[Incubator] Recommend Graduation of Rasdaman from OSGeo Incubation

Cameron Shorter cameron.shorter at gmail.com
Fri Oct 31 12:57:49 PDT 2014


Thanks for the responses Peter, and offering to put the final touches on 
your incubation report. Comments in line.

On 1/11/2014 2:07 am, Peter Baumann wrote:
> Hi Cameron,
>
> see inline for the individual responses:
>
> On 10/18/2014 11:30 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>> Hi Peter and Bruce,
>> I've reviewed the incubation documentation provided, and provided a 
>> few spot reviews of the referenced documentation.
>> Overall, I think the documentation is in good shape, but missing 
>> explanations, particularly around licenses and testing.
>>
>>
>> Below are a few things that I'd like to see looked into before final 
>> sign off:
>>
>> Looking at: http://rasdaman.org/wiki/OSGeoIncubationChecklist which 
>> provides the summary about how the project is ready to complete 
>> graduation.
>>
>> * For each statement that you are addressing, please add a brief 
>> sentence explaining HOW you are addressing the statement, possibly 
>> also with an OPINION.
>> For instance, currently for: "Open communication channels", you have 
>> "see MailingLists".
>> In reviewing, I can see that a mailing list has been set up. In 
>> looking at the list, I see users are asked questions on the user list 
>> and there are answers. I can see that auto-patch messages are being 
>> pumped into the developers list. In my quick scan, I can't see 
>> discussions between developers about a new feature, and discussions 
>> about a design idea. So I'd suggest describing how communication is 
>> happening. Maybe:
>> "See MailingLists <URL>. User questions are typically addressed on 
>> the user email list. Development is currently mostly happening at 
>> Jacobs University, and discussions about development typically happen 
>> in person, and the results of such conversations are summarised onto 
>> the developer email list (or ...)."
>
> OK, we will try adding something I have never seen such a thing on any 
> of the graduation reports, and neither is this required by the 
> questionnaire.
> Hence, can you help us by providing an example project showing what 
> OSGeo expects?

I've just had a look at http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GeoTools_Project_Status
In some places the added description is light. Eg description about how 
email lists is used is brief. However, if I follow the link to the list 
it is obvious how well the lists are being used.

A good example for you to follow re comments from the GeoTools doc is:

How many active developers are there? Are they from multiple organizations?
    There are around 10 developers working on geotools as part of their
    day job, the expanded list goes up to around 30 with commit access.
    The important part is the number of responsible module maintainers.
    While the project is made up of individuals (who happen to work for
    organizations such as Penn State University, Refractions Research,
    The Open Planning Project, IBM, Oracle, Google others...)


>
>>
>> * For "Open Source License": I'd be hoping to see a statement about 
>> the dual license, including a comment about the enterprise license. 
>> I'm ok with the dual license concept which I think fits with OSGeo 
>> principles.  Further, from the material and links provided, it seems 
>> plausible that the GPL license terms are broken by LGPL and 
>> enterprise licensed products being distributed.
>> I feel there needs to be an explanation of the enterprise license, 
>> and then about how LGPL products and enterprise products don't need 
>> to be GPL (because they don't link in any GPL libraries?).
>
> Available - there is even a dedicated page on this, just follow the link:
> http://rasdaman.org/wiki/License

The above link references enterprise features, but doesn't reference an 
enterprise license. If you are referencing "enterprise rasdaman" I would 
expect to be able to find a read the enterprise license.
>
>>
>> * "/Long term viability/":
>> Sentence needed here discussing roughly how many contributors you 
>> have, (as well as existing reference to patchmanager).
>
> Patchmanager is the source for the information on this, just choose 
> "all" to see all contributors.
> Hm, not sure what else would need to be added.

I suggest adding a statement like this:

/There are around 10 developers working on geotools as part of their day 
job, the expanded list goes up to around 30 with commit access. The 
important part is the number of responsible module maintainers. While 
the project is made up of individuals (who happen to work for 
organizations such as Penn State University, Refractions Research, The 
Open Planning Project, IBM, Oracle, Google others...)/

and add
/for further details, refer to matchmanager, and select all./
>
>>
>> * /Project documentation is available under an open license, as 
>> documented here: Legal/:
>> The referenced "Legal" link doesn't talk about Documentation. Please 
>> reference correct documentation license link.
>
> oops, that should read "License" - fixed now. Good catch!
>
>>
>> * /http://rasdaman.org/wiki/Legal/ :
>> Remove references to "... blah-blah ..."
>
> why? ;-) cannot see much relevance for incubation as long as even 
> industry does not complain. But we are getting lost in details, 
> admittedly.
I assume you are making a joke, but in case you are not, I'll explain.

The line which references "blah-blah" looks like it comes from a 
template and hence should be removed in a final document. And in 
particular, professional organisations (which is one of the user groups 
that OSGeo targets), expects to have professional level legal 
documentation which doesn't reference "blah-blah".

>
>>
>> * " /Which includes execution of the testing process before releasing 
>> a stable release: http://212.201.49.21:35000/"/ :
>>  Link requires user log in. A sentence explaining testing will help here.
>
>>
>> * "/All patches submitted to the repository undergo review before 
>> being applied to the code base: http://www.rasdaman.org/patchmanager/" :
>> This doesn't confirm that patches are reviewed (by a person), only 
>> that you use patchmanager.
>
> ok, added "human".

