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The Apache Software Foundation
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes - DRAFT
January 22, 2003
1. Call to order
The meeting was scheduled for 10am PDT -0800 and was begun when
a sufficient attendance to constitute a quorum was recognized
by the chairman at 10:10am. The meeting was held by
teleconference hosted by Jim Jagielski (Covalent):
IRC #apacheboard on irc.freenode.net was used for backup
purposes.
2. Roll Call
Directors Present:
Brian Behlendorf
Ken Coar
Roy T. Fielding (arrived at 11:02am)
Jim Jagielski
Sam Ruby
Greg Stein
Bill Stoddard
Directors Absent:
Dirk-Willem van Gulik
Ben Laurie
Guests:
Chuck Murcko
Davanum Srinivas
3. Minutes and supplements from previous meetings
A. The meeting of December 18, 2002
See board_minutes_2002_12_18.txt in cvs.apache.org:/home/cvs board.
These minutes were not approved at this time since not all directors
had read and reviewed them.
4. Officer Reports
A. Chairman [Greg]
Greg reported on the refactoring of the XML Project and was mostly
pleased with the current status of most of the ASF projects.
B. President [Dirk]
No report.
C. Treasurer [Chuck]
Chuck had nothing to report.
D. Exec. V.P. and Secretary [Jim]
Jim reported that the ASF office had received some signed
CLAs and License Assignments, mostly for the Jakarta
subprojects. These were noted to the subprojects as a matter
of course. Jim also reported that the POP3 Protocol module,
which was developed by Ryan Bloom and a version of which is
currently under CVS, is, in fact, covered under the Apache
License. There was some discussion of whether this was the
case.
5. Committee Reports
A. Apache DB Project [Jason van Zyl]
See Attachment A. By general consent, this report was
recorded as entered and approved.
B. Apache TCL Project [David Welton]
See Attachment B. By general consent, this report was
recorded as entered and approved.
C. Conference Planning [Ken Coar]
Ken reported on the growing frustration with Security Travel.
Feedback on the conference itself has been favorable, yet
Security's responsiveness on post-conference details has been
less than acceptable at times. Preliminary results indicate
that ApacheCon 2002 may not show a profit.
D. Security Team [Ben Laurie]
See Attachment D. By general consent, this report was
recorded as entered and approved.
E. Ant Project [Conor MacNeill]
See Attachment E. By general consent, this report was
recorded as entered and approved.
Discussed at this phase was the growing need for a universal
set of Bylaws, or at least a boilerplate Bylaw that all
projects and subprojects could use. There was
also some discussion regarding the use of 'authortags' in
codebases and whether it was useful, beneficial, harmless
or harmful.
F. Avalon Project [Nicola Ken Barozzi]
See Attachment F. By general consent, this report was
recorded as entered and approved.
6. Other Reports
A. Sam Ruby -- discussions with the PHP Group
Sam reported that the PHP group, in general, would favor
a move to v2.0 of the Apache License. However, a move
to more fully follow normal ASF project considerations
would be difficult. PHP enjoys its own infrastructure,
CVS policies and community, separate and distinct from
the ASF. It was further discussed whether it made sense
for PHP to be considered a "sister project" to the ASF
rather than a "real" ASF project. The general consent
was that was the most likely end result but that
discussion would continue.
B. Status update on Peter Donald's suspension.
The board was brought up to date on Mr. Donald's suspension.
A key point was his insistance on certain statements being
made out of context or even completely fabricated yet "forbidding"
the board and others from posting the Emails and discussions
which would prove matters once and for all.
