Next Steps for Bringing Generation 3 Architecture into Apache Fineract

[Ed Cable <ed...@mifos.org>]

Hello Apache Fineract Community,

As communicated throughout numerous webinars and white papers across the
Mifos and Apache Fineract communities, the future of our technology centers
around our Generation 3 architecture (Apache Fineract 2.0).

I'm starting this thread to initiate the process of moving this new
codebase and next major version of Apache Fineract into the community so we
can at last mobilize the community around the new architecture.

Right now the codebase is in a Github Repository at
https://github.com/mifosio but the community cannot fully participate until
it's part of Apache and there is little visibility or documentation for the
community to know of the status of Generation 3.

Across the community there is a groundswell of interest from partners and
volunteers to contribute to, build on top of, and extend the new
architecture. I've informed these individuals that have expressed interest
in private to do so publicly and engage more actively on the lists.

I have started a wiki page to list out the next steps/outstanding questions
we need to explore to proceed forward. I request that others, especially
those who have lead the design and development of Generation 3, please
expand this list and take responsibility and ownership for some of the
outstanding tasks so we can get Fineract 2.0 available to the community.

https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Finerac
t+2.0+Introduction

A prior concern that we've explored was the ability to maintain two major
versions of a software within one Apache project. Based on my conversations
with Apache leadership like Brian Behlendorf at the recent OSCON
conference, there is no issue with a project having two live major versions
at the same time.

Thanks,

*Ed Cable*
President/CEO, Mifos Initiative

Re: Next Steps for Bringing Generation 3 Architecture into Apache Fineract

[Sendoro Juma <se...@singoafrica.com>]

Dear Myrle,

It very clear; 

Thanks for taking up your time for this!

Regards
Sendoro

----- Original Message -----
From: "Myrle Krantz" <my...@apache.org>
To: "dev" <de...@fineract.apache.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2017 11:21:31 AM
Subject: Re: Next Steps for Bringing Generation 3 Architecture into Apache Fineract

Hello Ed,

It's exciting to see some interest in the work that Markus, Mark, and
I have been doing on Gen 3.  It has always been, and still is the
intention to bring this code into the Apache Fineract community.
However doing so will require considerable effort, especially from me.

Last November I did a presentation on Fineract at ApacheCon in
Seville, Spain [1].  The positive resonance was tremendous.  Several
people asked me in QA and again in the hall afterwards how they
personally could contribute. Unfortunately because I am working on Gen
3, I could not answer that question.  Instead I sent them to the
mailing list, where very sadly not one person found an answer which
enabled them to contribute to Fineract.  I want to be the kind of
person who provides actionable information, and requests, so I made a
decision based on that experience: I will not ask for help on a
project again until I am ready to personally guide a new contributor
through the process of contributing:
* getting the new project building,
* understanding the project structure,
* finding appropriate tickets, and
* getting their pull request merged.

I believe you are asking for this and more Ed.  You probably want:
* changes in features and additional features to support the community,
* help in deploying microservices in a cloud architecture,
* documentation assuring MFIs, and end users about our security
architecture, plus
* assistance in calls with potential customers of Gen 3.

Beyond both of these lists there is still more required to make this
code into part of a successful Apache project:
* addition of RAT to the build process,
* adjustments to the project to remove non-Apache licensed code (potentially),
* communications between Mifos and Apache to donate a tranche of code to a TLP,
* communication with the Apache INFRA team to set up source
repositories, and artifact repositories,
* adjustments to JIRA to make it possible to mark tickets for which
Gen, and which component,
* release management for a new kind of release structure, and
* collective decision-making about the future project direction.

There are probably a few tasks I haven't thought of that will have to
be added to these lists.

Unfortunately at this time, for various reasons, I'm not yet ready to
do any of these three lists.  That is the reason I have not yet
brought Gen 3 to the community.

