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What is the ASF?
How is an ASF project structured?
How is the ASF structured?
How does all of this work?
ASF = The Apache Software Foundation
US 501(c)3 charity (Non-profit charity)
Community of volunteers
Virtual, world-wide organisation
Provides organisational, legal and financial support for a large number of open-source projects
Before there was the ASF, there was the "Apache Group"
Informal corporate structure
8 members
Formed in Feb. 1995
Continued the work on the NCSA httpd
Chose a very promiscuous license
Then (1999) | Now (03.2023) |
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Provide software for the public good
Protect the trademark: Apache and her software products against misuse by other organisations
Provide the technical and legal infrastructure for open-source development
Provide all means to protect every volunteer from persecution as long as this persecution is aimed at a project of the foundation
The Apache Software Foundation provides support for the Apache community of open-source software projects. The Apache projects are characterized by a collaborative, consensus based development process, an open and pragmatic software license, and a desire to create high quality software that leads the way in its field. We consider ourselves not simply a group of projects sharing a server, but rather a community of developers and users.
Heart of the ASF are the projects
Also named "Top Level Project" (TLP)
ASF provides services:
Mailinglists, code-repositories (SVN, Git, …)
Bug & Issue trackers (Jira, …), Wiki (Confluence, …)
CI Server (Jenkins, …), Webservers for project websites
…
Member based - only individuals can join (no companies)
Members nominate and elect new members
Members elect board (9 directors)
Annual members meeting via IRC
Monthly board meeting
Every project elects a Chair as interface to the board
The Apache Way
A method to develop software
A method to run communities
A method to run an organisation
Meritocracy: Advancement through action & commitment
Transparency: Nothing happens in secret
Community: Together we are strong
Documentation, Tutorials, Examples
Talks (at conferences & meetups)
User groups
Helping others (On mailing lists)
Filing bug reports
Testing and helping fix bugs & issues
Bugfixes
New features
Mentoring, involvement in the foundation itself
If something isn’t documented on any of the mailing lists, it didn’t happen
Every discussion and decision needs to be documented
All discussions should happen in the public
Off-list discussions can happen, but important information needs to be forwarded to the mailing list
Others are need to be able to participate
We’re (all) volunteers, life happens and our availability and our interests change
A vital community encourages new community members
It’s normal, that members (temporarily) leave the community
Poisonous people scare others and must be fought
Result of a healthy community → better code, long-lasting projects
PMC members have binding votes
Non-PMC members have non-binding votes
Formally only binding votes count
But non-binding votes usually are still respected
Something is considered decided if:
At least 3 binding votes
More +1
as -1
votes
Code should be developed in community with others
Large code-drops are bad
Development should happen on-line (Git/SVN, Email, …)
Votes ensure that at least 3 developers are still active
In order to allow anyone to participate, votes usually last at least 72 hours
Discussions and votes happen only on the mailing-list
Vendor neutrality
Diversity
Trust
Safety
Security
Companies can allow their employees to contribute during working hours
Companies can directly support the ASF financially (Sponsoring)
Companies can donate code, so everyone can profit from it
Companies can’t directly fund development in projects
Companies can donate funds towards projects (Targeted donations)