- ApacheCon
- The official regular developer and user conference of the ASF
(see the ApacheCon Web site).
- ASF
- The Apache Software Foundation, a non-profit organization.
- Attic
- A special directory in a CVS
repository in which 'deleted' files are stored and from which
they can be restored at need.
- Board
- The nine-person legal governing body of the ASF,
elected by the
members.
The board provides the oversight of the Foundation's
activities and operation, and has the responsibility of
applying and enforcing the ASF's
bylaws.
Among other things, the board approves or rejects resolutions
brought before it, such as for the creation or dissolution of
ASF
projects,
funding requests, legal concerns, and disciplinary
actions. As an open and non-profit corporation, the minutes
of the board's meetings are publicly available at
http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/.
These minutes include all decisions not made in
executive session.
Also see
Director.
- Bikeshed Argument
- Arguing (pointlessly) about which color to paint the
bikeshed.
As explained
here
it may happen when the argument is so trivial that
it's easy for anyone to have an opinion, and want to
see theirs prevail.
- Build
-
A Build is a package which is not suitable
for distribution to the general public. They are works-in-progress,
and as such the only people builds should be offered to are other
people working on product development at the foundation.
- Bylaws
- Bylaws are a codification of the rules that some
organisation follows. Some, such as the
ASF bylaws,
are legally binding and have significance outside the
organisation. Others, such as the
Jakarta bylaws,
are only meaningful within the
community
and are only
as binding as the community itself makes them. The
bylaws of an organisation within the ASF may not
contradict those of the ASF proper; any such conflicting
parts in the organisation bylaws are necessarily null and
void.
- Cemetery
- See Graveyard.
- Chair
- 1. The Chair of the
Board
of
Directors
of the
ASF,
responsible for the orderly meeting and functioning of the
Board.
2. The official head of a committee,
such as a Project Management Committee
PMC.
- Codebase
- A meaningful group of source. Some
projects
involve only a single codebase, while others have several.
- Commit access
- The ASF
projects use SVN.
to handle the collaborative versioning control over the code.
The ability to make direct changes to that code
known as commit access
(from the
svn|cvs commit command). This process
patches the actual official code.
Also see Karma.
- Committer
- An individual who has been granted the privilege of being
able to directly commit changes to an Apache
codebase
(commit access).
-
Commit-Then-Review
- (Often abbreviated 'CTR' or 'C-T-R'.) A policy governing
code changes which permits developers to make changes at will,
with the possibility of being retroactively
vetoed. C-T-R is an application of
decision making through
lazy consensus.
The C-T-R model is
useful in rapid-prototyping environments, but because of the
lack of mandatory review it may permit more bugs through
than the
R-T-C alternative. Compare
Review-Then-Commit,
and see the description of the
voting process.
- Group of individuals with a common cause.
The community of a project consists
of all those with an interest in that project.
-
Consensus Approval
-
'Consensus approval' refers to a
vote
(sense 1) which has completed with
at least three binding +1 votes and
no vetos. Compare
majority approval.
- Contributor
- Someone who makes consistent improvements to the entities
under an
ASF
PMC,
either code or documentation or otherwise.
This does not, in and of itself, imply
commit access, though
frequent and valued contributors are readily
voted
on for such access.
- Contributor License Agreement
-
Contributor License Agreement (CLA) is sometimes referred to as
Individual Contributor License Agreement (ICLA). There is also a
Corporate Contributor License Agreement (CCLA).
All are explained on the Licenses page.
- CVS
- The Concurrent Versioning System, a version
control system. The ASF now uses
SVN.
- Darwinism
-
See
Software Darwinism.
- Developer
- A user who contributes to a project in the form of code or
documentation becomes a developer. They take extra steps to
participate in a project, are active on the developer mailing list,
participate in discussions, provide patches, documentation,
suggestions, and criticism. Developers are also known as "contributors".
- Director
- One of nine individuals elected by the
members
to the Foundation's
board of directors.
Directors may or may not have individual responsibilities,
but all are generally expected to stay informed about as
much of the Foundation's operations and activity as possible,
since the Board provides oversight for the Foundation as
a whole.
