+1 from me, of course
On 17/11/2010 13:10, Ross Gardler wrote:
Please vote on the acceptance of JENA into the incubator. The proposal
can be found at http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/JenaProposal and is
copied below.
[ ] +1 Accept Jena for incubation
[ ] +0 Don't care
[ ] -1 Reject for the following reason:
The vote is open for at least 72 hours.
Thanks,
Ross
= 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.
The initial committers overtake to resolve all IP and copyright issues
that concern the dependencies of the initial source and of any
contributions in accordance with Apache requirements for graduating from
incubator status.
All contributions to the Jena codebase are under BSD-style license. The
majority of copyright is held by HP. Some copyright is held by others,
as noted in the codebase. This includes contributions from the initial
committers below and any other contributions.
== 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
* TopQuadrant 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)
* Dave Johnson (snoopdave .at. gmail.com)
* Benson Margulies (bimargulies .at. gmail.com)
=== Sponsoring Entity ===
Incubator PMC
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