[Incubator] Suggest QGIS For Graduation

Cameron Shorter cameron.shorter at gmail.com
Mon Mar 10 22:31:39 EDT 2008


Thanks Gary, that satisfies me.

On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 1:26 PM, Gary Sherman <sherman at mrcc.com> wrote:
> On Mar 10, 2008, at 2:58 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>
>  > 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.
>  >
>  We've added a Contributors Agreement which lays out the expectations
>  and implements a requirement to publicly agree on the developer
>  mailing list. You can view it at:
>
>  http://wiki.qgis.org/qgiswiki/ContributorGuidelines
>
>  This paged is linked from a number of other pages to ensure that it is
>  plainly evident to newcomers.
>
>  -gary
>
>
>
>  > 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
>  >>>> Commercial Support for Geospatial Open Source Solutions
>  >>>> http://www.lisasoft.com/LISAsoft/SupportedProducts.html
>  >>>>
>  >>>> _______________________________________________
>  >>>> Incubator mailing list
>  >>>> Incubator at lists.osgeo.org
>  >>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/incubator
>  >>>
>  >>> -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
>  >>> Gary Sherman
>  >>> Chair, QGIS Project Steering Committee
>  >>> -Micro Resources: http://mrcc.com
>  >>>  *Geospatial Hosting
>  >>>  *Web Site Hosting
>  >>> -Desktop GIS Book:
>  >>>  *http://desktopgisbook.com
>  >>> "We work virtually everywhere"
>  >>> -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
>  >>>
>  >>> _______________________________________________
>  >>> Incubator mailing list
>  >>> Incubator at lists.osgeo.org
>  >>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/incubator
>  >>>
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>
>  >
>  >
>  > --
>  > 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
>  >
>
>  -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
>  Gary Sherman
>  Chair, QGIS Project Steering Committee
>  -Micro Resources: http://mrcc.com
>    *Geospatial Hosting
>    *Web Site Hosting
>  -Desktop GIS Book:
>    *http://desktopgisbook.com
>  "We work virtually everywhere"
>  -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
>
>
>
>
>
>
>



-- 
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


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