7. Special Orders
A. Creation of the Apache Cocoon Project
WHEREAS, the Board of Directors deems it to be in the best
interests of the Foundation and consistent with the
Foundation's purpose to establish a Project Management
Committee charged with the creation and maintenance of
open-source software related to the Apache Cocoon framework,
for distribution at no charge to the public.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that a Project Management
Committee (PMC), to be known as the "Apache Cocoon PMC", be and
hereby is established pursuant to Bylaws of the Foundation; and
be it further
RESOLVED, that the Apache Cocoon PMC be and hereby is
responsible for the creation and maintenance of the Cocoon
framework and related software components, subject to a
revised charter, based on software licensed to the Foundation;
and be it further
RESOLVED, that the office of "Vice President, Apache Cocoon" be
and hereby is created, the person holding such office to serve
at the direction of the Board of Directors as the chair of the
Apache Cocoon PMC, and to have primary responsibility for
management of the projects within the scope of responsibility
of the Apache Cocoon PMC; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the persons listed immediately below be and
hereby are appointed to serve as the initial members of the
Apache Cocoon PMC (in alphabetical order by lastname):
Nicola Ken Barozzi (nicolaken@apache.org)
Marcus Crafter (crafterm@apache.org)
David Crossley (crossley@apache.org)
Torsten Curdt (tcurdt@apache.org)
Bertrand Delacr<E9>taz (bdelacretaz@apache.org)
Vadim Gritsenko (vgritsenko@apache.org)
Christian Haul (haul@apache.org)
Bernhard Huber (huber@apache.org)
Matthew Langham (mlangham@apache.org)
Berin Loritsch (bloritsch@apache.org)
Stefano Mazzocchi (stefano@apache.org)
Michael Melhem (michaelm@apache.org)
John Morrison (morrijr@apache.org)
Steven Noels (stevenn@apache.org)
Andrew C. Oliver (acoliver@apache.org)
Giacomo Pati (giacomo@apache.org)
Konstantin Piroumian (kpiroumian@apache.org)
Ovidiu Predescu (ovidiu@apache.org)
Jeremy Quinn (jeremy@apache.org)
Gianugo Rabellino (gianugo@apache.org)
Peter Royal (proyal@apache.org)
Diana Shannon (shannon@apache.org)
Sylvain Wallez (sylvain@apache.org)
Jeff Turner (jefft@apache.org)
Carsten Ziegeler (cziegeler@apache.org)
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Stefano Mazzocchi
be and hereby is appointed to the office of Vice President,
Apache Cocoon, to serve in accordance with and subject to the
direction of the Board of Directors and the Bylaws of the
Foundation until death, resignation, retirement, removal or
disqualification, or until a successor is appointed; and be it
further
RESOLVED, that the initial Apache Cocoon PMC be and hereby is
tasked with the creation of a set of bylaws intended to
encourage open development and increased participation in the
Apache Cocoon Project.
RESOLVED, that the initial Apache Cocoon PMC be and hereby is
tasked with the migration and rationalization of the XML PMC
Cocoon subproject; and be it further
RESOLVED, that all responsibility pertaining to the XML Cocoon
sub-project and encumbered upon the XML PMC are hereafter
discharged.
By Unanimous Vote, the above Resolution Passes.
B. Creation of the Apache James Project
Please see the additional commentary provided in Attachment G.
WHEREAS, the Board of Directors deems it to be in the best
interests of the Foundation and consistent with the
Foundation's purpose to establish a Project Management
Committee charged with the creation and maintenance of
open-source software related to the Apache James E-Mail server
and the Apache Mailet API, for distribution at no charge to the
public.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that a Project Management
Committee (PMC), to be known as the "Apache James PMC", be and
hereby is established pursuant to Bylaws of the Foundation; and
be it further
RESOLVED, that the James PMC be and hereby is responsible for
the creation and maintenance of software related to the Apache
James Mail and News server, the Apache Mailet message
processing API, and related software components based on
software licensed to the Foundation; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the office of "Vice President, Apache James" be
and hereby is created, the person holding such office to serve
at the direction of the Board of Directors as the chair of the
Apache James PMC, and to have primary responsibility for
management of the projects within the scope of responsibility
of the Apache James PMC; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the persons listed immediately below be and
hereby are appointed to serve as the initial members of the
Apache James PMC:
Serge Knystautas
Danny Angus
Peter Goldstein
Noel Bergman
Charles Bennet
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Serge Knystautas
be and hereby is appointed to the office of Vice President,
James, to serve in accordance with and subject to the direction
of the Board of Directors and the Bylaws of the Foundation
until death, resignation, retirement, removal or
disqualification, or until a successor is appointed; and be it
further
RESOLVED, that the initial Apache James PMC be and hereby is
tasked with the creation of a set of bylaws intended to
encourage open development and increased participation in the
James Project; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the initial Apache James PMC be and hereby is
tasked with the migration and rationalization of the Jakarta
PMC James subproject; and be it further
RESOLVED, that all responsibility pertaining to the Jakarta
James sub-project and encumbered upon the Jakarta PMC are
hereafter discharged.
