going from incubator

[Alexey Zavizionov <al...@exoplatform.com.ua>]

Hello all,

I'm new to the CXF. I want to know why the CXF in the incubator? When
it will within asf real projects? And what does it mean incubator
(http://incubator.apache.org/), is it bad or not so?

Thanks in advance,
Alexey

PS: FYI: I seeking for soap implementation for my serious project. I
have just looked on xfire and axis2, but they have some bugs. Now I
trying to work with CXF.. and it looks a bit friedly to me. Thanks.

Re: going from incubator

[Daniel Kulp <dk...@apache.org>]

On Monday 25 June 2007 11:01, Alexey Zavizionov wrote:
> I'm new to the CXF. I want to know why the CXF in the incubator? When
> it will within asf real projects? And what does it mean incubator
> (http://incubator.apache.org/), is it bad or not so?

The Apache Incubator is the entity designed to get projects up to speed 
with the "Apache" way of doing things.   A project being in the 
incubator in no way reflects the quality of the code.   There is some 
VERY good code in the incubator projects.   It just means that the 
incubator people (or the project itself) doesn't feel the project is 
quite ready to be a full Apache project.    There can be a variety of 
reasons:
1) Legal issues - all code has to be Apache licensed and downloadable 
packages need to meet very strict Apache guidelines and such.   

2) Community issues - Is the project acting like an apache community?   
Are they voting in new commiters?   Are decisions and discussions done 
on the mailing lists?   Are releases made per Apache guidelines?  etc...   
Are new people encouraged to contribute to discussions and code?

3) Community Diversity - Apache wants projects to have a diverse 
community with contributors coming from a wide variety of backgrounds, 
companies, etc...   Thus, if a company withdraws it's support, the 
project will live on.   (This is one of CXF's main issues.   The CXF 
committer list is very heavily IONA weighted.)

4) many more....

Basically, being in the incubator is not really a "bad" thing.   If the 
project is active, they are most likely trying to "graduate" out of the 
incubator and are working on it.   It just takes time.   I think the 
average project spends about 1.5 years in the incubator, maybe longer.   
The project just needs to perform in such a way that the Apache 
Incubator PMC/mentors feel that the project is operating in the 
appropriate "Apache" way, has learned and demonstrated the proper Apache 
processes, etc...   

That said, a project in the incubator isn't guaranteed to graduate.   
There have been several projects that have "died" in the incubator.   
They were a good idea when they were started, but couldn't really 
generate a community around the code or the main company starting it 
withdrew the support, etc...    

I guess the question for you is:  do you feel comfortable with the level 
of support from the current CXF community?   Do you feel we will still 
be here in 6 months? 1 year? etc...


> PS: FYI: I seeking for soap implementation for my serious project. I
> have just looked on xfire and axis2, but they have some bugs. Now I
> trying to work with CXF.. and it looks a bit friedly to me. Thanks.

Thanks for looking at CXF!   If you have issues, we'd be happy to hear 
about them.

-- 
J. Daniel Kulp
Principal Engineer
IONA
P: 781-902-8727    C: 508-380-7194
daniel.kulp@iona.com
http://www.dankulp.com/blog

Re: going from incubator

[Glen Mazza <gl...@verizon.net>]

Am Montag, den 25.06.2007, 18:01 +0300 schrieb Alexey Zavizionov:
> Hello all,
> 
> I'm new to the CXF. I want to know why the CXF in the incubator? 

Brand-new potential Apache projects need to go into the incubator first
before they (possibly) become real Apache projects:

http://incubator.apache.org/incubation/Incubation_Policy.html

> When
> it will within asf real projects? 

Technically, there is no guarantee that an incubating project will ever
become a real Apache project.  However, I will leave this question to
those more knowledgable about the current status of CXF.


> And what does it mean incubator
> (http://incubator.apache.org/), is it bad or not so?

An incubator is a warming machine for hatching fertilized (chicken,
duck, etc.) eggs.  As with Apache projects, some eggs never hatch but
some eggs do.


> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Alexey
> 
> PS: FYI: I seeking for soap implementation for my serious project. I
> have just looked on xfire and axis2, but they have some bugs. 

If you are just starting, it would be somewhat surprising that what
you're coding is so unusual/rare that it would activate bugs within
XFire or Axis2.  Still, those projects both have mailing lists where you
can get help on any problems you find.


> Now I
> trying to work with CXF.. and it looks a bit friedly to me. Thanks.

CXF derives from XFire[1] (and Objectweb Celtix).  Other possible
choices for you include Spring-Web Services and Sun "Metro" (their
recent repackaging of their JAX-WS and JAXB reference implementations.)

Glen

[1] http://cwiki.apache.org/CXF20DOC/xfire-migration-guide.html