Podling Maturity Evaluation

This is an assessment of the Guacamole podling’s maturity, meant to help inform the decision (of the mentors, community, Incubator PMC and ASF Board of Directors) to graduate it as a top-level Apache project. It is based on the ASF project maturity model.

Code

CD10
The project produces Open Source software, for distribution to the public at no charge.

OK: We sure do.

CD20
The project’s code is easily discoverable and publicly accessible.

OK: The GitHub mirrors of the project’s git repositories are linked within the website navigation menu, and the source for each release is linked within the release notes.

CD30
The code can be built in a reproducible way using widely available standard tools.

OK: The two bodies of code making up Guacamole, “guacamole-client” and “guacamole-server”, are built with Apache Maven and GNU Autotools respectively.

CD40
The full history of the project’s code is available via a source code control system, in a way that allows any released version to be recreated.

OK: The full history of the project’s code can be found within the git repositories, and each release has a corresponding tag whose format is dictated by our release procedures.

CD50
The provenance of each line of code is established via the source code control system, in a reliable way based on strong authentication of the committer. When third-party contributions are committed, commit messages provide reliable information about the code provenance.

OK: Commits are accepted only through pull requests after having been reviewed by other committers, and git inherently records the name and email address of the author for each commit.

LC10
The code is released under the Apache License, version 2.0.

OK: All code from the project is under the Apache License, version 2.0. See:

LC20
Libraries that are mandatory dependencies of the project’s code do not create more restrictions than the Apache License does.

OK: The mandatory dependencies of “guacamole-server” (Cairo, libjpeg / libjpeg-turbo, libpng, and OSSP UUID) and “guacamole-client” (documented within the LICENSE files of guacamole-client and its subprojects) do not impose restrictions beyond that of the Apache license.

Mandatory dependencies of “guacamole-server” (written in C, built using GNU Autotools):

Mandatory dependencies of “guacamole-client” (written in Java and JavaScript, built using Maven):

LC30
The libraries mentioned in LC20 are available as Open Source software.

OK: Absolutely all dependencies of “guacamole-server” and “guacamole-client” are open source.

LC40
Committers are bound by an Individual Contributor Agreement (the “Apache iCLA”) that defines which code they are allowed to commit and how they need to identify code that is not their own.

OK: All committers have completed the ICLA.

LC50
The copyright ownership of everything that the project produces is clearly defined and documented.

OK: All source files carry prominent header comments documenting the license and copyright ownership of that file, with the exception of files which inherently cannot contain comments (JSON) and files where includng such comments would hurt the performance of the application (AngularJS templates). Copyright ownership and license of the source overall is always documented with top-level LICENSE and NOTICE files.

Releases

RE10
Releases consist of source code, distributed using standard and open archive formats that are expected to stay readable in the long term.

OK: Each Apache Guacamole release consists of two .tar.gz source archives (for “guacamole-client” and “guacamole-server” respectively). Binaries are provided only as a convenience. See the 0.9.13-incubating release notes.

RE20
Releases are approved by the project’s PMC (see CS10), in order to make them an act of the Foundation.

OK: Each release candidate must pass a corresponding VOTE before it can be promoted to a release, as documented in our release procedures. For example, see the archived VOTE RESULT for the 0.9.13-incubating release.

RE30
Releases are signed and/or distributed along with digests that can be reliably used to validate the downloaded archives.

OK: All release artifacts are signed and distributed with corresponding signatures and checksums as defined by the relevant section of our release procedures. See the 0.9.13-incubating release notes.

RE40
Convenience binaries can be distributed alongside source code but they are not Apache Releases – they are just a convenience provided with no guarantee.

OK: Convenience binaries are linked within the release notes of each release with prominent wording noting that they are provided for convenience. See the 0.9.13-incubating release notes.

RE50
The release process is documented and repeatable to the extent that someone new to the project is able to independently generate the complete set of artifacts required for a release.

