On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 10:47 AM, Alex Harui <aha...@adobe.com> wrote: > I still think that having a "Release Auditor" role provides backup for > getting incubator releases out without having folks have to be on the IPMC > to approve the legal aspects of a release. Just like any ASF Member can > backup busy PMC Chairs for some actions, any TLP PMC member should be able > to backup a busy IPMC member for release auditing.
Speaking as someone who would presumably be suitable for this "Release Auditor" role, I'm opposed to the idea -- and not just because I don't want to get stuck doing all the dirty work. People who sign up to Mentor a podling should expect to vote on releases -- especially the first. The Incubator PMC tasks Mentors with overseeing the IP clearance processes. A Mentor who votes +1 on the first incubating release is implicitly affirming that IP clearance was done properly -- because that was their assignment, and if something had gone awry they would surely not vote to release. A +1 vote from a "Release Auditor" who did not participate in IP clearance is much less meaningful: all it tells you is that whatever superficial inspection they performed on the finished product did not reveal any defects. If some committer mistakenly attaches an ALv2 header to a file that shouldn't have one, a "Release Auditor" won't find that. To catch such problems, you need someone monitoring the the dev and commits lists: possibly a Mentor, ideally a project contributor. The most meaningful +1 votes are those cast by enlightened core contributors, because they speak from deep knowledge of the code base and its history. IP stewardship is a continuous process, and the Incubator's goal should be to graduate communities with the motivation and expertise to attend to it over the long term -- not to certify code. Marvin Humphrey --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org
