Incubator Board Report June 2009

["Noel J. Bergman" <no...@devtech.com>]

This past month has been a normally good month for the Incubator.

There is a project, Traffic Server, that appears to be of interest to the
HTTPd crowd.  Another project, VXQuery, is in the process of being sponsored
by the XMLBeans PMC.

The Incubator is pleased to see that log4php has gained new life, and we
wish them much success in this next incarnation of the project.

Despite the confusion over when the reports are due this month, almost
everyone got their report in.  SocialSite and Wink are the exceptions.  Wink
is brand new, and SocialSite only a month old.  We'll look for reports from
them in each of the next three months.

The issue with Apache JSecurity/Apache Ki having trouble finding a name has
been, once again, resolved.  The new name is Apache Shiro.

The continued problems of specification publishing organizations permitting
IP restrictions on specifications intended for shared use is reflected in
this month's WSRP report.

---------------------------------------------------

= Ace =

Apache ACE is a software distribution framework that allows you to centrally
manage and distribute software components, configuration data and other
artifacts to target systems. ACE started incubation on April 24th 2009.

There are currently no issues requiring board or Incubator PMC attention.

Community:

 * The infrastructure is all in place, community is ready and waiting for
the IP clearance process to be completed.
 * Several people already looked at the donated codebase, and Toni Menzel
even has a couple of patches ready.
 * A logo was designed for the project, which is used in the wiki currently.

Software:

 * Initial codebase and documentation have been donated.
 * Software grant was mailed twice without success, now faxed it, just got
notified that it is on record now.

Licensing and other issues:

 * None at the moment, no code has been committed yet.


= Bluesky =

BlueSky has been incubating since 01-12-2008. It is an e-learning solution
designed to help solve the disparity in availability of qualified education
between well-developed cities and poorer regions of China.

Finally we committed our source code, though part of the source code, to SVN
repository. Now the most urgent things for us is to replace FFmpeg with
Theora and Vorbis. We've started to learn Theora and Vorbis but not too much
progress were gained. Another bad news is that we are now severely short of
hands. Some students are gonna graduate in days. Thus we have to enroll some
undergraduate students to our lab. We've already got one and he is now
getting familiar with our system. I hope that his participation would help.

Next step:

  *Continue to learn Theora and Vorbis, try to replace FFmpeg soon;


= Cassandra =

Cassandra is a distributed storage system providing reliability at a massive
scale.  Started incubation: 01/2009.  Opened to community in 03/2009.

The original authors of Cassandra from facebook (Avinash and Prashant) have
gone back to developing against an internal repository.  We have never seen
any involvement from initial committer Dan, either.

Despite this setback we continue to make progress; a 0.3.0 release is
imminent and two more committers have been nominated, out of six who
regularly submit patches.  Cassandra was represented at the recent NoSQL
distributed database summit by Avinash and Jonathan and was very well
received.

Past action items:

    * Consensus about the development process.  Done.  Development is done
in trunk with branches for releases.  A pre-commit patch review process is
followed that will be familiar to most apache committers.
    * JIRA permissions and configuration.  Done.
    * A bit more information on the web site.  Done.

Next steps:

    * Get new committers voted on
    * Get 0.3.0 release out


= Chemistry =

Apache Chemistry is an effort to provide a Java (and possibly others, like
JavaScript) implementation of the upcoming CMIS specification. Chemistry
entered incubation on April 30th, 2009.

The incubation process has started well. All the project infrastructure is
in place and all initial committers have their Apache accounts. We even
increased the headcount of the initial team as David Caruana joined the
project as a new committer.

Development of the Chemistry codebase has moved to Apache svn and there's
been a number or related discussions on the mailing list. Overall the
project is still in a startup phase as people are getting oriented with the
scope and structure of the project. A number of license headers were updated
to match Apache policies.

Issues before graduation:

  * Stabilize the general interest into a sustainable development community
  * Make sure that all licensing details conform with Apache policies
  * Create an Apache release of the Chemistry codebase


= Click =

Click is a stateless page and component oriented Java web framework.

Click has been incubating since July 2008.

Tasks completed since March:

 * Released Click 1.5.2, a non-Apache maintenance release hosted at
!SourceForge
 * Graduation to TLP was postponed as the IPMC felt that more PPMC members
are needed

Top priorities:

 * Grow the current developer community
 * Release Apache Click 2.1.0


= ESME =

Enterprise Social Messaging Experiment (ESME) is a secure and highly
scalable microsharing and micromessaging platform that allows people to
discover and meet one another and get controlled access to other sources of
information, all in a business process context.

ESME entered the incubator in 2008-12-02.

The following items have been performed since the last reporting period

 * Creation of initial draft of Apache Wiki
 * Dick Hirsch has successfully submitted his Apache CLA
 * Worked on cleaning up code with a focus on better separation of UI and
server code
 * Creation of branch to deal with access pools prototype

The following items are planned for the next reporting period:
 * Finish work on Apache wiki and replace old forrest site
 * Merge access pool branch into trunk
 * Work on new UI


Top 2 or 3 things to resolve prior to graduation
 * Move all collaboration to the esme-dev mailing list
 * Increase community involvement in the project
 * Provide instructions for people to build, install and evaluate EMSE by
themselves



= Etch =

Etch was accepted into Incubator on 2 September 2008.

