[Incubator] Suggest QGIS For Graduation

[Cameron Shorter]

The QGIS Social Contract captures the right "vibe", but I'm hesitant to 
vote for QGIS graduation without a process which ensures all 
contributors accept their responsiblities. The acceptance can be an 
email to an archived list (as is the case with Mapbuilder) or more 
legally binding signed paper contract as is the case with many other 
projects.

Robert Bray wrote:
> Time for Bob the absentee mentor to chime in. I've been monitoring the 
> QGIS mailing lists for quite a long time (since I signed on as mentor) 
> and I can say from watching interactions on those lists that the QGIS 
> project is healthy, active, and it has a great community. I've also 
> reviewed portions of the code and examined everything called out in 
> the provinence review. Everything looks pretty clean to me. The 
> software itself is stable and the user documentation is quite good.
>
> All the necessary governance processes are in place and working, but 
> they are not really documented. It would be good to see these 
> documented especially the process for adding/removing developers, but 
> I would not hold up graduation due to lack of documentation.
>
> Cameron's issue below is a valid one, the current QGIS Social Contract 
> is not really a binding agreement. I guess the question I have is how 
> binding does this have to be? I know some of the projects have a more 
> or less legal agreement, e.g. MapGuide, FDO, GeoTools, etc. What's the 
> incubation comitties take on this?
>
> If the incubation committee is ok with a non-binding agreement then I 
> am happy to recommend QGIS for graduation.
>
> Regards,
> Bob
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Sherman" <sherman at mrcc.com>
> To: "Cameron Shorter" <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
> Cc: "OSGeo-incubator" <Incubator at lists.osgeo.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 9:28 PM
> Subject: Re: [Incubator] Suggest QGIS For Graduation
>
>
>> On Mar 5, 2008, at 5:47 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>
>>> Frank or Bob, can you please ensure this email is forwarded  
>>> appropriate members of QGIS team.
>>>
>>> Congratulations to the QGIS folks, this project looks to be very  
>>> healthy and will be an excellent addition to the stable of OSGeo  
>>> software.
>>>
>>> I've only picked up on one issue.
>>> I don't think the existing processes are strong enough to ensure  
>>> that proprietary code is kept out of the codebase in future.
>>>
>>> I'd like to see either:
>>> 1. All developers sign a Contributors Agreement noting they agree to 
>>> developer guidelines, or
>>> 2. Email a public list with the same type of information as the CA.
>>>
>>
>> We vet all new devlopers very closely and the Social Contract 
>> contains  a statement about the appropriate license for code. We can 
>> certainly require a response to a "requirements/responsibilities" 
>> email on the  QGIS developer list to make sure there is a public record.
>>
>>> The key element of the developer guidelines is "Thou shall only  
>>> commit clean code to the codebase".
>>>
>>> I'd like to see a documented process for adding new coders which 
>>> includes asking the new coder to sign up to their responsibilities.
>>>
>>> I believe all OSGeo projects have such processes. You can see an  
>>> example from Mapbuilder's processes under the title of "Committer"  
>>> and "Committer Responsiblities" at 
>>> http://docs.codehaus.org/display/MAP/Contributers+Guide
>>>
>>>
>>> Frank Warmerdam wrote:
>>>> Folks,
>>>>
>>>> Ideally Bob Bray as QGIS mentor ought to be doing this, but Gary  
>>>> and I have
>>>> been having trouble getting a response from him about QGIS  
>>>> incubation, so...
>>>>
>>>> I think QGIS is pretty much ready for graduation.  The documents  
>>>> are at:
>>>>
>>>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/QGIS_Incubation_Status
>>>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/QGIS_Provenance_Review
>>>>
>>>> As a QGIS developer now, I'm not exactly disinterested, but I think 
>>>> QGIS
>>>> is an open community with a governance structure in place.  The code
>>>> provenance review found no problems, and in a variety of spot  
>>>> checks myself
>>>> I don't see any issues.
>>>>
>>>> So, consider this a "call for questions and concerns" which will 
>>>> hopefully
>>>> lead to a motion to graduate within a week or two from either  
>>>> myself or Bob.
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Cameron Shorter
>>> Geospatial Systems Architect
>>> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
>>> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>>>
>>> Think Globally, Fix Locally
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>>> Incubator at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/incubator
>>
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>> Gary Sherman
>> Chair, QGIS Project Steering Committee
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>>
>
>
>


-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Systems Architect
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

Think Globally, Fix Locally
Commercial Support for Geospatial Open Source Solutions
http://www.lisasoft.com/LISAsoft/SupportedProducts.html