentors === > * Bertrand Delacretaz bdelacretaz .at. apache.org > * Leo Simons leosimons .at. apache.org > > === Sponsoring Entity === > Incubator PMC > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org
