Hi All, +1
On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 9:24 PM, <general-digest-h...@incubator.apache.org>wrote: > > On 09/30/2013 09:27 PM, Dave wrote: > >> I would like to call for a new vote on Usergrid, a multi-tenant >> Backend-as-a-Service stack for web & mobile applications based on RESTful >> APIs, as an Apache Incubator podling. >> >> The original proposal has been revised to name Dave Johnson as the >> Champion >> and to bring Jim Jagielski back in as a Mentor and to add John Lewis >> Mcgibbney as a Mentor. I also add some text to the Initial Committers >> section and a new Interested Contributors section to list those who have >> expressed interest in contributing. >> >> Here is a link to the revised proposal: >> >> https://wiki.apache.org/**incubator/UsergridProposal<https://wiki.apache.org/incubator/UsergridProposal> >> >> It is also pasted below: >> >> >> = Usergrid Proposal = >> >> == Abstract == >> >> Usergrid is a multi-tenant Backend-as-a-Service stack for web & mobile >> applications, based on RESTful APIs. >> >> >> == Proposal == >> >> Usergrid is an open-source Backend-as-a-Service (“BaaS” or “mBaaS”) >> composed of an integrated distributed NoSQL database, application layer >> and >> client tier with SDKs for developers looking to rapidly build web and/or >> mobile applications. It provides elementary services (user registration & >> management, data storage, file storage, queues) and retrieval features >> (full text search, geolocation search, joins) to power common app >> features. >> >> It is a multi-tenant system designed for deployment to public cloud >> environments (such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, etc.) or to run on >> traditional server infrastructures so that anyone can run their own >> private >> BaaS deployment. >> >> For architects and back-end teams, it aims to provide a distributed, >> easily >> extendable, operationally predictable and highly scalable solution. >> For front-end developers, it aims to simplify the development process by >> enabling them to rapidly build and operate mobile and web applications >> without requiring backend expertise. >> >> >> == Background == >> >> Developing web or mobile applications obviously necessitates writing and >> maintaining more than just front-end code. Even simple applications can >> implicitly rely on server code being run to store users, perform database >> queries, serve images and video files, etc. Developing and maintaining >> such >> backend services requires skills not always available or expected of app >> development teams. Beyond that, the proliferation of apps inside of >> companies leads to the creation of many different, ad-hoc, unequally >> maintained backend solutions created by employees and contractors alike >> and >> hosted on a wide variety of environments. This is causing poor resource >> usage, operational issues, as well as security, privacy & compliance >> concerns. >> >> In response to this problem, companies have long tried to standardize >> their >> server-side stack or unify them behind an ESB or API strategy. >> Backends-as-a-Service follow a similar approach but their unique >> characteristic is strongly tying 1) a persistence tier (typically a >> database), 2) a server-side application tier delivering a set of common >> services and 3) a set of client-side application interface mechanisms. For >> example, a BaaS could package 1) MongoDB with 2) a node.js application >> that >> offers access through 3) WebSockets. In the case of Usergrid, the trifecta >> is 1) Cassandra, 2) Java + Jersey and 3) a RESTful API. >> >> The Backend-as-a-Service approach has steadily gained popularity in the >> last few years with cloud providers such Parse.com, Stackmob.com and >> Kinvey.com, each operating tens of thousands of apps for tens of thousands >> of developers. The trend has already reached large organizations as well, >> with global companies such as Korea Telecom internally building a >> privately-run BaaS platform. But so far, there have been limited options >> for developers that want a non-proprietary, open option for hosting and >> providing these services themselves, or for enterprise and government >> users >> who want to provide these capabilities from their own data centers, >> especially on a very large scale. >> >> >> == Rationale == >> >> The issue