By Unanimous Vote, the above Resolution Passes.
C. Creation of the Web Services Project
WHEREAS, the Board of Directors deems it to be in the best
interests of the Foundation and consistent with the
Foundation's purpose to establish a Project Management
Committee charged with the creation and maintenance of
open-source software related to Web Services, for distribution
at no charge to the public.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that a Project Management
Committee (PMC), to be known as the "Web Services PMC", be and hereby
is established pursuant to Bylaws of the Foundation; and be it
further
RESOLVED, that the Web Services PMC is be and hereby is responsible
for software related to the provision and discovery of application
program interfaces made available via HTTP (and others like SMTP,
JMS) and whose requests and responses are usually formatted in
XML. The technologies relevant here are those typically associated
with "Web Services" by the popular IT press, such as SOAP, XML-RPC,
UDDI, WSDL, and others. Based on software licensed to the
Foundation; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the office of "Vice President, Web Services" be and
hereby is created, the person(s) holding such office to serve at
the direction of the Board of Directors as the chair of the
Web Services PMC, and to have primary responsibility for management
of the projects within the scope of responsibility of the
Web Services PMC; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the persons listed immediately below be and
hereby are appointed to serve as the initial members of the
Web Services PMC:
David Chappell
Glen Daniels
Anthony Elder
Jeremy Hughes
Tom Jordahl
Erwin van der Koogh
Ted Leung
Steve Loughran
Christian Geuer-Pollmann
Axl Mattheus
Nirmal Mukhi
Scott Nichol
Daniel Rall
Sam Ruby
Alek Slominski
James Snell
Davanum Srinivas
Sanjiva Weerawarana
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Davanum Srinivas
be and hereby is appointed to the office of Vice President,
Web Services, to serve in accordance with and subject to the direction
of the Board of Directors and the Bylaws of the Foundation until death,
resignation, retirement, removal or disqualification, or until a
successor is appointed; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the initial Web Services PMC be and hereby is tasked
with the creation of a set of bylaws intended to encourage open
development and increased participation in the Web Services Project;
and be it further
RESOLVED, that the initial Web Services PMC be and hereby is tasked
with the migration and rationalization of the XML PMC
Axis, SOAP, Security, and XML-RPC subprojects; and be it further
RESOLVED, that all responsibility pertaining to the XML Axis,
Soap, Security, and XML-RPC sub-projects and encumbered upon
the Web Services PMC are hereafter discharged.
By a vote of 6 For and 1 Against, the above Resolution Passes.
8. Unfinished Business
9. New Business
10. Announcements
The following new members were elected to the Jakarta PMC:
Nicola Ken Barozzi
Robert Burrel Donkin
Stephen Colebourne
Martin Cooper
Henri Gomez
John Keyes
Larry Isaacs
Otis Gospodnetic
Thomas Mahler
Remy Maucherat
Glenn Nielsen
Andrew C Oliver
Rob Oxspring
Martin Poeschl
Scott Sanders
David Sean Taylor
Glen Stampoultzis
Mladen Turk
James Turner
Henri Yandell
11. Adjournment
Scheduled to adjourn by 11:30 PDT -0800; adjourned at 11:56am.
============
ATTACHMENTS:
============
-----------------------------------------
Attachment A: Status report for the Apache DB Project
As yet there is no site or charter for db.apache.org but I wanted to
assure the board that the desire to bring db.apache.org to fruition
hasn't waned. I know that all the the PMC members have been busy with
their projects and I would like some things to happen before the site
is launched.
