On 5/31/17 1:46 PM, Heather Flanagan wrote:
Where should the code be hosted? Options discussed
include Internet2,
Apereo, Apache Foundation, Commons Conservancy (previously Greenhouse),
etc.
The other two I was thinking of are the Software Freedom Conservancy and
Software in the Public Interest. Both primarily operate as Financial
homes, not IPR homes.
Some of these charge an overhead fee from 7%-20% (if
any money is
changing hands). Note that some of these cannot handle money/donations
(e.g., Internet2, Apache Foundation)
Not that I think it matters for us at the moment, but it appears CC
cannot handle money either:
"(by design) the foundation cannot hold money, and is even
statutorily forbidden to create a bank account (which
means there is no position of chancellor in the Board of the
foundation (there is no need for such a position)."
https://commonsconservancy.org/about/
I don't think I2 is specifically prevented from handling money (quite
the opposite: TIER), but rather there are international complications
that make it less feasible.
More importantly, so far I have only found references to a CLA like
document, but not the actual document itself (part of the "legal
documents whitelist" which is supposed to be public but that I can't
find anywhere). I suspect this will be the major point of consideration,
as it will need specific language for a US contributor.
CC appears to use "Graduation" to mean "leave the Conservancy",
typically in the context of "they can reach a point at which it makes
sense to establish a dedicated legal entity as a new host
organisation". This is unfortunate (because we don't need more
unsustainable independent IPR holding foundations) and confusing
(because Apache and Apereo use this term to refer to exiting the process
of incubation and becoming a full project under the umbrella).
More generally, there's almost a difference in intent between
Apache/Apereo and CC. The former have specific guidance and procedures
to help a project get itself into shape, with the intention of being a
long term home. While CC doesn't explicitly prevent that, it doesn't
appear to have sufficiently rigorous guidance, either.
I guess I can ask about this stuff during tomorrow's session.
I've only glanced through the documents, so I'm sure I'll have more
comments later.
Thanks,
-Benn-