It's all about the Mentor role

[Craig L Russell <cr...@oracle.com>]

 From before the time my first project entered the incubator, it was  
emphasized to me that each project (or podling) had to have at least  
three active members, *not* just for diversity, but so that each  
action taken by a project (or podling) would have three binding votes.  
And the most important votes are for new committers and for software  
releases.

To my understanding, this "three's a minimum" informed the requirement  
to have three mentors on a project entering incubation, so there would  
be at least three binding votes to add committers to a podling and  
three binding votes to release software from the incubator.

In reviewing the documented roles of participants in incubation, I now  
notice that nowhere in the Mentor responsibilities does it mention  
voting.

I think that changing this will have a profound impact on how the  
incubator runs, and in particular, address a few of the main pain  
points we have seen in podlings.

Pain point 1: Podlings have to beg for binding votes for new  
committers. If mentors are required to vote on new committers for  
their podlings, there are three binding votes and the subsequent  
incubator pmc vote is just a formality.

Pain point 2: Podlings have to beg for binding votes for releases. If  
mentors are required to vote on podling releases, there are three  
binding votes and the subsequent incubator pmc vote is just a formality.

So before we blow up the incubator, I'd propose modifying the Mentor  
contract to require all mentors to cast votes on new committers and  
releases. And see how much of the current turmoil is addressed.

Craig

just me.

p.s. I think the issue of pmc chair not handling new members timely is  
about to be resolved with the proposal to allow a delegate.


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Re: It's all about the Mentor role

[ant elder <an...@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Feb 6, 2012 at 1:27 AM, Craig L Russell
<cr...@oracle.com> wrote:

>
> Pain point 1: Podlings have to beg for binding votes for new committers. If
> mentors are required to vote on new committers for their podlings, there are
> three binding votes and the subsequent incubator pmc vote is just a
> formality.
>

This was changed a while back so is no longer an issue. See the
"Voting in a new committer" section at
http://incubator.apache.org/guides/ppmc.html:

"...If there is consensus that the proposed member is suitable, then
there should be a formal vote in the PPMC private alias, with the
subject line of [VOTE] Joe Bob as committer. The [VOTE] message should
be forwarded to the IPMC ( private@incubator.apache.org) to notify
them that the vote is underway. To be successful the vote requires at
least one +1 from a podling mentor, or, if no mentors are available,
from an Incubator PMC member."

TBH i'd have been happier without the required +1 from mentor or IPMC
member but it seemed acceptable to get this change through at the time
and i don't think anyone has had to wait or beg for new committer
votes since we made the change.

   ...ant

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