The document discusses strategies for sustainable software development, emphasizing the Apache Software Foundation as a model for improving academic software longevity. It outlines essential elements for sustainable software, including community support, project management, and open licensing. Additionally, it provides guidance on initiating projects within the Apache incubator and stresses the importance of connections within the Apache community.

1. Experiences with the Apache
Software Foundation
Marlon Pierce, Suresh Marru,
Raminder Singh, Gerald Guo, Lahiru
Gunathilake

2. E-Science Software Sustainability
• The National Science Foundation has
recognized that it needs strategies for
sustainable software that it funds.
– Cyberinfrastructure Software Sustainability and
Reusability: Report from an NSF-funded workshop
• C. Stewart, et al.
– Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century
Science and Engineering (CIF21)
– Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation
(SI2) program

3. What Are Ingredients for Sustainable
Software (Besides Funding)?
• Open source or free licensing
– Apache or GPL license families
• Code should use supporting tools such as those from
SourceForge, GitHub, etc
– Version control software, trouble tickets, mailing lists, IRC, etc.
• Project management philosophy
• Meritocracy, benevolent dictator, etc.
• Reproducible build and test
• Committed user base
• Open community
– Overlooked but key
– Process for attracting new developers
– Encourage and reward projects for diversifying
– Need to go beyond the SourceForge model

4. Some Organizational Models for
Sustainable Academic Software
• Institution-led consortia
– Sakai, Kuali, HUBzero
• NSF-funded communities
– Globus CDIGS
– NCAR
• Non-profit spin-offs
– HDF Group
• But these don’t scale down for smaller
projects

5. Problem and Proposed Solution
• Problem Statement: how can we improve the
chances of good academic software surviving the
departure of its principal developer(s).
• Our proposed solution: Use the Apache Software
Foundation
– Not model ourselves after it—join it.
– Apache will provide the necessary community support
and project lifecycle enforcements to improve the
chances that good software flourishes.
• Evaluating this hypothesis is part of our NSF SDCI
funding.

6. Apache Software Foundation Key
Elements
• Open community, not just open source
– Decisions are made by voting from the project
members
– Projects succeed by attracting more contributors
and committers, not just downloads
– All discussions and decisions must be done on
public mailing lists.
• Successful members can be selected to steer
Apache as a whole.

7. Apache Project Lifecycle
• Projects are proposed and voted in or out.
– Usually this is to publicize a new project
– But Open Office was very contentious.
• New projects go through an incubation phase
– Champion, mentors from Apache
– Code donations
– Defined criteria to graduate
• Failure is an option
– Incubation projects can fail to graduate
– Other projects can be retired, moved to the attic,
suspended, etc (Xalan)

8. Getting Started
• We have started two Apache Incubators
– Rave: OpenSocial and W3C widget portal
– Airavata: Scientific Workflows
• First step: make a software disclosure to IURTC.
– This was fairly painless
– Key is to make sure you get permission from any one
who has contributed to the code.
• Second step: find a champion
– An established Apache member
– Will propose your project as an incubator

9. Further Steps
• Sign and submit an Individual Contributor License
Agreement (CLA)
– “You hereby grant to the Foundation and to recipients
of software distributed by the Foundation a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free,
irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare
derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform,
sublicense, and distribute your contributions and such
derivative works.”
• Get someone wearing a tie to sign a Software
Grant Agreement and an Corporate CLA.

10. Last First Steps
• Expunge inappropriately licensed and export
restricted code from your code base
• