momentary issue or concern -- though a more general concern about how Apache should evolve.
I personally think that the complex human emotions is important evolutionary mechanism. The machine or math can't. On Monday, 16 November 2015, Marko Rodriguez <okramma...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I was talking with Daniel Gruno and wrote the following ideas to him. Note > that these are just ideas and not based on any real momentary issue or > concern -- though a more general concern about how Apache should evolve. > > Apache should NOT use a binary "podling" / "top-level" model. All projects > should simply have a "health score" and that health score is derived from > measurables. Because of Apache Infrastructure's centralized server model > (email lists, version control, distributions, homepages, etc.), it has the > ability to gather metrics such as, for example, the distribution of pushes > to the repository, the branch factor of the mailing list, the centrality of > the project in the Central Maven repository dependency graph, the number of > non-sequisters (dead-end conversations) in the email chain, the length of > discussions in JIRA, etc. etc. Which metrics are important? Who care -- > just make up things to glean from the wealth of information you already > have access to. Watch... > > Next, the Apache members subjectively say which projects they think are > "good" (healthy). This can even be a global vote including everyone in the > world and (should be) dynamic over time as projects evolve with time. > Either way, lets say, the ranking says Apache Hadoop, Apache Solr, Apache > Commons, etc. are the (collective subjective's) "best" Apache projects. > Now, there should exist a multi-dimensional projection of the > aforementioned gleaned statistics what will have Hadoop, Solr, Commons, > etc. close to one another in metric-space (clustered). Likewise, low > ranking projects should be close to one another in this space and far from > Hadoop, Solr, Commons, etc. Find that projection and that is your "healthy > metric space." > > From here, all Apache projects have a computed "healthy" score(s) and when > users go to download, lets say, Lucene, they go: "Cool. This is a healthy > project." (it has a HEALTH.txt file distributed with it, lets say). What > that means is that Lucene, at that release was in the "healthy" cluster of > the metric space. This model has various benefits: > > 1. There is no need to have philosophical arguments (not grounded > in measurables) about what rules a project should follow (bounded by law). > - Perhaps a project that is exclusive, but is X is still > in the "healthy" subspace. > - Perhaps having bad documentation is a "unhealthy" even > though Apache doesn't care about documentation. > - Perhaps too much discussion causes a project to become > "unhealthy." > - Perhaps … who knows? … let the statistics do the talking. > - Apache becomes a breeding ground for different models > of open source (bounded by law), not just "The Apache Way." > - And these models are measurable! Let us study > the act of open source. > 2. "Top-level" projects can fall from grace. > - Currently, all "top-level" projects are "equal." This > should by dynamic as the mighty do fall. > - It is possible for what are now "podlings" to be > "healthy" as they simply are coming into Apache. > - "The student is the master." > - Hadoop 1.2.1 might be the healthiest version of Hadoop > (as I tend to believe). "Hadoop" is not a thing eternal. > 3. Less work for people. > - No more VOTEing on graduation. > - No more amorphous aesthetic arguments about "The Apache > Way." > - No more long winded contradictory documentation about > how things should be done (bounded by law). > > The Apache Way should be about metrics, not about philosophy as different > paths lead to the same mountain top <--- See! Is that random Buddhist > saying that everyone just "believes" even true? :) Get the human out of the > loop! > > Thanks for reading, > Marko. > > http://markorodriguez.com > > P.S. The same should hold true for educational degrees. I graduate and now > forever I'm an expert in computers? Medical doctors too! A 90 year old > doctor can do surgery on me?!?!… Binary graduation is not "real." Metrics, > metrics, metrics --- we live in a world where this is possible. For every > "thing" good comes and goes, up and down… -- Best Regards, Edward J. Yoon