OK: The release process is fully documented from start to finish:

Quality

QU10
The project is open and honest about the quality of its code. Various levels of quality and maturity for various modules are natural and acceptable as long as they are clearly communicated.

OK: Changes are only accepted after passing code review. All code is required to be thoroughly documented and commented, and these requirements are published on the project website.

QU20
The project puts a very high priority on producing secure software.

OK: The project follows strict code review policies, and the website provides a prominent “Security” link in the navigation menu pointing to the ASF’s documentation on properly reporting security issues. Any report of a possible issue with security implications is handled with priority via private channels.

QU30
The project provides a well-documented, secure and private channel to report security issues, along with a documented way of responding to them.

OK: The project provides the private@guacamole.incubator.apache.org mailing list for security issues. These procedures are documented in the ASF’s own security documentation, which is linked within the project website’s navigation menu.

QU40
The project puts a high priority on backwards compatibility and aims to document any incompatible changes and provide tools and documentation to help users transition to new features.

OK: Any changes in a release which affect compatibility are noted in the release notes. Where possible, old functionality is maintained but deprecated. See the “deprecation / compatibility notes” section of the 0.9.13-incubating release.

QU50
The project strives to respond to documented bug reports in a timely manner.

OK: Yes, via JIRA.

Community

CO10
The project has a well-known homepage that points to all the information required to operate according to this maturity model.

OK: The project’s homepage is http://guacamole.incubator.apache.org.

CO20
The community welcomes contributions from anyone who acts in good faith and in a respectful manner and adds value to the project.

OK: All contributors willing to work with the community are welcome. Contributions are only ever rejected for technical reasons.

CO30
Contributions include not only source code, but also documentation, constructive bug reports, constructive discussions, marketing and generally anything that adds value to the project.

OK: Participation within the mailing lists and JIRA is active and encouraged. The community can contribute to the documentation and website just as they can contribute to the code of the project.

CO40
The community is meritocratic and over time aims to give more rights and responsibilities to contributors who add value to the project.

OK: The community’s meritocratic nature is documented on the project website. Through operating in this fashion, the project has grown over the course of its incubation from its original two committers to five.

CO50
The way in which contributors can be granted more rights such as commit access or decision power is clearly documented and is the same for all contributors.

OK: See CO40.

CO60
The community operates based on consensus of its members (see CS10) who have decision power. Dictators, benevolent or not, are not welcome in Apache projects.

OK: Decisions affecting the project are made only on the mailing lists through discussions and VOTEs.

CO70
The project strives to answer user questions in a timely manner.

OK: Yes, via the mailing lists.

Consensus Building

CS10
The project maintains a public list of its contributors who have decision power – the project’s PMC (Project Management Committee) consists of those contributors.

OK: This list is automatically produced by people.apache.org and can be found at: http://people.apache.org/committers-by-project.html#guacamole.

CS20
Decisions are made by consensus among PMC members and are documented on the project’s main communications channel. Community opinions are taken into account but the PMC has the final word if needed.

OK: All decisions affecting the project are made on the mailing lists (see CO60) and are inherently documented through the mail archives. Development itself is documented in JIRA.

CS30
Documented voting rules are used to build consensus when discussion is not sufficient.

OK: Discussion has always been sufficient. If/when consensus cannot be reached via discussion, voting is the next logical step.

CS40
In Apache projects, vetoes are only valid for code commits and are justified by a technical explanation, as per the Apache voting rules defined in CS30.

OK: The project has never used vetoes.

CS50
All “important” discussions happen asynchronously in written form on the project’s main communications channel. Offline, face-to-face or private discussions that affect the project are also documented on that channel.

OK: All decisions affecting the project are made on the mailing lists (see CO60).

Independence

IN10
The project is independent from any corporate or organizational influence.

OK: Project members operate as individuals, not representatives of any organization (corporate or otherwise). Though the project members were originally all affiliated with the same organization, the project has grown and this is no longer the case (see CO40).

IN20
Contributors act as themselves as opposed to representatives of a corporation or organization.

OK: See IN10.