I would like the site to be generated as changes are made to the
individual projects in as much an automated fashion as possible. I
want to be notified of exceptions: I don't want anyone to have to
manage this manually. I do not want to foist yet another disparate,
incoherent website on an unsuspecting crowd. I would like
db.apache.org to be an example of what an OSS website can be. I also
don't want this process to consume my life, or anyone else's.
To this end, over the last while I've been working on Maven, Plexus,
Continuum and have hired Bob McWhirter to improve Drools and create
Werkflow: the only OSSPetrinet-based workflow engine that I'm aware
of. I'm using all these tools as part of my daytime work but slight
adjustments have been made here and there to accomodate things I would
like for db.apache.org. I would like the site and infrastructure to be
manageable from day one.
If there were projects that were planned to be released for the first
time on db.apache.org then I would certainly be guilty of not pushing
hard enough to get the site, charter and infrastructure in order. But
none of the projects that are initially taking part are being dealt
any life threatening blows due to the non-existence of the
db.apache.org site.
I would like the PMC to have the time to get the project together as
we see fit. I realize that the DB PMC has not made much progress on
the infrastructure side but none of us have been idle. I am trying to
make some tools I think will be valuable and genuinely help. Axion,
Torque, and OJB are also getting in a lot better shape to the point
where real releases could be made available when the site launches
which I think is a good thing.
I myself can't commit to a date for the launch (someone else may want
to) as this is purely volunteer and my day job takes precendence but I
think it holds true that each of the PMC members want to see this
happen.
If it is the case that we must have something by a date to satisfy the
board then I will not personally commit and will let someone else
commit and take over the chair position. I feel I would rather wait
and make something worthfile then procure something to satisfy an
artificial requirement. As I noted before, I don't think any harm is
being done by not launching. As an aside I'm curious as to the history
surrounding the nascent Jakarta and XML projects? Were there in fact
deadlines or was the time taken to get things in order properly?
If we need things like the charter then we could probably borrow one
from an existing project and ratify it in short order, but I would
still like to wait on the launch of the site.
---
[1] Maven: http://jakarta.apache.org/turbine/maven
[2] Plexus: A application container based on Avalon. Maven will eventually
be a Plexus application.
[3] Continuum: A continuous integration tool using Plexus, Drools, and Werkflow
[4] Drools: OO-Rete based rules engine.
[5] Werkflow: Petrinet-based workflow engine using Drools.
-----------------------------------------
Attachment B: Status report for the Apache TCL Project
The Apache Tcl project continues to move along, slowly, but surely.
Most of the recent work has gone into Rivet and mod_dtcl. Thanks to
Randy Stanard, we now have a new logo for Rivet, and soon we hope to
have one for Apache Tcl as a whole (which will probably be some
combination of the Tcl feather plus the Apache one). Rivet is now
available as a download, and we are working towards stabilizing it,
especially on the windows platform, in order to do a real release.
NeoWebScript is heading for mothballing, sooner or later. mod_dtcl
will also be phased out in favor of Rivet as the latter continues to
stabilize. This will help bring down the number of codebases to a
more manageable three, instead of the current 5.
After voting on the idea of accepting projects that are not
necessarily related to C code that ties together the web server and
Tcl, we have begun looking for interesting candidates, although to
date we haven't started down this path with any codebases. We are
trying to be very selective. Some of the projects we have talked with
include tclhttpd, tclxml, and the people responsible for starkits (a
system for deploying a tcl/tk system in one file).
There are no outstanding legal issues or with people involved in the
project.
-----------------------------------------
Attachment C: Status report for the Conference Planning Committee
There is no Attachment C.
-----------------------------------------
Attachment D: Status report for the Security Team
The security team now has its own mailing list
(security-team@apache.org), for discussion of team business and _not_
security issues.
security@apache.org is still the primary contact for security issues,
which are then dispatched to the security list for the appropriate
(sub-)project. These are being set up on a piecemeal basis, as needed
for new security issues, and are of the form
<project>-security@apache.org, security@<project>.apache.org or
<subproject>-security@<project>.apache.org. This diversity is
regrettable, but needed in order to match the list to the correct
audience, without breaking intuitiveness of naming.
security@apache.org is subscribed to _all_ these mailing lists, so the
core security team remain aware of developments.
