[Incubator] GeoNetwork incubator status; time to graduate

[Jeroen Ticheler]

Hi all,
I wanted to give you an update on where we are with the GeoNetwork  
opensource incubation process. I think we are about ready to request  
passing incubation. We have done all the required work from what I  
can see.

All details can be found on the GeoNetwork incubator page and related  
pages.
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/GeoNetwork_Incubation_Status

The only thing I'm waiting for is our advisory board members to give  
their OK on the PSC guidelines. Not all responded to my request. They  
take too long from my perspective ;-)

Some more background on that:
Last year we decided to have an advisory board more than a project  
steering committee and have me coordinate the day to day project. The  
idea was that the project runs fine and we do not want to complicate  
that process with many rules & regulations. So we identified a number  
of people to take seat on the advisory board and make sure we all  
meet during the GeoNetwork workshop. During that workshop we have  
both technical workshops and working groups that discuss the  
requirements and related work plan for the project. This is a  
community process. All members of the GN community are invited and  
asked (also on the mailing list) to give their priorities. We reach  
consensus on the work plan and look for who does what.

Since all code review has been done, the committers have agreed to  
the Committer Guidelines and I want to finish incubation before our  
next GeoNetwork workshop (as agreed by the GeoNetwork workshop last  
year) I hereby want to ask the incubation committee to consider  
graduating the project.

During the Workshop I will propose to also install a project  
committee that deals with the actual technical implementation. That  
means we will work towards a two level structure in which we have an  
advisory board and a technical committee. The last one will have  
developers and users in its membership while the first one has a more  
general advisory role.

OK, looking forward to hear from the incubation committee.
Ciao,
Jeroen