River -- 'in play'

Just fyi...  our Apache incubator project proposal
is now being voted on.

So far, the response and votes have been positive.

:-)

-Jim

Begin forwarded message:
> From: "Geir Magnusson Jr." <[email protected]>
> Date: December 20, 2006 10:46:18 PM EST
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [VOTE] Incubate new podling, "River" (nee Braintree,
> nee...,  nee Jini)
>
> It is with great relief and hope that I propose that the Apache
> Incubator PMC vote to incubate a new podling, to be known as
> "River". You may be familiar with this project as it has been
> discussed under other names, including Braintree and Jini.  I've
> actually lost track of the Quest for a Name, and actually feel very
> responsible for this naming mess, for which I apologize.
>
> Therefore, please vote on the proposal that follows :
>
> [ ] +1 Accept River as a new podling as described below
> [ ] -1 Do not accept the new podling (provide reason, please)
>
> The proposal can be found here :
>
>   http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/RiverProposal
>
> and is included below for archival purposes :
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  RiverProposal
>
> *Proposal for new project River*
>
> 8 December 2006
>
> (0) rationale
>
> Jini technology is a service oriented architecture that defines a
> programming model which both exploits and extends Java technology
> to enable the construction of secure, distributed systems
> consisting of federations of services and clients. Jini technology
> can be used to build adaptive network systems that are scalable,
> evolvable and flexible as typically required in dynamic computing
> environments.
>
> Quoting from The Jini Specifications (http://java.sun.com/docs/
> books/jini/spec/) book:
>
> "Jini technology is a simple infrastructure for providing services
> in a
> network, and for creating spontaneous interactions between programs
> that use these services. Services can join or leave the network in
> a robust fashion, and clients can rely upon the availability of
> visible services, or at least upon clear failure conditions. When
> you interact with a service, you do so through a Java object
> provided by that service. This object is downloaded into your
> program so that you can talk to the service even if you have never
> seen its kind before - the downloaded object knows how to do the
> talking. That's the whole system in a nutshell."
>
> Sun Microsystems originally introduced the technology in January,
> 1999 by providing a Jini Technology Starter Kit (http://
> starterkit.dev.java.net/). This includes a contributed
> implementation of all of the specifications, as well as helpful
> utilities and tools. The source code was made available through the
> Sun Community Source License (SCSL) as an attempt to make the code
> widely available and accessible to both individuals and companies.
> Sun has continued to innovate throughout the years, releasing many
> versions of the starter kit. The license associated with the
> starter kit was changed (http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?
> A2=ind0503&L=jini-users&O=A&P=36217) in March, 2005 to the Apache
> License, Version 2.0.
>
> Since its beginning, there was desire and effort to form a
> developer community around the technology. This has helped to
> create an interesting, active, and passionate community - the Jini
> Community. This global Community has engaged on technology
> projects, discussions and debates, events, and a decision making
> process. It has contributed to, and helped influence the direction
> of the starter kit. Some of the collaborative technology projects
> have led to key contributions being used by other technology
> projects as well as commercial products. One example is the Service
> UI API (http://www.artima.com/jini/serviceui/), which is a way to
> attach user interfaces to Jini services.
>
> Despite the obvious successes of the technology and Community, some
> changes are in store as outlined in a recent note to the Community:
> "A New Day" (http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?
> A2=ind0604&L=jini-users&F=&S=&P=4029). The most critical part of
> the new plan is to find the right place for the future development
> and advancement of the core Jini technology. We wanted an
> environment that was synergistic with our exisiting Community
> culture -- so one that is active, with open communication and
> collaboration, and a reputation for producing high quality
> software. We think we've found that place with the Apache Software
> Foundation.
>
> (0.1) criteria
>
> /Meritocracy:/
>
> The River project will be meritocractic. The project will follow
> the guidelines (http://apache.org/foundation/how-it-
> works.html#meritocracy) of the Apache Software Foundation. In order
> to achieve this, we plan on proactively recruiting individuals in
> the Community to get involved in the project: specifying work that
> needs to be done, encouraging bug fixes, enhancements, and
> advancements, and engaging in discussion on how the code works and
> is structured. In the end, we are committed to creating an
> environment to foster a meritocracy.
>
> /Community:/
>
> There has been a diverse and active Community built around Jini
> technology since it was first introduced in January, 1999. The Jini
> Community consists of a global set of individuals, companies, non-
> profit organizations, and universities. The Community communicates
> primarily through various email lists: jini-users (http://
> archives.java.sun.com/archives/jini-users.html) (~1400
> subscriptions), and javaspaces-users (http://archives.java.sun.com/
> archives/javaspaces-users.html) (~800 subscriptions). There are
> shared works and collaborative projects around the core
> infrastructure in the Community, with many of them gathered at
> Java.net (http://jini.dev.java.net). There is a wiki -based web
> site, Jini.org (http://www.jini.org), which hosts a variety of
> information, links, and content on "all things Jini". This includes
> organization and information on events (http://www.jini.org/wiki/
> Category:Events) that the Community has leveraged to share ideas
> and come together. There are also many individuals in the Community
> who have chosen to evangelize the technology at various
> conferences, user groups, blogs, etc. In summary, while it isn't
> quite the same as running an open source community, we believe
> we've developed an incredibly strong base on which to build.
>
> /Core Developers:/
>
> Most of the initial core developers are key members of Sun's Jini
> development, test, and Community management team. There are three
> (non Sun) initial core developers that are well recognized
> technology and thought leaders in the Jini Community, including
