Incubator/Incubator Management
From Globus
In order for new projects to be created, Globus has a project called the Incubation Management Project(IMP) that is responsible for helping new efforts to join the Globus Alliance. A full list of the current incubator projects can be found at http://dev.globus.org/wiki/Welcome#Incubator_Projects and details of the Incubation process can be found at http://dev.globus.org/wiki/Incubator/Incubator_Process . The IMP can be reached via email at incubation-committers@globus.org
Since the meritocratic rules operate across Globus bottom to top, it is vital for the long-term stability of such a form of government, that the initial set of committers has to know very well the dynamics of such a system, as well as share the same philosophical attitude toward collaboration and openness that Globus expects from its projects.
The IMP is responsible for:
- filtering the proposals about the creation of a new project
- helping the creation of the project and the infrastructure that it needs to operate
- supervising and mentoring the incubated community in order for them to reach an open meritocratic environment
- evaluating the maturity of the incubated project, either promoting it to official project status or by retiring it, in case of failure.
Note that the IMP (just like the GMC) does not perform filtering on the basis of technical issues. This is because Globus respects and suggests variety of technical approaches. It does not fear innovation or even internal confrontation between projects which overlap in functionality.
The IMP filters projects on the basis of the likeliness of them becoming successful meritocratic communities. The basic requirements for incubation are:
- a working codebase—the Apache experience emphasizes that without an initial working codebase, it is generally hard to bootstrap a community. This is because merit is not well recognized by developers without a working codebase. Also, the friction that is developed during the initial design stage is likely to fragment the community.
- the intention to donate or license copyright of the software and the intellectual property that it may contain to Globus—this allows Globus to obtain an irrevocable and permanent right to redistribute and work on the code, without fearing lock-in for itself or for its users.
- an active developer community, and potential user community.
The incubation period normally serves to estimate whether or not the project is able to increase the diversity of its committer base and to play within the meritocratic rules of Globus. This might seem rather easy to achieve, but it must be remembered that in a volunteer and highly selective environment, attracting new committers is not automatic.
Diversity of committership is important for two main reasons:
- it gives long term stability to the project development: in fact, with all the developers affiliated to the same entity, the chance of seeing all of them moving away from the project at the same time is much greater than with a community of individuals affiliated to unrelated entities.
- it gives a greater variety of technical visions: something that guarantees a better adherence to environment and user's needs, thus a higher chance of finding real-life use of the software.
Details of the Incubation process can be found at http://dev.globus.org/wiki/Incubator/Incubator_Process .
Contents |
Product Metadata
Release Schedule
The Incubator Management project oversees the Incubation process for a set of ProtoProjects. These are reviewed on an at-least quarterly basis. The IMP, as such, does not do releases.
Jan 25, 2008 - Welcome Two New Incubator Projects
Sep 21, 2007 - Twenty-five Incubators and Growing!
June 15, 2007 - Welcome Four New Incubator Projects
Mar 9, 2007 - Dev.Globus Announces First Escalation and Welcomes Six New Incubator Projects
Nov 8 2006 - Six New Incubator projects announced!
June 5 2006 - First Five Incubator projects announced!
Roadmap
The set of current Incubator ProtoProjects and Candidate Projects can be found on the bugzilla.
Project Metadata
Chair
The Chair of the IMP is a 6-month rotating position. The current victim is Charles Bacon (bacon@mcs.anl.gov).
Committers
Charles Bacon (chair)
Neil Chue Hong
Lisa Childers
Ann Chervenak
Ruben Montero
Jennifer Schopf
Development Tasks
- Project chairs: please leave this item alone for now. Lisa to send out campaign definition instructions soon
Mailing Lists
Archive of general discussion: incubator-general@globus.org
Archive of announcements: incubator-announce@globus.org
Discussion by the IMP committers (project members) takes place on incubator-committers@globus.org which is not publicly archived. This is an open post list and the contact point for new projects wishing to join us.
How to subscribe
How to unsubscribe
Search the email archives
FAQ
- Link to project FAQ here
Policies
In addition to the Globus Alliance Project Guidelines and the Globus Toolkit Guidelines, the Incubator Management project adheres to the Incubation Process guidelines posted at http://dev.globus.org/wiki/Incubator/Incubator_Process .