- Emeritus
- A term used to formally designate someone as no longer active,
but still entitled to all of the rights and privileges of the
position. For example, an ASF member who hasn't attended
any membership meetings for a long time is declared emeritus;
someone who no longer has time to work on a particular
project
may declare itself emeritus. Emeritus status indicates
interest but not activity, as opposed to having resigned.
- Evolution
- Progress by gradual accumulation of small changes. Typical
mode for Apache projects.
Compare
revolution.
- Executive Session
- A portion of a
board
meeting which concerns confidential matters and which therefore
cannot be publicly minuted. Examples include salary
discussions, areas covered by non-disclosure agreements,
disciplinary actions, and some types of funding decisions.
- Graveyard
- A location where discontinued, abandoned, and retired
codebases
and
projects
are stored. The graveyard preserves the information for
posterity, reference, and potential future re-activation,
while keeping it clearly distinct from active work.
- Hackathon
- Informal event at which ASF participants can get together,
network, and discuss/argue/hack/prototype according to
their interests. Hackathons are open to all
committers and invited
contributors, and typically take place immediately
preceding or following the
ApacheCon
events.
- Hibernation
-
Sleeplike state with a depressed metabolic rate.
Sometimes used to describe a project
with low levels of activity.
- Karma
- 1. Sufficient access to perform an operation,
such as committing changes to a version control.
("Please grant Yo Mega karma to the foo-bar.")
2. Respect and
merit
in the
community.
("Al Faa has good karma because of the
careful and tactful way he makes his points and the quality
of his technical contributions.")
3. Any combination of senses 1 and two; they are
indirectly related.
- Lazy consensus
- (Also called 'lazy approval'.) A decision-making policy
which assumes general consent if no responses are
posted within a defined period. For example, "I'm going to
commit this by lazy consensus if no-one objects within the
next three days." Also see
consensus approval,
majority approval,
and the description of the
voting process.
-
Majority Approval
-
Refers to a
vote (sense 1) which has completed with
at least three binding +1 votes
and more +1 votes than -1 votes. (I.e.,
a simple majority with a minimum quorum of three positive
votes.) Note that in votes requiring majority approval
a -1 vote is simply a vote against, not a
veto.
Compare
consensus approval.
See also the description of the
voting process.
- Member
- An individual who has been elected to membership in
the ASF by the existing members. Membership benefits
include having a legal voice in the functioning of the
Foundation, waived registration fees at the
ApacheCon events,
and [...?].
- Merit
- The concept of 'merit' is central to the Apache
philosophy and
community
methodology. Merit is a qualitative
and subjective term, referring essentially to attributes
such as those below; however, it can probably be summed up
as the combination of the worth of one's accomplishments
and the respect of one's peers.
- technical competence
- ability to get along with others
- positive contributions to discussions and code
The acquisition of merit is a cumulative process; once
acquired, it doesn't decay. It is possible to lose
merit, though, by violating the community ethics, guidelines,
or sensibilities.
- Meritocracy
- Meritocracy is one of the principles underlying the
ASF and its philosophy. As it has been put, 'the more you do
the more you are allowed to do.' As a person acquires merit,
his or her stature in the
community
grows, and (to a certain extent)
the weight given to his or her opinions.
- Netiquette
- Netiquette is the term applied to the common rules of
good online behaviour. For the general case, it is defined in
IETF RFC 1855;
for the more specific Apache environment, it boils down to
things like:
- don't flame
- lurk for a while after joining a list before
posting; this allows you to get a feel for the personalities,
attitudes, and issues, as well as existing rules for
acceptable behaviour
- be aware of the
project's/list's
guidelines (such as on voting), and don't violate them
- if you have a question, search the list archives and
the bug database before asking what may have already been
answered>
These are just the rough outline of things that may be more
(or less) the rule on a per-list basis. They boil down
to 'be polite' and 'don't make unnecessary work for others'.
- Officer
- An individual appointed by the ASF Board of Directors and
given specific authority over and responsibility for some
portion of the Foundation's activities. An officer may or
may not be a director of
the Foundation.
- Package (sometimes referred to informally as Tarball or Distribution)
-
A Package is a compressed archive file
containing all the files and directories required for
installing the software. Often packages have have external
dependencies which may require additional software be
installed as a prerequisite.
- PMC
- Project Management Committee, the group of people
with formal oversight of a
project.