Currently Kuelap is in startup mode, which I'm sure everyone here
understands is a very intense mode of software development.  At the
same time both of my daughters are at home for summer break, so I am
caring for them during work hours.  Frankly I'm swamped.  I'm hoping
that once I have both kids started into this school year, I'll have
the time to take on responsibilities within the Apache Fineract
community beyond those that I'm already fulfilling, such as those on
some of the lists above. It may, however, be October before the dust
on my end has settled enough to make time for extra responsibilities.

In the mean time however, I can give you the following assurance.
While Mark and I were in Seville in November, I talked to Apache Infra
about hosting multiple repositories for one project.  They are ready,
willing, and waiting for our tickets to create new repositories.  I
met with Roman in California while I was there on vacation August 2016
and again in Seville in November.  Apache projects do occasionally
perform re-architectings and release old and new in parallel for a
while.  There is no technical or organisational Apache-level obstacle
to our plan of releasing Gen 2, and Gen 3 side-by-side for a while. In
fact we have a lot of good will from the ASF.  As you know I've also
created a plan for how to assemble our releases out of multiple
independent repositories and sent it to the Fineract community for
feedback [2].  There is no currently identified obstacle to collecting
our release out of multiple repositories.

Best Regards,
Myrle Krantz

1.) https://feathercast.apache.org/2017/01/26/apachecon-seville-2016-introducing-apache-fineract-incubating-myrle-krantz/
2.) https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Composing+a+Release+out+of+Microservices



On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 11:10 PM, Ed Cable <ed...@mifos.org> wrote:
> Hello Apache Fineract Community,
>
> As communicated throughout numerous webinars and white papers across the
> Mifos and Apache Fineract communities, the future of our technology centers
> around our Generation 3 architecture (Apache Fineract 2.0).
>
> I'm starting this thread to initiate the process of moving this new
> codebase and next major version of Apache Fineract into the community so we
> can at last mobilize the community around the new architecture.
>
> Right now the codebase is in a Github Repository at
> https://github.com/mifosio but the community cannot fully participate until
> it's part of Apache and there is little visibility or documentation for the
> community to know of the status of Generation 3.
>
> Across the community there is a groundswell of interest from partners and
> volunteers to contribute to, build on top of, and extend the new
> architecture. I've informed these individuals that have expressed interest
> in private to do so publicly and engage more actively on the lists.
>
> I have started a wiki page to list out the next steps/outstanding questions
> we need to explore to proceed forward. I request that others, especially
> those who have lead the design and development of Generation 3, please
> expand this list and take responsibility and ownership for some of the
> outstanding tasks so we can get Fineract 2.0 available to the community.
>
> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Finerac
> t+2.0+Introduction
>
> A prior concern that we've explored was the ability to maintain two major
> versions of a software within one Apache project. Based on my conversations
> with Apache leadership like Brian Behlendorf at the recent OSCON
> conference, there is no issue with a project having two live major versions
> at the same time.
>
> Thanks,
>
> *Ed Cable*
> President/CEO, Mifos Initiative

Re: Next Steps for Bringing Generation 3 Architecture into Apache Fineract

[Myrle Krantz <my...@apache.org>]

> As VP of our PMC and one of the leads on Fineract CN development, I kindly
> ask you to initiate such a vote.

There's a misunderstanding of my role as V.P./Chair here that I would
like to correct.  My job as V.P. is to serve as a connection between
the board and the project.  I make sure our reports are submitted, I
follow the discussions on the board mailing list, and bring anything
back to the community that is relevant for us.  I see my job as also
learning about Apache philosophy and processes, and educating our
community.  In addition, it is my job to advocate for us within the
wider Apache community.   V.P. is not a command-role at Apache.  It is
a servant role.

When I'm writing as the V.P. I will sign my mails accordingly.  If I
do not sign my mails as V.P., you can assume that I am speaking as an
individual contributor.  As an individual contributor I have no more
or less authority than anyone else in the community.  If I do, it's
not by virtue of a title, but rather by virtue of the work, knowledge,
and persuasive power I bring to the matter at hand.

Speaking here as one of the leads on Fineract CN development, I am not
yet ready to initiate this vote.  I will however, piece by piece,
begin educating the community on the contents of the Fineract CN
development so that they have the information they need to make an
informed vote when the time comes.

