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As of November 2008 the process as documented here is being used by the IWG to bring outstanding candidates, proposals and contributions into official JASIG status.
Infowarning
titleInitial Working Document
Old Document

See latest Incubation Process document for up to date information

Inspired by Apache, via Globus

Process Flow

Click the thumbnail to see process flow for incubation flow.

Jira Implementation Details

Click image to see workflow diagram:

Click image to see workflow transition details:

Nomenclature
Anchor
Nomenclature
Nomenclature

Sponsored Project

Official JASIG project governed by an elected steering committee and supported by a community of users and developers

Incubation Process

The JA-SIG Incubation Process is holistically the activities and mechanism whereby open source software projects are proposed, incubated, evaluated, progressed, and become full-fledged JA-SIG sponsored projects.  The incubation process may also be applied to new software contributions related to existing sponsored projects.  Software that relates to an existing project is transferred to the existing project steering committee for incubation and governance.

Incubation WG

The Incubation Working Group (Incubation WG) are the people who oversee this process. (Also known as IWG).  The IWG is also responsible for periodic review of Unsponsored Contributions.
~susan.bramhall@yale.edu SusanBramhall to be initial chair of IWG

Candidate Proposal

Proposal submitted to IWG containing basic information specified below.  IWG will determine whether the candidate will proceed to Proposed Project (Preincubation), Incubating Project, Unsponsored Contribution, or to an existing project steering committee for further consideration.  A Candidate Proposal can also be declined by the IWG and

Proposed Project

A proposal for a new project to be developed under the auspices of JASIG.

PreIncubation

Preincubation is the status of a Proposed Project until it is either accepted for Incubation by the IWG or is terminated.

Incubating Project

Software to be incubated, progressing from Candidate Project status through Incubated Project status and ideally emerging as a fully-fledged Sponsored Project. A Project may also have a Preincubation status prior to Candidate status.

Mentor

The Mentor is a particular person assigned by the Incubation Working Group to shepherd a candidate project through incubation

Board

The JA-SIG Board leads JA-SIG, overseeing and supporting the Working Group and the process they execute

Unsponsored Contribution

In some cases, software may be contributed without a sponsoring project. Such a contribution may exist indefinitely without becoming a Sponsored Project. Periodic review of unsponsored contributions is the responsibility of the Incubation WG.  Software related to a Sponsored Project also may end up in as an Unsponsored Contribution when the Project steering committee decides it is not a viable component.

Sandbox

An area in svn and wiki space where project related experimental work is developed. The IWG does not provide oversight or governance to the sandbox area.

The JA-SIG Incubation Working Group (IWG)

The JA-SIG Incubation Working Group will establish and maintain policy and procedures related to the contribution of technical material to JA-SIG.

...

The JA-SIG Incubation Working Group will delegate the oversight of the execution of the processes related to project specific contrib and sandbox to the relevant project Steering Committeesthe relevant project Steering Committees.

Jira

Jira is used to track the staus of incubation requests, contributions.
The following jira statuses are defined:

  • Pending Review - A proposal request has been submitted for consideration by IWG
  • Proposal declined - Not appropriate for Jasig incubation
  • Preincubation - New project getting started under auspices of Jasig
  • Incubating project - Project being prepared to become Jasig sponsored project
  • Incubation terminiated - Incubation process ended
  • Preincubation terminated - pre-incubation process ended
  • Insponsored contribution - Contribution not sponsored by Jasig. Contact owner for information
  • Retired contribution - contribution no longer relevent, active or owned
  • Retired project - former Jasig project no longer active (e.g. Hypercontent)
  1. Receive jira request for incubation / sponsorship for JA-SIG projects, component or contribution.
    1. Jira issue should indicate whether request is for
      1. incubation as new project from existing work
      2. incubation as new project from scratch (proposed project, pre-incubation request)
      3. incubation as component of existing project (such as a portlet)
      4. unsponsored contribution
    2. Initial Jira status is Pending Review .
  2. Review and track status of requests
    1. New project requesting incubation
      1. IWG accept into incubation Jira status change s to Incubating Project follow steps in the incubation process.
      2. Eventually the project is offically sponsored Jira issue closed with status Sponsored Project
      3. The proposal is declined and Jira issue closed with status Incubation Terminated.
    2. New pre-incubation project
      1. IWG accept into preincubation Jira status changes to Accepted for Pre-Incubation
      2. IWG review quarterly to make sure progress and activity continue
      3. Eventually the project may apply to be offically sponsored. IWG will vote to accept for incubation and change Jira issue status to Incubating Project . Proceed to New project request.
      4. If work stops or project is not viable the candidate project may be stopped and Jira issue closed with status Preincubation is terminated. Alternatively, there may be artifacts to remain as unsponsored contributions?
    3. If related to existing project
      1. Pass immediately to steering committee which becomes responsible for incubation, adoption etc. Jira issue is resolved (but not closed) with status Transferred to Steering Committee . Steering committee may use jira to continue incubation of component such as portlet.
      2. Steering committee may pass the request back to IWG at any time if component is no longer relevent or appropriate to project. Jira status change s to Pending Review.
      3. IWG decides to retire or decline component. Jira issue closed with status Proposal D eclined or Incubation Terminated .
    4. Request for unsponsored contribution
      1. IWG decides to make component available as unsponsored contribution: Jira issue resolved (but kept open) with status Unsponsored Contribution and IWG performs annual verification of contact.
      2. IWG desides contribution is not appropriate for Jasig. Jira issue closed with status Proposal D eclined .
      3. IWG determines a contribution no longer has a contact person or users willing to act as contact. Jira issue closed with status Retired Contribution .

