--- Niall Pemberton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> On 3/7/07, Matt Benson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
[PARAPHRASED: a bunch of stuff about
morph.sourceforge.net coming into the ASF, potentially
under the Jakarta umbrella]
[SNIP]
> 
> As others have said ASF policy is for externally
> developed codebases
> to go through incubation. AFAIK though there are two
> possible routes -
> the "full incubation" route, or a "short form" to
> bring code straight
> into an existing project. This is what Commons Math
> did recently with
> the Mantissa contribution:
> 
> http://incubator.apache.org/ip-clearance/index.html
> 
> Whether this is appropriate for Morph is another
> question. As a
> general observation (and occasional BeanUtils
> committer) it seems to
> me that many of these types of libraries such as
> Commons BeanUtils[1],
> OGNL[2], Commons JEXL[3], Commons EL[4], Commons
> Convert[5] fail to
> attract a developer community larger than 1 or 2 and
> as such are
> always precariously only ever one step away from
> being inactive
> projects. Morph with 2 developers faces a similar
> challenge. Now maybe
> if you go for "full incubation" you'll attract a
> large enough
> community to prove this wrong and go TLP. I have to
> say I think its
> doubtful - since IMO these kind of libraries people
> want to use - but
> not work on. Jakarta Commons seems to have overcome
> to a certain
> extent the problem of getting 3 votes on projects
> with only 1 or 2
> developers - with developers from other components
> "pitching in" to
> help get releases out.
> 
> If you feel that Morph has a reasonable chance by
> going the "full
> incubation" route (and by that I mean meeting the
> "community" exit
> criteria) then most of the above is irrelevant. If
> you don't think it
> does then maybe the "short form" route into
> somewhere like Commons is
> worth exploring.

In the light you put it, the "big project composed of
smaller components" structure of the commons does
sound like a good safety net for all these
library-style components.  Maybe you're right that
most developers don't like building relatively small
but essential utility code (I can't imagine why not;
it takes all kinds I guess).  Anyway, this short form
route, of which I was unaware, does indeed sound like
a worthwhile avenue of inquiry.  Also, this seems to
be the same thing Danny Angus said later--thanks
Danny!

> 
> One last point - the "short form" is just about code
> (not
> developers/community) - but with the Math Mantissa
> contribution Luc
> (the author) was voted in shortly after the code.
> I'm sure if Commons
> accepted Morph, then they would be equally keen to
> see Matt join as
> well to continue work on it.

I assume you were referring to "the other Matt": 
Sgarlata, as I myself am a (recently added) Jakarta
committer... but wanted to clarify for the benefit of
our readers... ;)

So to recap, ASF policy allows for the import of
externally developed code into an existing project (in
contrast with accepting a codebase as a full-fledged
project for incubation).  As Jakarta is a
project-with-subprojects, the IP clearance policy in
question is somewhat of a back door:  the imported
code may (or may not) remain self-sufficient (as can
any Jakarta subproject) but technically falls under
this policy.  I suppose this would apply doubly for a
prospective commons component as it would be
considered a subproject of the commons subproject of
the Jakarta TLP.  I don't believe I am exposing any
secret loophole here:  I would think it would be
expected that a PMC operate however it sees fit within
the limits of ASF policy.

The above can be considered a test of my grasp of this
policy; as such confirmation, contradiction, or
clarification is welcome.

With all that said, this, again, does sound like a
possibly more promising line of investigation than
full-on incubation.  But what's next?  :o

br,
Matt

> 
> Niall
> 
> [1] http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/beanutils/
> [2] http://www.opensymphony.com/ognl/
> [3] http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/jexl/
> [4] http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/el/
> [5]
> http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/sandbox/convert/
> 
> > br,
> > Matt
> >
> > >
> > > Niall
> > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Matt
> 
>
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