Checked http://rasdaman.org/wiki/OSGeoIncubationChecklist, I can't see a 
reference to a process which includes reviewing patches before they are 
applied.
>
>>
>> * "/Systemtests are to be run by developers before submitting 
>> patches: http://www.rasdaman.org/wiki/CodeGuide/" :
>> This code guide is good, but on my first pass, I can't see any 
>> reference to testing processes. How do you verify that all code is 
>> tested? Ideally reference continual integration or similar.
>
> We verify automatically by running a test against each patch; the 
> outcome is documented next to each patch once the test run has 
> finished. This is quite a new feature, though, and - as you have 
> spotted - not all is in place yet.
> The page is: http://www.rasdaman.org/wiki/RasdamanTestSuites
>
OK, this test wiki you reference is a good start, but I notice it is 
still in draft state, with "TBD" and "TODO" text in it.

This would need to be complete before I'd consider rasdaman is ready to 
complete incubation.

I suggest that this test wiki should also be referenced from: 
http://www.rasdaman.org/wiki/CodeGuide

>>
>> * Link to /http://rasdaman.org/browser/systemtest/ is broken. I'm 
>> looking for evidence of testing processes, including unit testing, 
>> continuous integration, and a system testing plan which is executed.
>
> sorry for the broken link, fixed that: 
> http://www.rasdaman.org/wiki/RasdamanTestSuites
thanks

>
> HTH,
> Peter
>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 16/10/2014 4:25 pm, Bruce Bannerman wrote:
>>>
>>> Project:                    Rasdaman
>>>
>>> Project Contact:       Peter Baumann
>>>
>>> Project Mentor:        Bruce Bannerman
>>>
>>>
>>> Recommendation:   Rasdaman to Graduate from OSGeo Incubation
>>>
>>>
>>> Incubation Checklist: http://rasdaman.org/wiki/OSGeoIncubationChecklist
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Comments:
>>>
>>> I have been monitoring and participating in the Rasdaman Community 
>>> developer and user email lists for over four years. I plan to 
>>> continue to participate within the community.
>>>
>>> It has been pleasing to see how the community has evolved over this 
>>> time to develop effective, open and robust processes.
>>>
>>> I recommend to other FOSS4G communities to review what has been 
>>> done, as you may well find that Rasdaman offers a compelling 
>>> solution for the management of multi-dimensional array or gridded 
>>> data that your project may be able to capitalise on.
>>>
>>> A summary of community activity may be found at: 
>>> https://www.openhub.net/p/rasdaman
>>>
>>> Key project members are active within both OSGeo and the OGC.
>>>
>>> Within the OGC they have successfully guided a range of standards to 
>>> support mutltidimensional array (gridded) data which have culminated 
>>> (currently) in Web Coverage Service version 2.0 and a suite of 
>>> extensions, see: http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wcs
>>>
>>> The project's principal, Professor Peter Baumann was also recently 
>>> awarded OGC's prestigious Kenneth D Gardels award for his 
>>> contributions to OGC.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> After having participated within the community for four years and 
>>> having reviewed their OSGeo Project Graduation Checklist, I believe 
>>> that Rasdaman Community have fulfilled the requirements of OSGeo 
>>> Incubation and are eligible to graduate as an OSGeo Project.
>>>
>>>
>>> The only reservation that I have is over the dual licensing model 
>>> that is used by the sponsoring company, Rasdaman GmbH. See: 
>>> http://www.rasdaman.com/Product/commercial+free.php
>>>
>>>
>>> There are two versions: Community (GPL and LGPL) and Enterprise 
>>> (free from GPL constraints).
>>>
>>> The main difference between the two versions is summarised at: 
>>> http://www.rasdaman.org/wiki/Features
>>>
>>>
>>> This dual licensing may create a problem for the Rasdaman Community 
>>> in the future should Rasdaman GmbH decide to sell its stake in the 
>>> Rasdaman Enterprise version of the software. We have already seen a 
>>> similar situation arise after the sale of MySQL which was similarly 
>>> licensed.
>>>
>>> However as the community edition of the software is released under 
>>> open source licenses, I expect that the main impact would be to the 
>>> continuity of the Rasdaman Community in its current form. In the 
>>> event of a sale, we may see the software forked, as happened with MySQL.
>>>
>>> For consideration and vote.
>>>
>>> Bruce
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Incubator mailing list
>>> Incubator at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/incubator
>>
>> -- 
>> Cameron Shorter,
>> Software and Data Solutions Manager
>> LISAsoft
>> Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
>> 26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
>>
>> P +61 2 9009 5000,  Wwww.lisasoft.com,  F +61 2 9009 5099
>
> -- 
> Dr. Peter Baumann
>   - Professor of Computer Science, Jacobs University Bremen
>     www.faculty.jacobs-university.de/pbaumann
>     mail:p.baumann at jacobs-university.de
>     tel: +49-421-200-3178, fax: +49-421-200-493178
>   - Executive Director, rasdaman GmbH Bremen (HRB 26793)
>     www.rasdaman.com, mail:baumann at rasdaman.com
>     tel: 0800-rasdaman, fax: 0800-rasdafax, mobile: +49-173-5837882
> "Si forte in alienas manus oberraverit hec peregrina epistola incertis ventis dimissa, sed Deo commendata, precamur ut ei reddatur cui soli destinata, nec preripiat quisquam non sibi parata." (mail disclaimer, AD 1083)
>
>

-- 
Cameron Shorter,
Software and Data Solutions Manager
LISAsoft
Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009

P +61 2 9009 5000,  W www.lisasoft.com,  F +61 2 9009 5099

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