Etch is a cross-platform, language- and transport-independent framework for
building and consuming network services. The Etch toolset includes a network
service description language, a compiler, and binding libraries for a
variety of programming languages.

On April 16 we announced the availability of a bug fix release (1.0.2) The
1.0.2 release also includes updated licensing information in compliance with
Apache standards. A 1.1 release is now being vetted and we hope to vote on
it soon. The 1.1 release includes proper package names, bug fixes,
enhancements, and also new code contributions in support of c and python
bindings (not yet fully functional).

Our problem with finding a home for our continuous build continues. Various
plans have been proposed and failed due to lack of a Windows-friendly c#
build environment. Cisco is no longer hosting our build environment. We need
to find a place do public builds.

Cisco folks continue to be the primary source of discussion and commits.
There are some external nibbles, but none that are ready to pitch-in in a
serious way yet. More work needs to be done on the web site to make steps to
participation more evident. Work also needs to be done on the build
environment to make it easier to get started. Some of the etch committers
have left Cisco, more will soon follow.

Also in April, Manoj Ganesan (Dell) has been accepted by the incubator pmc
to be our newest etch committer. Seth Call and JD Liau have withdrawn from
the project.

I believe all of the outstanding items are done, but it isn't clear to me
(scott) what the process is to check them off.

Outstanding items:
 * Check and make sure that the papers that transfer rights to the ASF been
received...
 * Check and make sure that the files that have been donated have been
updated to reflect the new ASF copyright...
 * Check and make sure that for all code included with the distribution that
is not under the Apache license...
 * Check and make sure that all source code distributed by the project is
covered by one or more of the following approved licenses...


= Hama =

Hama has been incubating since 19 May, 2008. It is a parallel matrix
computational package based on Hadoop Map/Reduce.

Recent developments:

 * We implemented the matrix norm and transpose methods.

Required before graduation:

 * More practical examples of matrix manipulation
 * Increase community size and activity
 * First Apache release


= Kato =

Kato was accepted into the Incubator on 6 November 2008.

Kato is a project to develop the Specification, Reference Implementation,
and TCK for JSR 326: the JVM Post-mortem Diagnostics API

Recent Activity:

 * We produced two implementations of the Apache Kato API - one based on
Hprof and another on JVMTI using python.
 * A Developerworks article on Apache Kato and JSR-326 was published.
 * The API is being built and Javadoc is available on Hudson.
 * Builds are now being performed on the ASF's Hudson server
 * A presentation was given on the Apache Kato API. Recordings are available
on the Wiki.
 * A BOF on Apache Kato and JSR-326 was held at Java One 2009 - BOF-4870.

The following is planned for next reporting period:

 * We will produce an Early Draft Review for the JSR in time to meet it's
deadline.
 * We will build all of the project on the ASF's Hudson server.
 * We will have a viable reference implementation of the API and TCK.

Before this project can be graduated we need to produce a usable
implementation of the API and more useful tools to encourage adoption and
participation of a much needed community.


= Log4php =

Log4PHP is a logging framework similar to Log4J, but in PHP. The project
entered incubation in 2004, retired and restarted again on 2007-07-04.

After some discussions beginning 2009 about lack of committer and community
interest, several people showed up their interest in continuing this
project. The following people joined the project:

 * 2009-04-28 - New Committer: Christian Grobmeier
 * 2009-04-28 - New Committer: Gavin McDonald
 * 2009-04-28 - New Mentor: Niclas Hedhman
 * 2009-04-28 - New Mentor: Gavin McDonald

Log4PHP now has a PPMC private list - log4php-private@incubator.apache.org.
Current Mentors and existing committers have been emailed asking them to
join this list.

Several code changes has been done in the following weeks:

 * Activity on porting log4php to PHP5
 * Increased the number of test cases
 * Cleaned up code and codestyle

Next steps:

 * Finishing php5 port
 * Cleaning up code
 * Updating documentation + Website
 * Try to attract more developers for Log4PHP
 * Bringing Continuus Integration to a Apache Host (currently hosted on
private servers bei Knut Urdalen)
 * Looking at getting an incubating release done.

Issues before graduation:

 * Still less community interaction


= OpenWebBeans =

OpenWebBeans will be an ASL-licensed implementation of the Contexts and
Dependency Injection for Java EE Specification which is defined as JSR-299.

OpenWebBeans entered the incubator in October 26, 2008. The following items
have been made after the last report

 * We released the M2 version
 * We created additional documentation in the wiki page
 * We implemented full blown JSF + JPA + OWB application that shows usage of
the OpenWebBeans
 * Gurkan Erdogdu replaces Matthias Wessendorf seat on the JSR-299 EG

Belows are the next steps;

 * We will release the M3 version.
 * We will create more documentation in the wiki
 * We will continue to attract new committers into the project.