Process

Process Overview Graph

This process describes how a candidate project or contribution would progress from submission to full acceptance as a JA-SIG Project.

1. Proposal Submitted

A Candidate submission for Preincubation, Incubation, or Non-Project Specific Contrib is proposed to the Incubation WG via a proposal sent to incubation@ja-sig.org which contains basic information, described below. (question) A Candidate submission for Sandbox or Project Specific Contrib is proposed directly to the relevant Project Steering Committee.

Information to be submitted with Proposal

Description

Preincubation

Incubation

Contrib

A proposed name for the project

(tick)

(tick)

(tick)

The short preface for the mailing lists, if this project is accepted (*-dev, *-user, etc); Incubating portlets will use the existing portlet mailing lists

(tick)

(tick)

 

A proposed Project Lead, with contact information

(tick)

(tick)

(tick)

A list of the proposed initial committers for the project

(question)

(tick)

(tick)

An overview of the aims of the project

(tick)

(tick)

(tick)

A technology overview

(question)

(tick)

(tick)

An overview of any current user base or user community

 

(tick)

(tick)

An overview of how the project relates to other parts of JA-SIG

(tick)

(tick)

(tick)

A summary of why the project would enhance and benefit higher education

(tick)

(tick)

(tick)

A pointer to any current information (for example, an existing Web page) for the project

(tick)

(tick)

(tick)

A project sponsor (JA-SIG Board Member, Member of an existing Project Steering Committee, a JA-SIG Institutional Representative)

(tick)

 

 

...

The proposal would be expected to be less than 3 pages in length.

2. Review of Submission

  • Preincubation proposals are accepted if all required information is provided. The IWG or JA-SIG Board may veto a proposal only if the project does not match with the JA-SIG mission.
  • Incubation proposals are reviewed by the IWG, which discusses the project and votes on its acceptability. An affirmative IWG vote qualifies project as incubated.
  • Decisions regarding the acceptance of contrib are made by the appropriate Project Steering Committee. If no such committee exists, the IWG reviews the proposal.

3. Acceptance as a Project

Once a project has been accepted for preincubation or incubation, it is eligible for use of the following JA-SIG resources:

...

  • SVN module has been created on JA-SIG server.
  • Three required mailing lists have been used.
  • Issue tracker is being used (JIRA).
  • Roadmap for project is present in Confluence.
  • Project website is current.
  • All non-sensitive (i.e. passwords, etc) information in the above tools is publicly accessible.

4. Periodic Review

Projects in preincubation will undergo periodic reviews (at least quarterly) which may have one of five outcomes:

...

  1. The project will be promoted into a fully sponsored JA-SIG project.
  2. The project will remain in Incubation.
  3. The project will be asked to hibernate after a period of little activity. (It may move out of hibernation at a later date.)
  4. The project will be asked to become contrib due to lack of viable community.
  5. The project will be asked to retire due to lack of progress.

5. Promotion to full-fledged product

The project may be promoted to a fully sponsored JA-SIG project when it meets Legal, governance, community, alignment & synergy and Infrastructure requirements outlined above.  When requirements are met the IWG will recommend to the board that the project be promoted to sponsored status.  Final acceptance of sponsored project must be approved by the board.

In the case of a portlet the decision to promote to full fledged sponsored portlet is made by the uPortal steering committee which will be the governing body for all sponsored portlets.  Board approval is not required for portlets.

6. Termination of Project Sponsorship

Either JA-SIG or the Project Steering Committee may terminate sponsorship according to the following rules:

...

It is expected that an effort will be made to resolve any issues related to the sponsorship termination prior to the procedures being put in effect.

Summary of Project Categories

Note
titleNomenclature

This section uses the nomenclature proposed during the October 22 conference call.
Specifically, a "Preincubation Project" is now a "Project Proposal", and a project proceeding through the incubation process is a "Candidate Project".

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