+1, I'll repeat one a little my previous mail and say "patches welcome" (as 
long as they keep the document simple - remember, it's a signpost document not 
a discussion or detail document - the discussion/detail documents should be 
linked from this one).

"http://community.apache.org/projectIndependence.html this document starts with 
"While not all aspects of the Apache Way are practiced the same way by all 
projects at the ASF, there are a number of rules and policies that Apache 
projects are required to follow – things like complying with PMC release 
voting, legal policy, brand policy, using mailing lists, etc., which are 
documented in various places." (note the second sentence has 5 links, the rest 
of the document has some explanatory text and copious links)."

Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc.
A subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation

-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Cutting [mailto:cutt...@apache.org] 
Sent: Friday, January 9, 2015 9:05 AM
To: general@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: What is "The Apache Way"?

On Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 8:12 AM, Benson Margulies <bimargul...@gmail.com> wrote:
> So, either a lot of us are really stupid, or the Foundation as a whole 
> has a gap between the general principles and their application. No, we 
> can't have a rule book that details every particle of how to run an 
> Apache project, but apparently we could have  more concrete guidance.

The gap definitely exists.  What often leads to confusion is when folks think 
there's no gap, that everything is clear-cut and certain, when it's not.  
Different Apache projects are permitted to operate differently, and the 
ill-defined line of what's acceptable moves over time.  This is not entirely 
bad.  Fixed practices are hard to change, but the open-source software world 
changes rapidly.  So maintaining some flexibility is important.

What we should try to do are document acceptable practices, those ways of 
operating that are common in many projects and have worked well.
There may be multiple acceptable practices in a given area (e.g., CTR & RTC).  
Projects that diverge from these might still be acceptable, but they might also 
run into problems and should proceed with caution.
Some might tell them that they "don't get the Apache Way", which is 
distressing, but, at the end of the day, so long as the board doesn't vote to 
evict them from the foundation, they're part of the Apache Way.  The board 
doesn't generally act without good notice.  Generally things escalate from 
folks griping, to the board agreeing to monitor and advise a project, to the 
board giving an ultimatum for a specific practice to stop, to the board finally 
taking some action.

Doug

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