[ZF] Cleaning up the Zope Software Development Process

[Jim Fulton]

As I mentioned in a separate thread, I'd like to focus, in the *very
limited time I have to contribute* on cleaning up the Foundation documents
relating to the management of the software repository.  This is with the
goal of making it possible to transfer intellectual property from
Zope Corporation to the Zope Foundation.  For background on this topic,
see the "Zope Development Process" thread from September:

   http://mail.zope.org/pipermail/foundation/2006-September/000142.html

I'm gong to find some time over the next few days to work up a draft
amendment to the documents.  My goal is to allow transfer of IP.
In particular, it is to allow transfer of IP without preventing people
from contributing (or minimizing this as much as possible).

Here are the basic things I intend to do:

- Simplify as much as possible.  If I can rip out section 7, or
   replace it with something wildly simpler, I will.  Basically, I
   think we need to spell out a process that, for now, says:

   - How one gains commit access to the repository.

   - How to handle 3rd-party IP in the repository.
     (A separate, but important issue is how to handle IP
      on the web site.)

- Separate membership from commit access.

My intent is to make this as minimal as I can.  So for
example, out of scope would be:

- Renaming "committer" members to "contributor members".

- Defining a process for inviting new contributor members.

- Resolving issues with the contributor agreement:

   o It doesn't provide a needed mechanism for
     organizations, rather than individuals, to
     contribute.  This is a bug.

   o It doesn't allow individuals to contribute without
     the formal approval of their employers. This is a pain
     but it is not clearly a bug.  There might be steps
     that we could take to make the process easier.

These are important things to do but I need to limit
my scope to have any chance to accomplish anything.
Maybe someone else would like to take on some of these
other points.  For example, the renaming task is a purely
clerical one, I think.

Of course there are other bugs in the documents that need to
be fixed too.

If anyone disagrees with my approach, speak up, but also
be prepared to volunteer. :)

If anyone wants to help me with this, let me know. :)

Jim

-- 
Jim Fulton           mailto:jim at zope.com       Python Powered!
CTO                  (540) 361-1714            http://www.python.org
Zope Corporation     http://www.zope.com       http://www.zope.org