> I will discuss this with the incubator then. Please also grant me access to
> the repository so I can assist with the actual transition when it occurs.
> Thanks for the heads up on Mark van Veen and making the process as clear as
> possible.

All of the Mifos I/O github repositories already have global read
access.  At a technical level, that is all that is needed to bring the
code with its history over to Apache.  Once Infra creates the repos,
anyone with access to the Apache repos will be able to copy the code
over. Since you're a Fineract committer you will have that access.

> Thank you for providing that clarity. Up until yesterday and my
> conversations with Craig, I was not aware that all the code (including the
> last several months of development) was still under copyright ownership of
> the Mifos Initiative. This will simplify the transition greatly.

Based on my recent discussions with Craig, I don't think he realized.
But we worked this way on purpose, precisely to simplify the
transition.

Best Regards,
Myrle

Re: Next Steps for Bringing Generation 3 Architecture into Apache Fineract

[Ed Cable <ed...@mifos.org>]

Hi Myrle,

Please see my replies inline.

On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 1:57 AM, Myrle Krantz <my...@apache.org> wrote:

> >> I want to be the kind of
> >> person who provides actionable information, and requests, so I made a
> >> decision based on that experience: I will not ask for help on a
> >> project again until I am ready to personally guide a new contributor
> >> through the process of contributing:
> >> * getting the new project building,
> >> * understanding the project structure,
> >> * finding appropriate tickets, and
> >> * getting their pull request merged.
> >>
> >
> > That's a good checklist to have in place. With Apache Fineract Version 1,
> > we try our best to do that and I hope that others in the community can
> > hopefully start the doing the same for Gen 3/Apache Fineract Version 2
> > without you or anybody from Kuelap having to be a bottleneck.
>
> Unfortunately there are aspects of this that we need to work on.  In
> particular pull requests.  As I pointed out in my last report to the
> board, there are 38 open pull requests stretching back to March, 2016.
> You can see them here:
> https://github.com/apache/fineract/pulls?page=2&q=is%3Apr+is%3Aopen
>
> Also unfortunately: I got no response to that.
>

Every one of those pull requests has been commented on and followed up by
Nazeer. Some are merged and I take it could be closed so we'll try and do
another round of cleanup on those open pull requests. But the fact that
they're open, does not mean that they've been ignored or reviewed.

>
> We also have some other important holes:
> * Take your first steps in confluence contains no information on
> building the project.
> * Take your first steps links to the issue tracker, but we do not seem
> to have a tag for newbie issues or issues for non-programmers such as
> people who are interested in contributing QA, requirements collection,
> or documentation. If we do have such a tag, or tags, they are not
> documented in the "Take your first steps" page.
>

I will try and plug those holes as needed but I wasn't aware of that and
since we all have karma to the wiki I encourage the entire PMC if there are
gaps in documentation we try to take the effort to close them. Throughout
GCI, we tried to have students identify holes and plug them as they could.

Under the User's Zone there are build instructions, so I will link to those
from the Take your First Steps page.

Since there is no standard label for Beginner/Newbie issues, we have used
the taxonomy the Mifos community has always gone by in the past, with a
"Volunteer" label. I will ensure that this list is accessible from the Take
Your First Steps page.

At the Mifos Initiative, we try and do all that we can to engage
non-technical individuals through our website on these other non-technical
tasks. I and my colleagues in the Mifos community will try to do what we
can but I encourage other members of the PMC and community to do as such.
However the documentation we have in place on Apache Fineract was pretty
bare bones by design and I think was reflective of the culture that this is
a meritocracy and contributors/newcomers should sink or swim on their own
accord.

I personally have always espoused a different view in that I think some
community members need more handholding and that's why at the Mifos
Initiative we try to directly onboard new volunteers/partners etc.

I will work with Sampath and others to try and extend documentation. Please
point us to best practices on other projects we should emulate.