The chair of a PMC is always an
officer
of the Foundation. As the PMC has official oversight
responsibilities assigned by the
Board,
its actions are considered to be on behalf of the
Foundation, with all the legal protections and
responsibilities implied. See
ASF Bylaws.
- Podling
- A
codebase
and its
community
while in the process of being
incubated. See the description of the
incubation process.
- President
- Primary executive officer of the
ASF, seriving at the direction of the
Board. [duties?]
- Project
- In the Apache Software Foundation, the term 'project'
typically refers to a
community
focussed on one or more
codebases, overseen by
a PMC.
-
Review-Then-Commit
- (Often referenced as 'RTC' or 'R-T-C'.) Commit policy which
requires that all changes receive
consensus approval
in order to be committed. Compare
Commit-Then-Review,
and see the description of the
voting process.
- Revolution
- In the Apache environment, some communities may decide
to permit (or encourage) revolutions as ways of
reconciling differences, particularly code changes which
have been blocked on a particular branch by a veto.
Originally described by James Duncan Davison in his
'Rules for Revolutionaries,' the concept has been
adopted, formally or informally, by at least one Apache
project.
Essentially, a revolution occurs when a group
of committers decides to fork the current main branch
in order to work on problematic code or concepts. This
permits them to pursue it without disturbing the evolutionary
work on the main branch. A revolutionary branch may eventually
be merged back into the main branch, die out, split completely
and become a new main branch, or may absorb the current
main branch into itself (essentially no different than
the first option).
See the
'Rules for Revolutionaries'
and compare
evolution.
- Release
-
A Release is a package offered to the general
public by The Apache Software Foundation.
-
Software Darwinism
- A deceptively simple concept, often expressed as
'the best code survives'. The
evolutionary
processes inherent in the Apache peer-review environment support
this idea.
-
Software Grant Agreement
- See SGA.
- STATUS files
- Due to the noninteractive style of communication
practised by most of the Apache development projects,
maintaining a record of decisions made -- and in progress --
can be a useful thing. A number of the Apache projects
accomplish this through the use of a file, typically named
STATUS, stored in the
project's own code repository. In addition to keeping
existing developers informed of current issues, such
files also provide useful information to new would-be
developers investigating the project.
- Subversion
- A version control system that is
"a compelling replacement for CVS".
- SVN
- See Subversion.
- Treasurer
- The treasurer of the
ASF
is an
officer
of the corporation, and is responsible for
managing the funds and assets of the Foundation, reporting
tax information, and so on. The treasurer
need not be a
member
of the Foundation, nor a
director,
though the role is often filled by someone who is.
- User
- Someone that uses our software. Users contribute to the Apache
projects by providing feedback to developers in the form of bug
reports and feature suggestions. Users participate in the Apache
community by helping other users on mailing lists and user support
forums.
- Version Control System
- Version control systems provide the ability to track (and potentially revert)
incremental changes to files, reporting them to a mailing list
as they are made, and can be used concurrently
by many developers. All of the Foundation's code and documentation
are managed in such systems thus providing a complete history
for each codebase. See subversion and CVS
- Veto
- According to the Apache methodology, a change which
has been made or proposed may be made moot through the
exercise of a veto by a committer to the
codebase
in question. If the
R-T-C
commit policy is in effect, a veto prevents the change from
being made. In either the R-T-C or
C-T-R
environments, a veto applied to a change that has already been
made forces it to be reverted. Vetos may not be overridden
nor voted down, and only cease to apply when the committer
who issued the veto withdraws it. All vetos must
be accompanied by a valid technical justification; a veto
without such a justification is invalid. Vetos only apply to
code changes; they do not apply to procedural issues
such as software releases.
- Vice-President
- ASF
vice-presidents are
officers
of the corporation, with authority over and responsibility for
specific areas of the Foundation's work.
PMC
chairs
are vice-presidents given charge of the proper operation
of their
projects.
- Vote
-
1. The process of making a formal decision. ('The
vote for foo will close in three days.')
2. The expression of a positive or negative opinion,
or a veto, as part of a formal decision. ('My vote
is -1 because foo smells bad.')
Binding votes are those cast by
the PMC committers for the
project
to which
the decision applies. Votes cast by others are
advisory or indicative only.
See also
consensus approval,
majority approval,
lazy consensus,
and the description of the
voting process.
Foundation Projects
How it works
Download
Community
Related Sites