this proposal deals with is implicit in the name. >> Backend-as-a-Service platforms are usually offered solely as proprietary >> cloud services. They are typically closed sourced, hosted on public >> clouds, >> and require subscription payment. Usergrid opens the playing field, by >> making a fully-featured BaaS platform freely available to all. This >> includes developers that previously could not afford them, such as mobile >> enthusiasts, small boutiques, and cost-sensitive startups. This also >> includes large companies that benefit from a reference implementation they >> can deploy in trust, or extend to their needs without losing time writing >> less-vetted, less-performant boilerplate functionality. >> >> Usergrid has been open source since 2011 and has grown as an independent >> project, garnering 11 primary committers, 35 total contributors, 260+ >> participants on its mailing list, with 3,700+ commits, 200+ external >> contributions, 350+ stars and 100+ forks on Github, not to mention several >> large scale production deployments at major global companies in the media, >> retail, telecommunication and government spaces. >> >> The Apache Software Foundation's "Way", by putting community before the >> code, will help Usergrid establish a vibrant, more diverse community to >> provide these features freely to downstream users. The incubation process >> will help build this community and clear out the cobwebs, while vetting >> the >> IP to provide a pristine ASLv2 licensed product to users. Under such >> conditions, our hope is that Usergrid will have a brighter future, and >> provide better assurances as an independent organic open source project, >> instead of continuing forward as a project sponsored by a handful of >> companies. >> >> >> == Initial Goals == >> >> We have no serious codebase concerns at the present moment. Besides >> vetting >> the IP by making sure the dependencies are Apache License 2.0 compatible, >> our main initial concern is to grow community and keep adding features to >> make Usergrid as robust as possible. However some logistics based goals >> include: >> >> * Move the existing code base to Apache >> * Integrate with the Apache development process >> * Ensure all dependencies are compliant with Apache License 2.0 >> * Set up open-source docs and website >> * Incremental development and releases per Apache Guidelines >> >> >> == Current Status == >> >> >> === Meritocracy === >> >> The project team's goals have always been to grow the community by >> encouraging contributors to participate. The project has grown steadily >> and >> smoothly from the efforts of the original creator and project founder (Ed >> Anuff) to a small circle of committers (at Apigee), to a distributed, >> multi-vendor community (Apigee and Korea Telecom) that also includes >> outside committers (Globo and others), as well as non-salaried committers. >> Together we discuss the project’s goals and roadmap openly, making drastic >> yet positive changes to the project's direction based on everyone's input. >> Our goal is to drive further community diversification in a way that only >> a >> foundation-sponsored project can achieve, rather than what a vendor-led >> project can accomplish. >> >> >> === Community === >> >> We have a public Google Group for support here: >> https://groups.google.com/**forum/?hl=en#!forum/usergrid<https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/usergrid>with >> over 250 active >> participants, 367 threads and new messages every day. Usergrid also has an >> active community on Github issues (with over 200 discussions): >> https://github.com/apigee/**usergrid-stack/issues?state=**all<https://github.com/apigee/usergrid-stack/issues?state=all>. >> Some of these >> users have contributed their open applications back to the community or >> have built their own new SDKs for Usergrid found here on Github: >> https://github.com/search?q=**usergrid&source=cc<https://github.com/search?q=usergrid&source=cc> >> . >> >> Expanding and nurturing the Usergrid community is our primary concern and >> one of the main reasons for the decision to apply for incubation. >> Usergrid >> has been developed openly on Github for many years and has enjoyed active >> developer participation by a committers from all over the globe. However, >> due to the disparate nature and wide variety of the