>
> I'd like to do better on these points when we submit Fineract CN, but
> clearly doing so is not trivial, or else we'd be doing better.
>
> >> Beyond both of these lists there is still more required to make this
> >> code into part of a successful Apache project:
> >> * addition of RAT to the build process,
> >> * adjustments to the project to remove non-Apache licensed code
> >> (potentially),
> >> * communications between Mifos and Apache to donate a tranche of code
> to a
> >> TLP,
> >> * communication with the Apache INFRA team to set up source
> >> repositories, and artifact repositories,
> >> * adjustments to JIRA to make it possible to mark tickets for which
> >> Gen, and which component,
> >> * release management for a new kind of release structure, and
> >> * collective decision-making about the future project direction.
> >
> > This was the aim of the wiki page - can you please add those there? These
> > are exactly the kinds of items I wanted listed so we can discuss with
> other
> > Apache community and Mifos community members, how they could possibly
> > contribute in completing these prerequisites.
>
> Once I'm ready to support people in these tasks, I'll add them as JIRA
> tickets.  It's easier to track them that way.  Before we can do that
> though, I see two pre-requisites:
>
> 1.) The Apache Fineract project has to accept the Fineract CN code.
> 2.) The Mifos Initiative has to donate the code to the ASF and the ASF
> has to accept it.
>

Thank you for drilling down to these two prerequisites.

>
> Given the ground-swell of interest in Fineract CN, the first point is
> likely mostly a formality.  I still want a formal vote though, with
> close to 100% participation.  This is a significant move, and it's
> important to me that the Apache Fineract committers explicitly express
> willingness to take on the responsibility.
>

As VP of our PMC and one of the leads on Fineract CN development, I kindly
ask you to initiate such a vote.

>
> I'm not entirely certain how step 2 proceeds.  The easiest way to find
> out is to run it by the incubator -- that's where the Apache experts
> for code donation "live".  Presumably the Mifos Initiative (ie Ed
> Cable) will have to sign some forms and send them to the ASF, and the
> ASF board will have to vote on it at a board meeting.  In this
> process, one very significant contributor to that code base (Mark van
> Veen) will probably need to sign an iCLA.  The rest of us already have
> an iCLA on file with the ASF.


I will discuss this with the incubator then. Please also grant me access to
the repository so I can assist with the actual transition when it occurs.
Thanks for the heads up on Mark van Veen and making the process as clear as
possible.

>


> Let me be very clear on this: the code belongs to the Mifos
> Initiative.  It doesn't belong to the ASF, and it doesn't belong to
> Kuelap.
>
>
Thank you for providing that clarity. Up until yesterday and my
conversations with Craig, I was not aware that all the code (including the
last several months of development) was still under copyright ownership of
the Mifos Initiative. This will simplify the transition greatly.


> > I hope that by getting these lists out in the open, we can take some work
> > off your plate.
>
> Don't worry -- I will communicate openly about anything anybody else
> can do to support this process.
>
> Best Regards,
> Myrle Krantz
>
> Solution Architect, Kuelap, Inc
>



-- 
*Ed Cable*
President/CEO, Mifos Initiative
edcable@mifos.org | Skype: edcable | Mobile: +1.484.477.8649
<(484)%20477-8649>

*Collectively Creating a World of 3 Billion Maries | *http://mifos.org
<http://facebook.com/mifos>  <http://www.twitter.com/mifos>

Re: Next Steps for Bringing Generation 3 Architecture into Apache Fineract

[Myrle Krantz <my...@apache.org>]

>> I want to be the kind of
>> person who provides actionable information, and requests, so I made a
>> decision based on that experience: I will not ask for help on a
>> project again until I am ready to personally guide a new contributor
>> through the process of contributing:
>> * getting the new project building,
>> * understanding the project structure,
>> * finding appropriate tickets, and
>> * getting their pull request merged.
>>
>
> That's a good checklist to have in place. With Apache Fineract Version 1,
> we try our best to do that and I hope that others in the community can
> hopefully start the doing the same for Gen 3/Apache Fineract Version 2
> without you or anybody from Kuelap having to be a bottleneck.

