[OOTB-hive] [ADDONS][ALL] Moving projects into the Order of the Bee

[Axel Faust]

Hello,

as some of you know Markus Joos and myself have started a project to
"liberate" the Alfresco Support Tools to be used with the Alfresco
Community Edition and even improve / add some tools as the community may
see fit. The project is currently hosted in my GitHub repository (
https://github.com/AFaust/ootbee-support-tools), but as you can see from
the naming, description and project coordinates (Maven group ID) I always
intended this as a project that could be owned and maintained by the Order
in the long run, moving it into the OOTBee GitHub organisation. Since we
have not yet considered such a request / case in detail, I would like to
start the discussion with this project as a reference.

The following is a suggestion of aspects we should think about and
determine / agree on so there is proper support for owning / managing any
projects and we (OOTBee) don't end up being swamped or diluting the purpose
of this option. The suggestions are not meant to be exhaustive and I highly
appreciate any additional input.


Why / when should projects be (allowed to be) moved into / owned by OOTBee?

   - Full ownership
   - Common / generic use case applicable to a majority of users /
      community members
      - Community ownership (vs single benevolent dictator) can help
      feature evolution / up-to-date-ness, or ensure availability
without relying
      on long-term priorities of original developer
      - Purpose is close to the OOTBee mission (promote Community Edition /
      showcase and strengthen suitability for use in production)
      - Scope / complexity is "manageable" by OOTBee organisation
   - Temporary ownership (trusteeship / "orphanage")
      - Significant user / installation base or significant "value" for
      community / OOTBee mission
      - Must have had production release(s) and (standard) Open Source
      license
      - Project (virtually) abandoned or about to be
      - Either request for OOTBee to help find successor from within
      community or committee / sub-group initiative
      - Either compatible to a recent major release (i.e. max 2 or 3
      releases ago. e.g. at least 4.2.f now) or "manageable" scope / complexity
   - A minimum number or majority of members of the Order or a committee /
   sub-group supports the proposal to move a project into OOTBee
   - At least one member commits to being responsible for necessary
   preparation and transfer tasks
   - A minimum number of members or a committee / sub-group commits to
   being responsible for long-term maintenance, management or trusteeship tasks


What could a potential "process" look like?


   1. (External, optional) request from community / developer (about to
   abandon a project)
   2. (Initiator) Proposal announced via mailing list w/ request for
   supporters & commitments
   3. (Initiator) Proposal put to vote backed by task plan and
   responsibilities
   4. (Members committed for prep + transfer) Perform preparatory tasks in
   a "staging" repository (member / ext. organisation)
   5. Review & transfer into OOTBee
   6. (Members committed for long-term) manage project / recruit successor
   maintainer from within community


   - (Trusteeship) if successor maintainer is not found in X months,
   properly archive project and update any listings / documentation accessible
   to OOTBee
   - (Full ownership) if no activity occurs in project in X months, review
   purpose & state of addon + review member commitment (archive / close
   project as necessary)
   - Report to OOTBee board (regular intervals, likely via single
   designated board member)

What may other requirements (need to) be? (initial or for prepraratory
tasks)

   - Full ownership
      - Must use orderofthebee.org (or similar) as base namespace /
      identifying coordinate
      - Must comply with OOTBee best practice criteria prior to move, e.g.
      ADDONS review criteria (w/ necessary exceptions for "virgin"
projects, i.e.
      listing or release existence)
      - Must make use of OOTBee build + distribution infrastructure
      services (unless incompatible)
      - Must have defined feature roadmap and maintenance/support
      responsibilities (i.e. regular issues and PR review) incl.
fallback contact
      options
   - Must be compatible with a recent major GA release


TL;DR

"Moving a project into OOTBee" will not occur unless members commit to the
idea and process sufficient preparatory tasks even before the move. If
ownership / trusteeship is not working, OOTBee board may ultimately trigger
archival ("kill") of a project.


Regards

Axel
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