So far these lists only exist for httpd and Tomcat, but this is
probably a good thing, so we can work out any wrinkles in the plan
without having to modify dozens of lists to conform.
There is also a CVS repository, security, which is used to (manually)
track the status of reports. It is currently proposed to break this
into subdirectories for each (sub-)project, with group access as
appropriate to the subdirectory (which I support, but has not yet had
time for discussion).
I've also unilaterally adopted a numbering scheme for tracking
reports, of the form AST-yyyymmdd(-nn), with no complaints yet heard.
Although it is early days, it seems clear that this system has already
resulted in two clear positive benefits:
a) issues are not getting (permanently) dropped on the floor
b) issues are being dispatched to the project teams and are no longer
summarily dealt with by the security core team.
-----------------------------------------
Attachment E: Status report for the Ant Project
o Ant 1.5.2
Recent discussions on the dev list has settled that 1.5.2 will
primarily address the Jar update bug. Once this has been fixed,
1.5.2 will be released and will include all other bug fixes
committed to that date. That will then be the final 1.5 release
barring discovery of new urgent problems.
o Ant 1.6
Still expecting a release around Mid year. The strategy for this
release will be to complete new core functionality in the first
quarter and then leave the core to settle. Since these are core
changes , I envisage a long beta cycle to get these changes well
tested.
Recently an <import> task has been implemented. This is still
experimental and has thrown up some issues regarding the resolution
of file paths in the importedbuilds. It is not clear if import
should be a straight include mechanism or it should support the
composition of projects into larger projects, each with its own
basedir and property namespaces. currently <import> does a bit of
both theseroles.
Other goals for new functionality in the Ant core include
* Some form of ant library mechanism. We have pretty much settled on
associatinglibraries with XML namespaces to give each library of
tasks its own namespace toavoid collisions and to allow a build to
specify the libraries it uses (via namespace declarations)
* Support for polymorphic types. This may not be included in the 1.6
release, if we consider that the core has already changed
significanly.
* Delayed Task construction, Top levels tasks, etc. These are
implemented and seem relatively stable.
o ant.apache.org site
The site is live but still in development. This hasn't stopped us
getting bug reports about its XHTML compliance :-). One of the Ant
committers has developed a stylesheet for Anakia to give the site a
Forrest look and feel (so called FakeForest).
No decision has been taken to adopt Forrest at this time, however.
o Bylaws
I haven't done much work on the bylaws so these will probably not be
ready by end Jan, as stated in the last report.
I think this is the area where the board can be of most
assistance. As I said in that report, as more projects move to the
Top level, it does not make sense for each project to develop a new
set of bylaws, guidelines, etc. This is something I think should be
standardised across projects. Not only would it eliminate
duplication, it would reinforce the concept of an "Apache Way". If
each project adopts its own version of the bylaws, that concept will
be diluted and differences emerge.
o Legal Issues
No new issues.
o Outstanding bugs and patches
Stefan and I are working through the bug reports. Still a large
number outstanding.
o Community
Community on both the ant-user and ant-dev lists is very strong,
with much active discussion taking place without any flamage.
-----------------------------------------
Attachment F: Status report for the Avalon Project
Out project STATUS file
-------------------------
http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi/jakarta-avalon/STATUS.txt?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup
Diff between this and last report:
http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi/jakarta-avalon/STATUS.txt.diff?r1=text&tr1=1.13&r2=text&tr2=1.21&diff_format=h
Additional info for the board
-------------------------
* What code releases have been made?
Phoenix has been released to fix some bugs.
We will soon release Fortress.
We now have a tentative roadmap to a single container, and Fortress
will be the first step.
* Any legal issues to bring to the board?