Unfortunately there are aspects of this that we need to work on.  In
particular pull requests.  As I pointed out in my last report to the
board, there are 38 open pull requests stretching back to March, 2016.
You can see them here:
https://github.com/apache/fineract/pulls?page=2&q=is%3Apr+is%3Aopen

Also unfortunately: I got no response to that.

We also have some other important holes:
* Take your first steps in confluence contains no information on
building the project.
* Take your first steps links to the issue tracker, but we do not seem
to have a tag for newbie issues or issues for non-programmers such as
people who are interested in contributing QA, requirements collection,
or documentation. If we do have such a tag, or tags, they are not
documented in the "Take your first steps" page.

I'd like to do better on these points when we submit Fineract CN, but
clearly doing so is not trivial, or else we'd be doing better.

>> Beyond both of these lists there is still more required to make this
>> code into part of a successful Apache project:
>> * addition of RAT to the build process,
>> * adjustments to the project to remove non-Apache licensed code
>> (potentially),
>> * communications between Mifos and Apache to donate a tranche of code to a
>> TLP,
>> * communication with the Apache INFRA team to set up source
>> repositories, and artifact repositories,
>> * adjustments to JIRA to make it possible to mark tickets for which
>> Gen, and which component,
>> * release management for a new kind of release structure, and
>> * collective decision-making about the future project direction.
>
> This was the aim of the wiki page - can you please add those there? These
> are exactly the kinds of items I wanted listed so we can discuss with other
> Apache community and Mifos community members, how they could possibly
> contribute in completing these prerequisites.

Once I'm ready to support people in these tasks, I'll add them as JIRA
tickets.  It's easier to track them that way.  Before we can do that
though, I see two pre-requisites:

1.) The Apache Fineract project has to accept the Fineract CN code.
2.) The Mifos Initiative has to donate the code to the ASF and the ASF
has to accept it.

Given the ground-swell of interest in Fineract CN, the first point is
likely mostly a formality.  I still want a formal vote though, with
close to 100% participation.  This is a significant move, and it's
important to me that the Apache Fineract committers explicitly express
willingness to take on the responsibility.

I'm not entirely certain how step 2 proceeds.  The easiest way to find
out is to run it by the incubator -- that's where the Apache experts
for code donation "live".  Presumably the Mifos Initiative (ie Ed
Cable) will have to sign some forms and send them to the ASF, and the
ASF board will have to vote on it at a board meeting.  In this
process, one very significant contributor to that code base (Mark van
Veen) will probably need to sign an iCLA.  The rest of us already have
an iCLA on file with the ASF.

Let me be very clear on this: the code belongs to the Mifos
Initiative.  It doesn't belong to the ASF, and it doesn't belong to
Kuelap.

> I hope that by getting these lists out in the open, we can take some work
> off your plate.

Don't worry -- I will communicate openly about anything anybody else
can do to support this process.

Best Regards,
Myrle Krantz

Solution Architect, Kuelap, Inc

Re: Next Steps for Bringing Generation 3 Architecture into Apache Fineract

[Ed Cable <ed...@mifos.org>]

Thank you for your thorough email Myrle. This is exactly the conversation I
wanted to have start.

Please see some replies inline.



On Sun, Jul 30, 2017 at 1:21 AM, Myrle Krantz <my...@apache.org> wrote:

> Hello Ed,
>
> It's exciting to see some interest in the work that Markus, Mark, and
> I have been doing on Gen 3.  It has always been, and still is the
> intention to bring this code into the Apache Fineract community.
> However doing so will require considerable effort, especially from me.
>
> Last November I did a presentation on Fineract at ApacheCon in
> Seville, Spain [1].  The positive resonance was tremendous.  Several
> people asked me in QA and again in the hall afterwards how they
> personally could contribute. Unfortunately because I am working on Gen
> 3, I could not answer that question.  Instead I sent them to the
> mailing list, where very sadly not one person found an answer which
> enabled them to contribute to Fineract.


