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(Arun) Goal: Provide space under Hyperledger for a project that has high potential to grow in the community. The project shall be conceptually implemented and in use. Otherwise Hyperledger Labs is the place to grow up before incubation under the Hyperledger. Ideas should start in Hyperledger Labs.
(Hart): I'm fine with projects not necessarily be conceptually implemented (in full, anyway) and in use, as long as there is a community in place that convinces me that this will happen in the not too distant future. If we have these guidelines, we also have to define "conceptually implemented" and "in use." Does "in use" count production use cases, PoCs, running in the background on my backup work Linux box, or what exactly? What does "conceptually implemented" mean?
Codebase
- (Danno) Code should exist as open source software in some form
- Some projects come up from labs (e.g., Cactus, others?Ursa)
- Some projects have stand alone governance prior to joining (Besu ... others?)
- DCO sign off exists in the code repository
- If not 100% ready, the code is capable of becoming compliant upon entry (i.e. squash commit)
- Non-apache 2 licensed code is possible, but requires Governing board approval (Section 12 subsection d of the Hyperledger Charter)
- Required patent licensing issues have prevented projects from entering incubation
- Special examination should be given to copyleft and non-licensed code.
- (Hart): isn't this required explicitly? I think this is non-negotiable. We can also move this under legal.
- (Arun) Answer the checklist (TODO: come up with a checklist) for a new project's proposal in terms of license/copyright, DCO requirements, file structure/repo requirement (should comply to this requirement within 6 months of incubation),
CI/CD requirement,release process (will be incubation exit criteria).
Maintainers
- (Danno) The project should have multiple maintainers
- These maintainers need not be from different companies
- However, having maintainers from different companies is seen as a positive sign (Hart)
- Proposals with only one maintainer have been rejected by prior TSCs.
- These maintainers need not be from different companies
- (Arun) Come up with a plan to promote contributors into maintainers. Get this plan published as part of project proposal.
- (Arun) The project either has demonstrable examples of POC/production uses publicly available or has backing of more than one organization/individuals (should be able to demonstrate significant contribution in codebase, should also be able to demonstrate that this engagement is long term ~ex: 3 months long or at least 35% of the codebase contributions).
Sponsors
- Sponsors are advocates for the project. There should be more than one sponsor, and they should be from different organizations. They may or may not be committing resources to the project.
- Shall we move this definition to https://hyperledger.github.io/hyperledger-hip/?
Legal
- (Tracy) Trademark concerns – project names should not be trademarked by a contributing company or if it is, then the trademark will need to be handed over to Hyperledger.
- (Hart) Haven't we often formally named projects after approval? I think we should just require marketing approval for a name. This should solve the trademarking issue, as well as a number of other things (technical people pick bad names if left to their own devices!).
- (Danno) Codebase should be Apache 2 licensable, without encumbrances
- Non-Apache 2 licensed code is possible, but requires Governing board approval (Section 12 subsection d of the Hyperledger Charter)
- Special examination should be given to copyleft and non-licensed code.
- Required patent licensing issues have prevented projects from entering incubation.
- GPL licensing issues have prevented projects from entering incubation.
(Hart): isn't this required explicitly? I think this is non-negotiable. We can also move this under legal.
- If code does not already have copyright, the code should be modified to include copyright as per Copyright and License Policy prior to being brought into Hyperledger
Overlap with Existing Projects
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