Apache James Project guidelines
This document defines the guidelines for the Apache James Project. It includes definitions of how conflict is being resolved by voting and who is able to vote.
The objective here is to avoid unnecessary conflicts over changes and continue to produce a quality system in a timely manner. Not all conflict can be avoided, but at least we can agree on the procedures for conflicts to be resolved.
People, Places, and Things
Apache James Project Management Committee
The group of volunteers who are responsible for managing the Apache James Project. This includes deciding what is distributed as products of the Apache James Project, maintaining the Project’s shared resources, speaking on behalf of the Project, resolving license disputes regarding Apache James products, nominating new PMC members or committers, and establishing these guidelines.
Membership in the Apache James PMC is by invitation only and must be approved by consensus of the active Apache James PMC members. A PMC member is considered inactive by their own declaration or by not contributing in any form to the project for over six months. An inactive member can become active again by reversing whichever condition made them inactive (i.e., by reversing their earlier declaration or by once again contributing toward the project’s work). Membership can be revoked by a unanimous vote of all the active PMC members other than the member in question.
Apache James Committers
The group of volunteers who are responsible for the technical aspects of the Apache James Project. This group has write access to the appropriate source repositories and these volunteers may cast non-binding votes on any technical discussion.
Membership as a Committer is by invitation only and must be approved by consensus of the active Apache James PMC members. A Committer is considered inactive by their own declaration or by not contributing in any form to the project for over six months. An inactive member can become active again by reversing whichever condition made them inactive (i.e., by reversing their earlier declaration or by once again contributing toward the project’s work). Membership can be revoked by a unanimous vote of all the active PMC members (except the member in question if they are a PMC member).
Mailing list
The Apache committers' primary mailing list for discussion of issues and changes related to the project (server-dev@james.apache.org). Subscription to the list is open, but only subscribers can post directly to the list.
Private list
The Apache James Project’s private mailing list for discussion of issues that are inappropriate for public discussion, such as legal, personal, or security issues prior to a published fix. Subscription to the list is only opened to Apache James PMC members and Apache Software Foundation Members.
Voting
Any of the Apache James Committers may vote on any issue or action item. However, the only binding votes are those cast by active members of the Apache James PMC; if the vote is about a change to source code or documentation, the primary author of what is being changed may also cast a binding vote on that issue. All other votes are non-binding. All committers are encouraged to participate in decisions, but the decision itself is made by those who have been long-time contributors to the project. In other words, the Apache Project is a minimum-threshold meritocracy.
The act of voting carries certain obligations — voting members are not only stating their opinion, they are agreeing to help do the work of the Apache Project. Since we are all volunteers, members often become inactive for periods of time in order to take care of their "real jobs" or devote more time to other projects. It is therefore unlikely that the entire group membership will vote on every issue. To account for this, all voting decisions are based on a minimum quorum.
Each vote can be made in one of three flavors:
+1 Yes, agree, or the action should be performed. On some issues, this vote is only binding if the voter has tested the action on their own system(s).
+-0 Abstain, no opinion, or I am happy to let the other group members decide this issue. An abstention may have detrimental effects if too many people abstain.
-1 No. On issues where consensus is required, this vote counts as a veto. All vetos must include an explanation of why the veto is appropriate. A veto with no explanation is void. No veto can be overruled. If you disagree with the veto, you should lobby the person who casts the veto. Voters intending to veto an action item should make their opinions known to the group immediately, so that the problem can be remedied as early as possible.
An action item requiring consensus approval must receive at least 3 binding +1 votes and no vetos. An action item requiring majority approval must receive at least 3 binding +1 votes and more +1 votes than -1 votes (i.e., a majority with a minimum quorum of three positive votes). All other action items are considered to have lazy approval until someone votes -1, after which point they are decided by either consensus or a majority vote, depending upon the type of action item.
All votes must be either sent to the mailing list for that action item.
Votes are to remain open for 72 hours after which the developer who put forth the vote should tabulate the result and send this to the mailing list. A developer should be sensitive to holidays that could dampen participation in the vote.
Types of Action Items
Long Term Plans
Long term plans are simply announcements that group members are working on particular issues related to the Apache software. These are not voted on, but group members who do not agree with a particular plan, or think an alternate plan would be better, are obligated to inform the group of their feelings. In general, it is always better to hear about alternate plans prior to spending time on less adequate solutions.
Short Term Plans
Short term plans are announcements that a developer is working on a particular set of documentation or code files, with the implication that other committers should avoid them or try to coordinate their changes. This is a good way to proactively avoid conflict and possible duplication of work.
Release Plan
A release plan is used to keep all the committers aware of when a release is desired, who will be the release manager, when the repository will be frozen in order to create the release, and assorted other trivia to keep us from tripping over ourselves during the final moments. Lazy majority decides each issue in the release plan.
Release Testing
After a new release is built, colloquially termed a tarball, it must be tested before being released to the public. Majority approval is required before the tarball can be publically released.
Product Changes
Changes to the Apache James products, including code and documentation, will appear as action items under several categories corresponding to the change status:
-
Concept/Plan An idea or plan for a change. These are represented as ADRs (Architectural Decision Records), stored under the
src/adrfolder. Votes are being requested early so as to uncover conflicts before too much work is done. You can find more information about this here. -
Proposed Patch A specific set of changes to the current product in the form of input to the patch command (a diff output).
-
Committed Change A one-line summary of a change that has been committed to the repository since the last public release.
All product changes to the currently active repository are subject to lazy consensus. All product changes to a prior-branch (old version) repository require consensus before the change is committed.