[Board] Supporting OSGeo4W

[Paolo Cavallini]

Hi all,
how could we proceed on this?
Cheers.

Il 2020-01-16 19:18 Jody Garnett ha scritto:
> I guess "adoption" is the key word we are not in a position to provide
> as an organization .. no other project is "adopted".
> 
> That said OSGeo4W is in an interesting position being a
> joint-initiative (is their an MOU to this effect?). An initiative
> gives the board a chance to fund it outside of the "community project"
> program. I think "MetaGIS" and "OSGeo Live" were also in this position
> ... and both made the transition to a full OSGeo project (resulting in
> some autonomy on budgeting and spending).
> 
> aside: If an MOU is made it would be good to update
> https://www.osgeo.org/partners/qgis-org-association/ to reflect this
> as a joint initiative.
> 
> In terms of treating OSGeo as a stable source of funding (for any
> project):
> 
> - OSZGeo is into year 4 of providing projects a budget (as a strategic
> shift from running as a low or no cost organization). It has taken
> this long for projects to notice funding is available :)
> - Many projects position to use funds provided (as shown by the
> difference between the amount budgeted and the amount spent in any
> given year)
> - Foundation budget guidance has always been a reflection of income
> (primarily from foss4g events). Rule of thumb is to be able to run 2-3
> foss4g events without profit.
> - TLDR: I would expect the "stability" to be flexible over time -
> OSGeo may not always be in a position to provide funds.
> 
> aside: We have had to drop our geroserver installer (due to lack of
> resources), it would be great to see this added back into OSGeo4W.
> 
> --
> Jody Garnett
> 
> On Thu, 16 Jan 2020 at 08:10, Paolo Cavallini <cavallini at faunalia.it>
> wrote:
> 
>> Thanks Jody. Our request was in fact about having a stable budget,
>> as
>> implied by an adoption, as it is IOHO a fundamental piece of
>> infrastructure, that deserve a stable commitment.
>> Cheers.
>> 
>> Il 16/01/20 17:06, Jody Garnett ha scritto:
>>> Paolo:
>>> 
>>> OSGeo4W is already "adopted" by OSGeo as part of the community
>> project
>>> program. While the project does not have an independent budget
>> (until it
>>> goes through incubation) it does have access to funding through
>>> attending board meetings.
>>> 
>>> I think if you look at the draft budget
>>> <https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Budget_2020> a request has
>> already
>>> been made on behalf of OSGeo4W, indeed it appears to be funded as
>> a
>>> joint initiative with QGIS.org.
>>> --
>>> Jody Garnett
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Thu, 16 Jan 2020 at 07:43, Paolo Cavallini
>> <cavallini at faunalia.it
>>> <mailto:cavallini at faunalia.it>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Dear OSGEO Board
>>> 
>>> We are writing to petition your help both financially and for
>> general
>>> support with the OSGEO4W project. Over the years, OSGEO4W
>> (started by
>>> Frank Warmerdam and Jürgen Fischer) has become the de-facto
>> delivery
>>> mechanism to Windows users for many of the projects that make
>> up OSGEO -
>>> including GDAL, PROJ, GRASS, QGIS and many more.
>>> 
>>> Currently, most of the maintenance and improvements to OSGEO4W
>> are
>>> carried out through activities of the QGIS packaging process
>> (our
>>> windows standalone packages are based on OSGEO4W). This
>> includes using a
>>> portion of the income donated to QGIS.org each year to support
>> the
>>> OSGEO4W project.
>>> 
>>> Since OSGEO4W plays such a central role in the OSGEO landscape
>> we would
>>> like to ask you to 'adopt' the OSGEO4W project financially and
>> also help
>>> with marshalling more contributors to the project so that it
>> is not a
>>> 'one man show' - which represents a vulnerability to the long
>> term
>>> prospects of this project. You can see these sentiments
>> reflected in the
>>> budget request for supporting OSGEO4W in the OSGEO budget
>> call. This
>>> budget request represents 50% of the anticipated budget for
>> funded
>>> OSGEO4W work for 2020, with the remainder being funded by
>> QGIS.org for
>>> the interim.
>>> 
>>> Regards
>>> 
>>> The QGIS team.
>>> --
>>> Paolo Cavallini - www.faunalia.eu [1] <http://www.faunalia.eu>
>>> QGIS.ORG [2] <http://QGIS.ORG> Chair:
>>> http://planet.qgis.org/planet/user/28/tag/qgis%20board/
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Board mailing list
>>> Board at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Board at lists.osgeo.org>
>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Paolo Cavallini - www.faunalia.eu [1]
>> QGIS.ORG [2] Chair:
>> http://planet.qgis.org/planet/user/28/tag/qgis%20board/
> 
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://www.faunalia.eu
> [2] http://QGIS.ORG

-- 
Paolo Cavallini - www.faunalia.eu
QGIS & PostGIS courses: http://www.faunalia.eu/training.html