I can only recall one individual who actually sent an email to the mailing
list and he was immediately engaged. Unfortunately at the time the project
wasn't yet ready for his contribution but I've continued to try and engage
with him to no success



> I want to be the kind of
> person who provides actionable information, and requests, so I made a
> decision based on that experience: I will not ask for help on a
> project again until I am ready to personally guide a new contributor
> through the process of contributing:
> * getting the new project building,
> * understanding the project structure,
> * finding appropriate tickets, and
> * getting their pull request merged.
>

That's a good checklist to have in place. With Apache Fineract Version 1,
we try our best to do that and I hope that others in the community can
hopefully start the doing the same for Gen 3/Apache Fineract Version 2
without you or anybody from Kuelap having to be a bottleneck.



>
> I believe you are asking for this and more Ed.  You probably want:
> * changes in features and additional features to support the community,
> * help in deploying microservices in a cloud architecture,
> * documentation assuring MFIs, and end users about our security
> architecture, plus
> * assistance in calls with potential customers of Gen 3.
>

Yes I think ultimately these are the resources the community needs to put
in place but really what i'm asking for now is the 3rd list that you've
made below.  Those resources ideally will come but for now I would like us
to simply try to achieve the prerequisites to getting Gen 3 officially into
Apache. Because right now everybody knows about it, is anticipating it, is
eager to use it, etc. but it's in state of limbo until we address your list
below.

>
> Beyond both of these lists there is still more required to make this
> code into part of a successful Apache project:
> * addition of RAT to the build process,
> * adjustments to the project to remove non-Apache licensed code
> (potentially),
> * communications between Mifos and Apache to donate a tranche of code to a
> TLP,
> * communication with the Apache INFRA team to set up source
> repositories, and artifact repositories,
> * adjustments to JIRA to make it possible to mark tickets for which
> Gen, and which component,
> * release management for a new kind of release structure, and
> * collective decision-making about the future project direction.
>


This was the aim of the wiki page - can you please add those there? These
are exactly the kinds of items I wanted listed so we can discuss with other
Apache community and Mifos community members, how they could possibly
contribute in completing these prerequisites.

>
> There are probably a few tasks I haven't thought of that will have to
> be added to these lists.
>
> Unfortunately at this time, for various reasons, I'm not yet ready to
> do any of these three lists.  That is the reason I have not yet
> brought Gen 3 to the community.
>

I hope that by getting these lists out in the open, we can take some work
off your plate.

>
> Currently Kuelap is in startup mode, which I'm sure everyone here
> understands is a very intense mode of software development.  At the
> same time both of my daughters are at home for summer break, so I am
> caring for them during work hours.  Frankly I'm swamped.  I'm hoping
> that once I have both kids started into this school year, I'll have
> the time to take on responsibilities within the Apache Fineract
> community beyond those that I'm already fulfilling, such as those on
> some of the lists above. It may, however, be October before the dust
> on my end has settled enough to make time for extra responsibilities.
>

I understand the laser-focus that Kuelap is in but in my role as lead for
the Mifos Initiative and its community, we have a mandate to our donors and
a limited runway and time frame in which we are to catalyze a community on
Generation 3 and usher the community to this next generation. It's
difficult to do so until we achieve the prerequisites to make Gen 3 an
official part of Apache Fineract.

I don't envy your schedule (especially the child care part) as I'm now
watching over a 3 year old and know how exhausting and draining that can
be.

Regarding the lists above, the second lists will have to come in due time
(and I'm trying to bring on volunteers to assist in the same) but I would
like to work you, Markus, and the rest of the team in coordination with the
community to achieve the 3rd list and and what's been on the wiki page.