> giving presentations (http://www.jini.org/wiki/
> 8th_JCM_Sessions#Why_We_Need_A_Standard_Jini_Platform) at Jini
> Community Meetings, and receiving the annual Jini Community
> Contributor's Award in recognition of their contributions to the
> Community. There are a number of other strong developers in the
> Community interested and we expect will prove themselves worthy
> committers in short order.
>
> /Alignment:/
>
> River is aligned well with Apache in terms of technologies and
> licensing. It fits in well technologically with other Apache
> projects, which also focus on clustering, web frameworks, and Java
> technolgies. Also, the starter kit build framework is based on Ant.
> The license of the initial source being proposed is already aligned
> as it is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
>
> (0.2) warning signs
>
> /Orphaned products:/
>
> The project being proposed is a natural evolution of the technology
> and Community. Sun has shepherded both since 1999, and in recent
> years the Jini Community has been pressing to be more involved and
> empowered. Once the license for Jini technology was opened up and
> the Apache License, Version 2.0 was chosen for Sun's contributions
> (http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0503&L=jini-
> users&O=A&P=36217), an open development model was the obvious next
> step. The response from the Jini Community on this direction has
> been very positive, with many Community members anxious to get
> active. This is a proposal we're making with a full committment to
> construct an active and successful project.
>
> /Inexperience with open source:/
>
> The initial committers have varying degrees of experience with open
> source projects. All have been involved with source code that has
> been released under an open source license, but there is limited
> experience developing code with an open source development process.
> We do not, however, expect any difficulty in executing under normal
> meritocracy rules.
>
> /Homogenous developers:/
>
> Since the Jini Technology Starter Kit has been mainly developed to
> date by Sun Microsystems, the vast majority of initial committers
> to the project are from Sun. Over the years, Sun has received bug
> fixes and enhancements from other developers which have been
> incorporated into the code. Our plan is to work with these other
> developers and add them as committers as we progress. There are
> five other initial committers (non Sun): Bill Venners, Dan
> Creswell, Mark Brouwer, Nigel Daley, and Geir Magnusson. Bill is
> the lead of the Service UI API work; Dan has been involved with
> much Jini-based development, including an implementation of the
> JavaSpaces service called Blitz (http://www.dancres.org/blitz/);
> Mark is a veteran of much Jini-based development, including
> commercial work at Virgil (http://www.virgil.nl) as well as leading
> the open source Cheiron (http://www.cheiron.org) project; Nigel was
> formerly at Sun as the Jini test lead, but now is with another
> company; Geir is the Champion for our Apache project proposal.
>
> /Reliance on salaried developers:/
>
> It is expected that River development will occur on both salaried
> time and on volunteer time, after hours. While there is reliance on
> salaried developers (currently from Sun, but it's expected that
> other company's salaried developers will also be involved), the
> Jini Community is very active and things should balance out fairly
> quickly. In the meantime, Sun will support the project in the
> future by dedicating 'work time' to River, so that there is a
> smooth transition.
>
> /No ties to other Apache products:/
>
> Currently the only tie to Apache projects is the starter kit's use
> of the Ant build tool. There are potential future ties (http
> server, database backend, etc) that will be explored.
>
> /A fascination with the Apache brand:/
>
> Many of us have been working on advancing Jini technology and
> developing the Jini Community for many years. We care deeply about
> it and want the technology and Commutity to continue to flourish.
> As we considered options for where/how to move Jini technology to
> an open source development model, our respect and admiration for
> the work done by the Apache Software Foundation drove us to choose
> this as our best option. As a Java-based infrastructure for
> building systems, River fits in well with the other projects at
> Apache, and the Community we've built shares many philosophies
> (open communication, fairness, diversity, etc). We believe there
> are strong synergies here.
>
> (1) scope of the project
>
> The scope of the River project would be the continued development
> of Jini technology core infrastructure software, including the
> implementation of Jini specifications, related utilities and tools.
> The development would include adding new features and improving
> performance, scalability, quality, and extensibility.
>
> (2) identify the initial source from which the project is to be
> populated
>
> The initial resources would be garnered from:
>
> * Jini Technology Starter Kit (https://starterkit.dev.java.net/
> downloads/jini/2.1/index.html) project on Java.net,
>
> * Service UI implementation (http://www.artima.com/jini/serviceui/
> CodeAccess.html) from Artima.com,
>
> * QATests (formerly, a project on Jini.org)
>
>
> (3) identify the ASF resources to be created
>
> (3.1) mailing list(s)
>
>     * river-private (with moderated subscriptions)
>     * river-dev
>     * river-commits
>     * river-user
>
> (3.2) Subversion or CVS repositories
>
> River would like to use a Subversion repository.
>
> (3.3) Jira (issue tracking)
>
> Since River would have its own release cycle, it should have its
> own JIRA project
>
>     * Project Name: River
>     * Project Key: RIVER
>
> (4) identify the initial set of committers
>
>     * Dan Creswell ([email protected])
>     * Bill Venners ([email protected])
>     * Mark Brouwer ([email protected])
>     * Geir Magnusson Jr ([email protected])
>     * Bob Scheifler ([email protected])
>     * Jim Waldo ([email protected])
>     * John McClain ([email protected])
>     * Brian Murphy ([email protected])
>     * Peter Jones ([email protected])
>     * Juan Ramirez ([email protected])
>     * Frank Barnaby ([email protected])
>     * Fred Oliver ([email protected])
>     * Robert Resendes ([email protected]
>     * Vinod Johnson ([email protected])
>     * Ron Mann ([email protected])
>     * Nigel Daley ([email protected])
>     * Jim Hurley ([email protected])
>
> (5) identify apache sponsoring individual
>
> * Champion
>
>     * Geir Magnusson Jr.
>
> * Mentors
>
>     * Geir Magnusson Jr.
>     * Phil Steitz
>     * Gianugo Rabellino
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------


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