[ANN] Avalon Closed

The Apache Software Foundation Board passed the following resolution 
closing Avalon during the 2004 ApacheCon:

    WHEREAS, the Board of Directors deems it no longer in the best
    interest of the Foundation to continue the Apache Avalon project
    due to the separation of the community into new projects

    WHEREAS, the Avalon PMC is unable to further fulfill the
    responsibilities of creation, maintenance, and support of the
    Avalon software

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Apache Avalon Project is
    hereby terminated; and be it further

    RESOLVED, that the Excalibur PMC be and hereby is tasked with
    maintenance of the Avalon framework software; and be it further

    RESOLVED, that the Apache Avalon PMC be and hereby is no longer
    responsible for the creation and maintenance of software related to
    component and service management, based on software licensed to the
    Foundation; and be it further

    RESOLVED, that the office of "Vice President, Apache Avalon" is
    hereby terminated; and be it further

    RESOLVED, that the Apache Avalon PMC is hereby terminated.


What does this mean?
--------------------

Avalon is now officially closed.  We will be working with the Apache 
Infrastructure team to close all Avalon resources over the next few 
days.  The mailing lists archives will remain available; the SVN and CVS 
repositories will become read only; the currently distributed software 
will remain available via distribution mirrors; the site will be 
reconstructed to present a "closure" message and appropriate redirects.

Example closure message:

    http://avalon.apache.org/closed.html


Where will I get support/code/updates for Avalon?
-------------------------------------------------

As previously announced, Avalon Framework, LogKit, and Cornerstone have 
been moved to Apache Excalibur (http://excalibur.apache.org) along with 
the original ECM and Fortress code.  The Excalibur team includes many 
experienced Avalon developers and support questions should be directed 
there.

Forks of Phoenix and Merlin have started at Codehaus Loom and DPML Metro 
respectively.  Users of those software packages are encouraged to 
investigate these projects.

I strongly urge all subscribers of these Avalon mailing lists to 
subscribe to the mailing lists of one or more of the projects mentioned 
above:

   Excalibur Mailing Lists:
      http://excalibur.apache.org/mail-lists.html

   DPML Mailing Lists:
      http://www.dpml.net/central/about/resources/lists.html

   Codehaus Loom Mailing Lists:
      http://loom.codehaus.org/Mailing+lists



For more information about the Avalon closure, please review the October 
24 announcement:

   http://www.mail-archive.com/users%40avalon.apache.org/msg05033.html

I have also attached the October 2004 Avalon PMC report below.



On a personal note, I want to thank all the developers and users who 
have made this experiment and community happen.  I look forward to 
working with many of you in the new projects forming from Avalon.  Thank 
you.

J Aaron Farr
Apache Avalon PMC Chair






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Avalon PMC Report: October 2004

In response to the Board's comments and recommendations of 23 Sept 2004:

"The Board hereby requests that the Avalon PMC step up and properly
manage the Avalon framework. Support your existing users of that
framework, including the other projects at the ASF."

The Avalon PMC, in its current condition, is not capable of complying
with this request.  Consequently, the PMC is working with the Excalibur
project to transfer the Avalon framework code and other Avalon
utilities (LogKit and Cornerstone) to Excalibur which has shown a
willingness and capacity to perform such support.

With respect to the Merlin TLP, the proposals have been withdrawn.
The Merlin developers have decided to not further seek TLP status in
the ASF but rather create a fork of Merlin dubbed Metro to be hosted at
DPML.net [1].

Seeing as the development of existing software under Avalon now has or
will soon have new hosts, we recommend to the Board the Avalon project
be closed.  With that in mind, the following points should be noted:

   1. The Apache James project currently uses Avalon Phoenix which has
      not been under active development or support for some time.
      There is a fork of Phoenix at Codehaus.org called Loom.  A
      support solution for James (either hosting Phoenix itself or
      migrating to Loom) should be found before Avalon's closure.

   2. The Metro fork has been announced but is not yet active.  We
      would prefer that Avalon not be closed until the fork is active
      and Merlin users have been notified.

   3. The transfer of code between Avalon and Excalibur has not yet
      taken place, though positive votes on the matter have occurred in
      both projects.

   4. We have not yet determined what site resources if any should remain
      available following Avalon's closure.  An example "closed" Avalon
      site is at http://www.apache.org/~farra/avalon .  We are unaware
      of any policy or precedent we should turn to for this decision.

Consequently, we ask the Board give the Avalon PMC until the next
Board meeting (14 November 2004) to handle the points above before
official closure of the project.  At that time, the Avalon project
resources (site, svn repository, mailing lists, wiki, jira, ...) can
be deactivated or made read-only by the infrastructure group.

We appreciate the patience and support of the Board on this matter.

Thank you.
J Aaron Farr

[1] http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=avalon-dev&m=109782104731231&w=2