Github repos that >> comprise the Usergrid project (the Usergrid-stack, 8 separate SDKs, the >> Admin Portal, and various samples), it has been challenging to grow a >> unified community. Bringing the entire project under the umbrella of >> Apache will promote a unification of the Usergrid community and enable all >> developers to collaborate on the project. >> >> >> === Core Developers === >> >> The core developers include Apache Committers, PMC Members, and Members of >> the ASF. The developers, some of whom have have been involved with the >> Apache Incubator and Apache Lucene as PMC members, are active mentors and >> have participated in and contributed to several projects: i.e. Apache, >> Lucene, Cassandra, Hibernate, Directory, Wicket, Commons, Roller, MINA, >> Karaf, Felix, Cloud Stack, HCatalog, and Commons projects. Many of them >> are >> also active in Open-source beyond code, and have positions on the >> committees or organization such as OSCON. >> >> >> === Alignment === >> >> The initial code base leverages several Apache Software Foundation >> products. Usergrid leverages Apache Cassandra for its scalable data store, >> and uses Maven for its build system. Almost half of Usergrid's >> dependencies >> are Apache dependencies: >> >> * Apache Cassandra >> * Apache Tomcat >> * Apache Commons >> * Apache ZooKeeper >> * Apache Shiro >> * Apache Amber >> * Apache Thrift >> * Apache ActiveMQ >> * Apache HttpClient >> * Apache Lucene >> * Apache JClouds >> >> Besides these direct alignments, Usergrid also complements Apache Cordova >> and could provide several advantages to the mobile application developer >> community they serve. >> >> >> == Known Risks == >> >> === Orphaned products === >> There are now at least two vendors running Usergrid in product. Apigee is >> an established startup with a large, diversified customer roster and Korea >> Telecom is a major, national telecommunications company. The continuity of >> Usergrid, as an open-source, vendor-independent product are in the >> interest >> of all parties. Beyond the vendors, Globo.com and many others large >> companies have been relying on Usergrid for critical applications and as >> such they are committed to contributing to the effort. >> >> >> === Inexperience with Open Source === >> >> The Usergrid project has been open source and under the ALv2 for 2 years >> on >> Github and many of its contributors came with previous open-source >> experience, (as referenced above), including active members of these >> communities: >> >> * Apache >> * Cassandra (& Hector) >> * Lucene >> * Hibernate >> * CouchDB >> * PhoneGap >> * jQuery >> >> Development in this open forum has resulted in a growing community of >> contributors, and the Usergrid project is now ready and eager to embrace >> and learn from Apache's wealth of experience. Usergrid would like to >> embrace an even greater culture of open participation as witnessed on so >> many Apache projects. >> >> >> === Homogenous Developers === >> >> The core development team for Usergrid is a geographically and >> technologically diverse group. Apigee’s team is itself distributed, with >> contributors based in each timezone in the continental US. Additional >> regular contributors have joined us from India, Asia, Oceania, South >> America, the Middle East and Europe. While roughly half of our core >> developers come from a Java background, the other half is comprised of >> iOS, >> Ruby, and JavaScript developers. >> >> >> === Reliance on Salaried Developers === >> >> Most of the principal developers are paid by their employers to >> contribute, >> but not all. Throughout the life of the project, we’ve seen passionate, >> personal commitment from all parties, as evidenced by our commit >> distribution on weekends ( >> https://github.com/apigee/**usergrid-stack/graphs/punch-**card<https://github.com/apigee/usergrid-stack/graphs/punch-card>). >> We also >> believe, given the growing interest in mobile API services and the range >> of >> individuals and corporations that are eager to participate, that >> non-salaried contributions will grow. We know the "The Apache Way" will >> help us further accelerate this process. >> >> >> === Relationships with Other Apache Products === >> >> There's much potential for collaboration with Apache Cordova and, of >> course, the Cassandra community because of the