>
> In the mean time however, I can give you the following assurance.
> While Mark and I were in Seville in November, I talked to Apache Infra
> about hosting multiple repositories for one project.  They are ready,
> willing, and waiting for our tickets to create new repositories.  I
> met with Roman in California while I was there on vacation August 2016
> and again in Seville in November.  Apache projects do occasionally
> perform re-architectings and release old and new in parallel for a
> while.  There is no technical or organisational Apache-level obstacle
> to our plan of releasing Gen 2, and Gen 3 side-by-side for a while. In
> fact we have a lot of good will from the ASF.  As you know I've also
> created a plan for how to assemble our releases out of multiple
> independent repositories and sent it to the Fineract community for
> feedback [2].  There is no currently identified obstacle to collecting
> our release out of multiple repositories.
>
>
Thank you for providing that assurance as well - I had only gotten some
feedback from Brian during OSCON this May and had not heard of your
conversations with Roman until now - from my conversations with Craig, that
was still an outstanding question.

Thank you again for investing all the effort up-front into ensuring a
release can be made out of multiple repositories.

Best Regards,
> Myrle Krantz
>
> 1.) https://feathercast.apache.org/2017/01/26/apachecon-
> seville-2016-introducing-apache-fineract-incubating-myrle-krantz/
> 2.) https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/
> Composing+a+Release+out+of+Microservices
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 11:10 PM, Ed Cable <ed...@mifos.org> wrote:
> > Hello Apache Fineract Community,
> >
> > As communicated throughout numerous webinars and white papers across the
> > Mifos and Apache Fineract communities, the future of our technology
> centers
> > around our Generation 3 architecture (Apache Fineract 2.0).
> >
> > I'm starting this thread to initiate the process of moving this new
> > codebase and next major version of Apache Fineract into the community so
> we
> > can at last mobilize the community around the new architecture.
> >
> > Right now the codebase is in a Github Repository at
> > https://github.com/mifosio but the community cannot fully participate
> until
> > it's part of Apache and there is little visibility or documentation for
> the
> > community to know of the status of Generation 3.
> >
> > Across the community there is a groundswell of interest from partners and
> > volunteers to contribute to, build on top of, and extend the new
> > architecture. I've informed these individuals that have expressed
> interest
> > in private to do so publicly and engage more actively on the lists.
> >
> > I have started a wiki page to list out the next steps/outstanding
> questions
> > we need to explore to proceed forward. I request that others, especially
> > those who have lead the design and development of Generation 3, please
> > expand this list and take responsibility and ownership for some of the
> > outstanding tasks so we can get Fineract 2.0 available to the community.
> >
> > https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Finerac
> > t+2.0+Introduction
> >
> > A prior concern that we've explored was the ability to maintain two major
> > versions of a software within one Apache project. Based on my
> conversations
> > with Apache leadership like Brian Behlendorf at the recent OSCON
> > conference, there is no issue with a project having two live major
> versions
> > at the same time.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > *Ed Cable*
> > President/CEO, Mifos Initiative
>



-- 
*Ed Cable*
President/CEO, Mifos Initiative
edcable@mifos.org | Skype: edcable | Mobile: +1.484.477.8649

*Collectively Creating a World of 3 Billion Maries | *http://mifos.org
<http://facebook.com/mifos>  <http://www.twitter.com/mifos>

Re: Next Steps for Bringing Generation 3 Architecture into Apache Fineract

[Myrle Krantz <my...@apache.org>]

Hello Ed,

It's exciting to see some interest in the work that Markus, Mark, and
I have been doing on Gen 3.  It has always been, and still is the
intention to bring this code into the Apache Fineract community.
However doing so will require considerable effort, especially from me.

Last November I did a presentation on Fineract at ApacheCon in
Seville, Spain [1].  The positive resonance was tremendous.  Several
people asked me in QA and again in the hall afterwards how they
personally could contribute. Unfortunately because I am working on Gen
3, I could not answer that question.  Instead I sent them to the
mailing list, where very sadly not one person found an answer which
enabled them to contribute to Fineract.  I want to be the kind of
person who provides actionable information, and requests, so I made a
decision based on that experience: I will not ask for help on a
project again until I am ready to personally guide a new contributor
through the process of contributing:
* getting the new project building,
* understanding the project structure,
* finding appropriate tickets, and
* getting their pull request merged.

