Mailing-List: contact commons-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org; run by ezmlm
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: "Jakarta Commons Developers List" <commons-dev@jakarta.apache.org>
Received-SPF: pass (asf.osuosl.org: domain of
 robertburrelldonkin@blueyonder.co.uk designates 195.188.213.63 as permitted
 sender)
Subject: Re: Proposal: Commons for .NET (dotnet)
From: robert burrell donkin <robertburrelldonkin@blueyonder.co.uk>
To: Jakarta Commons Developers List <commons-dev@jakarta.apache.org>
In-Reply-To: 
 <9F1E6AA9C385D511BFF900508BDCC50F0C303B3F@temed-server04.corp.spheris.com>
References: 
	 <9F1E6AA9C385D511BFF900508BDCC50F0C303B3F@temed-server04.corp.spheris.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 22:05:18 +0000
Message-Id: <1143151518.5104.47.camel@knossos.elmet>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

hi kevin

On Wed, 2006-03-22 at 13:25 -0600, Kevin Ross wrote:
> I find myself in the C# world these days, at a tremendous loss to the
> libraries I am used to in the java world (not to mention some drastic
> cultural changes), namely commons-* and my other open projects which are
> very dependent on commons.  
>  
> I found some people who put some effort into something called
> Dotnet.Commons, but to my displeasure, they were fairly minimal
> implementations, converted only some of the apache code, yanked out all
> comments regarding source implementation details and authors, deleted unit
> tests, and THEY STUCK LGPL on the code.  Those things together led me to
> dismiss the projects as viable. 

<snip>

> What I am looking for is a place to share my work with others and
> stimulating the use of open source in the .NET (dotnet) world, while
> sticking to the core principles that have made jakarta-commons so
> successful.  I am a committer with Apache for the Xindice project, though I
> haven't been active for some time.  I hope this might ease the acceptance of
> this code for the potenial community gain.

in some ways, yes. if you are still a committer then you should be able
to subscribe lists (such as community) where you might be able to
contact other apache dot net'ers. in others, no.

jakarta's charter is tied to the java language. IMHO the board is very
unlikely to make the same mistake again (language independent groupings
are preferred). this means that we cannot accept dot net code here
(which is one reason why jakarta is gradually deconstructing itself). 

the board formed a commons project at apache a few years ago. they had
it in mind that commons components might decide to move from jakarta to
commons and new committers might be interested in cross language ports.
it didn't work out that way and the commons project was closed. a lot of
energy was invested in that effort and it is likely to take a lot of
energy to persuade people to give something like that a second chance.

so, sadly i'm not hope that there is much chance (at the moment) of a
dot net port finding a home here at jakarta.

> Nontheless, this is something that needs to happen.  Is there interest in
> this from others?  

i'm not sure that there are many dot net'ers here (hopefully some folks
will jump in here and prove me wrong ;)

> I cannot single-handedly do this, but I can contribute
> and I would like to help chip away at this codebase that has been so
> important to us in the java community.  Apache's adoption of these projects
> can make them successful.

apache has changed fast in the last few years: evolving in an attempt to
scale. now new code bases need to come in through the incubator. it's
worth posting a proposal there. it's more language agnostic. 

but don't be too disappointed if the reaction is more or less: come back
once you have bootstrapped a community. i know that this is the most
difficult part of the process but react positively and try to get as
many community building tips as possible from the folks on list. it's
just possible that you might be able to pick up a developer or two as
well.

it's definitely possible for this project like this to succeed without
the apache brand and i agree it's worthwhile too. IMHO you probably need
as much energy and knowledge to successfully bootstrap a project within
or without apache. one good resource is http://producingoss.com. use a
blog to promote your project. release often. it takes time to establish
a new project and gain momentum so don't worry if you're plowing a
lonely furrow in the early days. invest time encouraging people to get
involved in your community. spend a few dollars buying a .org domain
(there are cheap now). if you host at sorceforge use subversion 'cos
it's great.

it sounds as though you're keen on the sort of open development we
promote here at apache. cool :) you should find quite a bit of
information on the foundation (http://www.apache.org and
http://www.apache.org/dev) and the incubator
(http://incubator.apache.org) site which may well help.

i consider this topic on topic so (unless others shoot me down) feel
free to discuss here, ask for advice or release announcements. might
want to prefix future subjects with [.NET] tag so that people who aren't
interested can filter.

a fair wind for your sails :)

- robert


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: commons-dev-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: commons-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org