[Incubator] Motion: Rasdaman ready to graduate from OSGeo Incubation

Cameron Shorter cameron.shorter at gmail.com
Sat Apr 30 13:47:04 PDT 2016


Bruce, Peter,
I've read through the incubation process documentation, and can only see 
one thing which I think breaks our OSGeo principles.

The Governance model includes a statement:
"In all issues, the PSC strives to achieve unanimous consent based on a 
free, independent exchange of facts and opinions. Should such consent 
exceptionally not be reached then Peter Baumann has a casting vote."
http://www.rasdaman.org/wiki/Governance

This is describing a "benevolent dictator" model, which has proved to be 
an effective model for many open source projects. See Eric Raymond's 
"Homesteading the Noosphere": 
http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/homesteading/homesteading/ar01s16.html

However, it is not in line with existing OSGeo Incubated projects, which 
have documented a "vote by PSC" as the defining governance process. In 
practice, the PSC community debate alternatives, and if needed, 
respectfully revert to reasoned advice provided by the "benevolent 
dictator".

Peter, are you open to changing the governance model to a "vote by PSC"?
I'd be comfortable with a "vote by PSC, with PSC chair being given 1.5 
votes to break any deadlocks. I'd also be ok with PSC chair defaulting 
to Peter (as founder), until such time as Peter resigns from the role."

Warm regards, Cameron

On 19/10/2014 8:30 am, 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 ...)."
>
> * 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?).
>
> * "/Long term viability/":
> Sentence needed here discussing roughly how many contributors you 
> have, (as well as existing reference to patchmanager).
>
> * /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.
>
> * /http://rasdaman.org/wiki/Legal/ :
> Remove references to "... 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.
>
> * "/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.
>
> * 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.
>



On 29/04/2016 9:13 am, Bruce Bannerman wrote:
> Hello Colleagues,
>
> Can I please get some indication that this motion has been read, 
> rather than stunned silence?
>
> It has now been over a week since I initiated this vote. I have not 
> seen a single reply.
>
>
>
> @Jody,
>
> How long can a motion stay open before the vote is counted? I vaguely 
> recall that it was two weeks.
>
>
> Bruce
>
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 22, 2016 at 9:11 AM, Bruce Bannerman 
> <bruce.bannerman.osgeo at gmail.com 
> <mailto:bruce.bannerman.osgeo at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Take 2
>
>     Dear Incubation Committee,
>
>     After a long six years of effort, I'd like to recommend that
>     Rasdaman is ready for graduation from the OSGeo Incubation process.
>
>     You will find the Incubation Checklist at:
>
>     http://www.rasdaman.org/wiki/OSGeoIncubationChecklist
>
>     I believe that the Rasdaman community have met our requirements to
>     graduate from incubation.
>
>     I have found the community to be robust and very active attracting
>     contributors from many corners of the globe.
>
>     The project is attracting quite a bit of interest, together with
>     European Union funding for additional development that appears to
>     be going into the open source version of the product.
>
>     I have also noted that Rasdaman Gmbh is also moving some of their
>     previously proprietary capability into the open source version.
>
>     Peter Bauman, the man behind Rasdaman is also making very
>     significant and noteworthy contributions to the world of open
>     spatial standards through his work within OGC and W3C Spatial Data
>     on the Web Working Group. Rasdaman is an OGC Reference
>     implementation of several WCS related standards from memory.
>
>
>
>     I do have a reservation though:
>
>     While I see that Rasdaman is meeting the requirements of the OSGeo
>     Incubation process, I do feel that it is not meeting the spirit of
>     Incubation.
>
>     As an example control of the project is still tightly controlled
>     around Rasdaman GMbh:
>
>     - Two of the three members of the Rasdaman PSC are members of
>     Rasdaman Gmbh;
>     - Project technical design and strategic directions are tightly
>     controlled and do not appear to be openly discussed on public
>     emailing lists. Things 'just happen'; and
>     - The Rasdaman-PSC email list contains no emails [1].
>
>     I do know of one or two attempts to try to get public discussion
>     going about strategic technical direction, however I did not see
>     much activity related to it. This is probably symptomatic of the
>     lack of a serious attempt at community consultation on strategic
>     and technical design issues to date.
>
>     My advice to the Rasdaman Community is that for you to truly
>     thrive as an open source community, you will need to look closely
>     at this issue and address it proactively. It is your project!
>
>     Bruce Bannerman
>     OSGeo Mentor for Rasdaman
>
>     [1] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/rasdaman-psc
>     <https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21forum/rasdaman-psc>
>
>
>
>
>     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>     The checklist
>     (http://www.rasdaman.org/wiki/OSGeoIncubationChecklist) seems
>     complete. The last communication from Bruce was also positive, but
>     did not elicit a response from this mailing list.
>
>     I recommend Bruce invite discussion/review of checklist and prep a
>     recommendation for graduation (if he is comfortable doing so at
>     this time).
>
>     --
>     Jody Garnett
>
>     On 21 April 2016 at 00:55, Peter Baumann
>     <p.baumann at jacobs-university.de
>     <mailto:p.baumann at jacobs-university.de>> wrote:
>     Dear all,
>
>     just a brief question, what are the plans about rasdaman incubation?
>     Last communication was 7 months ago, and this April we had our 6th
>     anniversary
>     of entering incubation.
>
>     thanks for sharing your thoughts,
>     Peter
>
>     --
>     Dr. Peter Baumann
>      - Professor of Computer Science, Jacobs University Bremen
>     www.faculty.jacobs-university.de/pbaumann
>     <http://www.faculty.jacobs-university.de/pbaumann>
>        mail: p.baumann at jacobs-university.de
>     <mailto:p.baumann at jacobs-university.de>
>        tel: +49-421-200-3178 <tel:%2B49-421-200-3178>, fax:
>     +49-421-200-493178 <tel:%2B49-421-200-493178>
>      - Executive Director, rasdaman GmbH Bremen (HRB 26793)
>     www.rasdaman.com <http://www.rasdaman.com>, mail:
>     baumann at rasdaman.com <mailto:baumann at rasdaman.com>
>        tel: 0800-rasdaman, fax: 0800-rasdafax, mobile: +49-173-5837882
>     <tel:%2B49-173-5837882>
>     "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)
>
>
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-- 
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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