I believe you are asking for this and more Ed.  You probably want:
* changes in features and additional features to support the community,
* help in deploying microservices in a cloud architecture,
* documentation assuring MFIs, and end users about our security
architecture, plus
* assistance in calls with potential customers of Gen 3.

Beyond both of these lists there is still more required to make this
code into part of a successful Apache project:
* addition of RAT to the build process,
* adjustments to the project to remove non-Apache licensed code (potentially),
* communications between Mifos and Apache to donate a tranche of code to a TLP,
* communication with the Apache INFRA team to set up source
repositories, and artifact repositories,
* adjustments to JIRA to make it possible to mark tickets for which
Gen, and which component,
* release management for a new kind of release structure, and
* collective decision-making about the future project direction.

There are probably a few tasks I haven't thought of that will have to
be added to these lists.

Unfortunately at this time, for various reasons, I'm not yet ready to
do any of these three lists.  That is the reason I have not yet
brought Gen 3 to the community.

Currently Kuelap is in startup mode, which I'm sure everyone here
understands is a very intense mode of software development.  At the
same time both of my daughters are at home for summer break, so I am
caring for them during work hours.  Frankly I'm swamped.  I'm hoping
that once I have both kids started into this school year, I'll have
the time to take on responsibilities within the Apache Fineract
community beyond those that I'm already fulfilling, such as those on
some of the lists above. It may, however, be October before the dust
on my end has settled enough to make time for extra responsibilities.

In the mean time however, I can give you the following assurance.
While Mark and I were in Seville in November, I talked to Apache Infra
about hosting multiple repositories for one project.  They are ready,
willing, and waiting for our tickets to create new repositories.  I
met with Roman in California while I was there on vacation August 2016
and again in Seville in November.  Apache projects do occasionally
perform re-architectings and release old and new in parallel for a
while.  There is no technical or organisational Apache-level obstacle
to our plan of releasing Gen 2, and Gen 3 side-by-side for a while. In
fact we have a lot of good will from the ASF.  As you know I've also
created a plan for how to assemble our releases out of multiple
independent repositories and sent it to the Fineract community for
feedback [2].  There is no currently identified obstacle to collecting
our release out of multiple repositories.

Best Regards,
Myrle Krantz

1.) https://feathercast.apache.org/2017/01/26/apachecon-seville-2016-introducing-apache-fineract-incubating-myrle-krantz/
2.) https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Composing+a+Release+out+of+Microservices



On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 11:10 PM, Ed Cable <ed...@mifos.org> wrote:
> Hello Apache Fineract Community,
>
> As communicated throughout numerous webinars and white papers across the
> Mifos and Apache Fineract communities, the future of our technology centers
> around our Generation 3 architecture (Apache Fineract 2.0).
>
> I'm starting this thread to initiate the process of moving this new
> codebase and next major version of Apache Fineract into the community so we
> can at last mobilize the community around the new architecture.
>
> Right now the codebase is in a Github Repository at
> https://github.com/mifosio but the community cannot fully participate until
> it's part of Apache and there is little visibility or documentation for the
> community to know of the status of Generation 3.
>
> Across the community there is a groundswell of interest from partners and
> volunteers to contribute to, build on top of, and extend the new
> architecture. I've informed these individuals that have expressed interest
> in private to do so publicly and engage more actively on the lists.
>
> I have started a wiki page to list out the next steps/outstanding questions
> we need to explore to proceed forward. I request that others, especially
> those who have lead the design and development of Generation 3, please
> expand this list and take responsibility and ownership for some of the
> outstanding tasks so we can get Fineract 2.0 available to the community.
>
> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FINERACT/Finerac
> t+2.0+Introduction
>
> A prior concern that we've explored was the ability to maintain two major
> versions of a software within one Apache project. Based on my conversations
> with Apache leadership like Brian Behlendorf at the recent OSCON
> conference, there is no issue with a project having two live major versions
> at the same time.
>
> Thanks,
>
> *Ed Cable*
> President/CEO, Mifos Initiative