underlying foundations of >> Usergrid's scalability. In the future there may be more interactions with >> any of the communities that Usergrid has direct dependencies to. >> >> >> === A Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand === >> >> Although we are aware of the strength of the Apache brand, we are >> primarily >> interested in the transforming power of the Apache Way to help guide >> Usergrid towards a more diversified and meritocratic community. To that >> end, the brand's primary benefit for us is to help to attract more >> participants and diversify the community. Having several committers, PMC >> participants, and members of Apache as developers on Usergrid, there's >> little infatuation with the brand, and the Usergrid community is actively >> conscious of this not being a driver for joining the Apache community. >> >> >> == Documentation == >> >> Information on Usergrid can be found at: >> https://developers.apigee.com/**app-services<https://developers.apigee.com/app-services> >> . >> >> >> == Initial Source == >> >> All initial sources can be found here: https://github.com/usergrid >> >> >> == Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan == >> >> The IP transfer for Usergrid is trivial due to it's single source and >> existing ASLv2 licensing. >> >> >> == External Dependencies == >> >> Most dependencies are Apache compatible licenses (Category A). A small set >> of Category B licenses, like the CDDL exists. For more details please see >> Dependency Licenses. >> >> >> == Cryptography == >> >> Not relevant to Usergrid since all code dealing with cryptography already >> comes from the JDK or from dependencies on Apache Software. >> >> >> == Required Resources == >> >> >> === Mailing lists === >> >> * >> private@usergrid.incubator.**apache.org<priv...@usergrid.incubator.apache.org>(moderated) >> * dev@usergrid.incubator.apache.**org<d...@usergrid.incubator.apache.org> >> * >> commits@usergrid.incubator.**apache.org<comm...@usergrid.incubator.apache.org> >> >> >> === Subversion Directory === >> >> We prefer to use Git as our source control system: git:// >> git.apache.org/usergrid/. If possible, we would like to keep leveraging >> the >> extremely useful github facilities for workflow using a process much like >> that employed by the Apache Cordova project (documented here >> http://wiki.apache.org/**cordova/ContributorWorkflow<http://wiki.apache.org/cordova/ContributorWorkflow> >> ). >> >> >> === Issue Tracking === >> >> JIRA Usergrid (USERGRID) >> >> >> === Other Resources === >> None. >> >> >> == Initial Committers == >> >> Below are the initial committers for the project. This list will be used >> by >> the mentors to setup initial accounts. The podling will learn how to >> recruit additional committers during the incubation period and all >> interested contributors are encouraged to show up and start contributing >> once the podling has infrastructure in place. >> >> * Alberto Leal <albert...@gmail.com> (Globo.com) >> * Dave Johnson <snoopd...@apache.org> (Apigee) >> * Ed Anuff <e...@anuff.com> (Apigee) >> * Nate McCall <zznat...@gmail.com> (The Last Pickle) >> * Rod Simpson <r...@rodsimpson.com> (Apigee) >> * Scott Ganyo <scottga...@apache.org> (Apigee) >> * Shaozhuang Liu <st...@hibernate.org> (Easemob, Inc.) >> * Sungju Jin <sun...@softwaregeeks.org> (Korea Telecom) >> * Tim Anglade <timangl...@gmail.com> (Apigee) >> * Todd Nine <todd.n...@gmail.com> (Apigee) >> >> >> == Interested Contributors == >> >> Below are the people who have expressed interested in contributing to >> Usergrid via the Apache Software Foundation: >> * C.S.Nirmal J. Fernando <nirmal070...@gmail.com> (WSO2) >> * Dulitha Rasanga Wijewantha <dulit...@gmail.com> (WSO2) >> * Imesh Gunaratne <im...@apache.org> (WSO2) >> * Niranjan Karunanandham <niranjan.k...@gmail.com> (WSO2) >> >> >> == Affiliations == >> >> * Apigee >> * Easemob, Inc. >> * Korea Telecom >> * Globo.com >> * The Last Pickle >> >> >> == Sponsors == >> >> >> === Champion === >> >> * Dave Johnson <snoopd...@apache.org> >> >> >> === Nominated Mentors === >> >> * Jake Farrell <jfarr...@apache.org> >> * Jim Jagielski <j...@apache.org> >> * Dave Johnson <snoopd...@apache.org> >> * Lewis John Mcgibbney <lewis.mcgibb...@gmail.com> >> * Luciano Resende <lrese...@apache.org> >> >> >> === Sponsoring Entity === >> >> Incubator PMC >> >> >