AvalonDB, part of Avalon Apps, will want to move out of Apache
and have the license be reassigned to the authors-contributors
of that codebase. Pending the request of the authors for this,
I'm asking if the board would have the intent to grant such
a copyright change to the original authors, specifying if
the adoption of an Apache-like license would influence this
decision.
* Any cross-project issues that need to be addressed?
We are progressively getting rid of projects that are not in scope.
AltRMI has asked Incubator to be relocated, but has not asked
for a target location.
We will decide base-by basis about where to move them.
* Any problems with committers, members, etc?
There is growing unrest for some, due to uncertaincy about
Peter Donald's status. In my past report I saw that the one
that were originally were resisting change were partecipating
in it actively. To be more precise this time, if we talk about
changes in the technical project direction, it still applies.
The problem is about new community rules we are deciding on.
The focus on good code instead of good community is still
very rooted in some committers.
* Plans and expectations for the next period?
For the first time in weeks, decisions started to appear without
strong discussions, like the one about the project roadmap.
This is a good sign, so I expect that we will follow that roadmap
and work actively towards a container effort done with all the
community.
We will be probably creating a Component subproject where projects
that use Avalon can contribute in maintaining the Avalon components
they use. This would be the first step towards a future unified
Component repository.
* etc (your own thoughts on what is important would be helpful!)
The 3 month suspension of Peter Donald is coming to an end,
and we don't see a resolution to the issue. This is
starting to hurt.
He hasn't appeared to change the same disruptive patterns seen
before, and has again said that he was not informed about the
reason of the suspension.
I see two trends now, a positive one about the advancement of the
community, and a negative one incentrated on the suspension of
Peter Donald. Things are now moving (still slowly) in
a single direction, except for the suspension afromentioned.
A recent discussion on @author tags has ignited a very strong
discussion [1].Recognition in the form of @author tags is so deeply
rooted that it has been percieved by some as if all code and
documents of the project were to be cleaned of any reference
to committers.
It's quite clear to me that it disturbes some that "perfectly
good code" is being abandoned "just because it's a one-man
codebase". My feeling is that it will change when we will
see tangible results from the new effort.
As for me, I'll try to keep a somewhat lower profile now
that all major issues have been addressed, and concentrate
on the application of these decisions, in any way I
will feel that the community would prefer.
[1] http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?t=104297259700001&r=1&w=2
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------
Attachment G: Supporting commentary for creating Apache James
The following text was received by the Board, in support of creating
the Apache James PMC.
Jakarta-James Proposal for adoption as an Apache top-level project
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Preamble:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To the Board of the Apache Software Foundation.
We, the committers of the Jakarta sub-project jakarta-james have held a
vote and agreed to apply to you for elevation of our sub-project to
the status of a top-level Apache project.
This document outlines details of our project, our community, and our
reasons for wanting to take this step.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction to James:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
James is a 100% Java mail and news server, evolving into a complete
electronic messaging solution that integrates the range of IETF
protocols, such as SMTP, POP3, IMAP, NNTP, and XXMP with unified user
account management and open storage mechanisms.
James provides highly configurable SMTP mail transport and local
delivery into POP3 or IMAP accounts, utilizing file system or database
storage configurable on a per-repository basis.
The jakarta-james sub-project hosts the Apache Mailet API specification
The Mailet API is a Java API providing a framework for the conditional
processing of electronic messages.
James implements the Mailet API, and as such is itself a platform for
Mailet applications. Mailet applications include providing custom mail
processing, such as list servers, or providing gateways into other
systems, messaging systems such as NNTP, SMS or proprietary messaging,
or insertion into non-standard storage media.
James itself provides a number of mailets performing configurable
standard MTA services, such as aliasing and forwarding.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reasons for our application:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
General:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
James is a mature, self-determining project that is able to govern
itself under the auspices of the ASF Board in accordance with ASF
bylaws and guidelines.
As James consists primarily of the server which is an end-user product
we feel that top level project status, emphasizng its function rather
than its platform, would suit James well. Top level project status
would also facilitate the ability to offer the Mailet API as a
separate specification, of which James would represent only a
reference implementation.