There are some concerns related with the specification and its
implementation,

  * JSR-299 specification has changed so much from the last draft. It has
been having a negative impact on the implementation.
  * Last draft specification has a tight integration with Java EE's other
specifications so that integration with an EJB, Servlet, Managed Beans etc.
with the OWB is unavoidable. So, we have to work closely with other Apache
Teams who have been implementing aferomentioned specifications to fully
implement the JSR-299 and to pass TCK.


= RAT =

Rat was accepted into the incubator in November 2007

Rat audits releases.

Since the last report:

 * The first release here at Apache was cut (which drew assistance from
lurkers)
 * The code has been simplified with the aim of making it more accessible to
new developers

We hope to extend RAT to provide a central way of verifying the status of
source code in Incubator projects (and eentually all ASF projects). The hope
is that by making it more useful to the wonderful ASF committers we will see
RAT becoming more functional.

The biggest problem that needs to be resolved before graduation is final
destination.

To graduate as a top level project, significant numbers of new developers
would need to be attracted. This would probably require significant energy
to be devoted first into extending it's usefulness beyond Apache-like open
source projects then raising it's profile.

Conversely, ATM there is no candidate top level project which could home Rat
as a sub-project (suggestions welcomed).


= River =

River is aimed at the development and advancement of the Jini technology
core infrastructure. Jini technology is a service oriented architecture that
defines a programming model which both exploits and extends Java technology
to enable the construction of secure, distributed systems which are adaptive
to change. River has been incubating since December 2006.

  * Recently there has been increased activity in River's development
process with the arrival of three new Committer's, Jonathan Costers, Peter
Firmstone and Tom Hobbs.

  * AR2 is almost ready for release, and the committers are learning how to
use the testing framework from Sun, and gradually move things to JUnit or
more commonly understood testing systems.

  * For testing reasons, additional server resources might be requested for
the jtreg and integration tests; An HTTP proxy (River-306) and KDC server
(River-307) are necessary.

  * The decision was made to allow developers to use Java 5 new language
features and change the com.sun.jini.* and com.artima.* namespaces to
org.apache.river.* (River-261) after the release of AR2.

  * Efforts are being made for preservation of existing documentation, mail
lists and River dependent projects that currently exist outside of River.
Sun is closing Jini and RMI mailing lists, including the archives, which
contains a wealth of information.

  * Consolidation of external Jini projects was discussed as optional
add-ons, this discussion is still open, pending River incubation graduation.

Mentor's (Niclas) additional reporting; It is good to see new fresh blood
getting active in the community and a more positive atmosphere is starting
to emerge, and I think the worries in the previous report is decreasing.


= Shindig =

Shindig is a reference implementation of the !OpenSocial and gadgets stack.
The active community has built two parallel implementations of the
!OpenSocial and gadgets spec; one in Java and one in PHP.

Incubating since: 2007-12-06

High-level status summary during last quarter:

    * stable release compliant to !OpenSocial v0.8.1 currently being
reviewed by PMC
    * updates for !OpenSocial v0.9 are implemented and in production on
several sites that support !OpenSocial
    * updated http://incubator.apache.org/shindig/ with a new layout and
more resources
    * held a logo contest and adopted a new logo


= SocialSite =

DID NOT REPORT


= Wink =

DID NOT REPORT


= WSRP4J =

The WSRP4J Project is an implementation of WSRP 1.0 Producer. WSRP is an
OASIS specification that describes a protocol which allows portlets to be
accessed remotely using Web Services.

The WSRP4J Project has been adopted by the Portals PMC, while still in the
Apache Incubator, with the intent to eventually graduate as a sub-project of
Apache Portals.

However, there has been no changes nor real activity in the WSRP4J project
for quite some time.

While the the interest for WSRP4J might seem to have dwindled, several
active Apache Portals committers still belief there is a real potential to
reactivate this project, especially in the light of the new WSRP 2.0 OASIS
specification. As the only existing "open" standard in this area, interest
for a formal release also has been expressed (privately) by several large
organizations, including governmental.

Furthermore, even while there hasn't been a formal WSRP4J (incubator)
release so far, in reality its codebase has been adapted and is in use by
non ASF products and projects quite a lot.

But the primary reason why further development has been stalled is a legal
one with regards to IPR.  Two parties of the WSRP technical committee, IBM
and WebCollage, have stated patent claims on the WSRP specification.  See
also: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/wsrp/ipr.php.  Concerning the
claims from IBM we think those are not limiting us to produce an ASF
compliant release of WSRP4J.  But we are still not sure about the claims
from WebCollage.

Last year, with the help from legal-internal, we have pursuit to resolve
these uncertainties, and there has been preliminary contact with WebCollage,
but this has stalled again.

We still hope we can resolve this satisfactory, but we do seek further help
and legal advise how to proceed.



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