James would continue to work closely with the Avalon Project, and is
establishing ties with the Cocoon and BSF projects to integrate some
of their technologies within James.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Project Management:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
James has a small yet mature self-sustaining community. We seldom seek
recourse to the Jakarta PMC, and equally seldom are we scrutinized by
them. We are perhaps not the most active project, and some of us may
feel that this sometimes causes James to be disregarded. Likewise,
apart from Avalon, we have few direct ties with other jakarta projects.
We believe that normalizing our relationship with the ASF Board
by reporting directly rather than through the Jakarta PMC, and
taking official control of all the issues we currently inherit and
"interpret" from Jakarta, would benefit James.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Profile:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As outline above James is composed of three main areas.
JAMES server
Sub-Projects:
Mailet API
Mailet Applications
----------------------------------------------------------------------
History:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
JAMES was originally envisioned and placed as a holding page on
java.apache.org, before Jakarta was organized. Individuals
(unfortunately names forgotten at this point) had submitted a proposal
to the (HTTP) servlets group at Sun to provide mail handling. They
rejected the proposal for technical reasons.
Serge Knystautas later donated a Java SMTP server implementation that
became the original code base for JAMES. The mailet API was heavily
discussed and finalized, the original code was massively re-factored
and improved, and a POP3 implementation was added.
JAMES was later re-factored to use the new Avalon code base. JAMES also
received a donation of an NNTP implementation. JAMES has slowly added
new mailets, improved reliability and scalability, SMTP AUTH,
FetchPOP, and other feature enhancements since then.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Future:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Our vision of the future for James contains five main foci,
1/ To continually improve the performance and functionality of the
core messaging services. Currently focusing on making IMAP stable and
increasing fault tolerance across the board.
2/ To promote the Mailet API as a standard API (providing portability
to mail-specific code) to all Java projects involved with processing
email both OS and commercial, this will involve further isolating the
Mailet API from any dependence on James or James' dependencies, and to
continually support, refine and enhance the Mailet API in response to
feedback from Mailet API users and Mailet developers, for example to
cover message domains other than e-mail.
3/ To build on James' Mailet packages in order to provide more, and
more sophisticated, behaviors which would be available to any
application implementing the Mailet API.
4/ Provide a common message repository abstraction to all of James'
protocol servers (e.g, SMTP, POP3, NNTP and IMAP) and support standard
repository data formats like maildir and mbox to ease migration to
James.
5/ Provide a common user repository abstraction to all of James'
protocol servers.
These plans include:
- Providing functionality capable of reproducing services provided by
commercial and open source competitors such as Microsoft Exchange, or
ezmlm.
- Implementing a number of related services defined by RFC's, such as
the email aspects of iCalendar and vCard to name but two.
- And offering greater interoperability with other mail applications,
such as sendmail.
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Our Community:
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The James community is small, but focused and self-sustaining,
comprised of six active committers, and six currently inactive.
Only one of the active committers, Serge Knystautas, has been
associated with the project since it started, and the continued
success of James is no longer dependent on his continued
participation.
Our developer community includes a number of Avalon contributors and
committers, and a number of people who are working with or on James in
a commercial setting.
Our user base is hard to quantify, but includes a wide cross-section
of different classes of users, from individuals through small
enterprises looking for big enterprise mail functionality, commercial
users adapting James or using James to provide bespoke services
through to students using James in their course work.
We believe that this represents a healthy interest in James, and the
fact that James continues to be of interest to so many groups in spite
of the existence of email server software with much higher profiles,
sendmail, Microsoft Exchange, etc., is perhaps better proof of its worth
than is its market share in comparison with those goliaths.
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Conclusion
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We believe, as we hope we have shown, that James is a mature and
worthwhile candidate for inclusion as a top level Apache project, and
hereby take the opportunity of presenting our proposal for
consideration by the Board of Directors.
On behalf of The James committers,
Danny Angus
Charles Bennet
Noel Bergman
Peter Goldstein
Serge Knystautas
__________________________________________________________
End of minutes for the 22 Jan 2003 board meeting.
Index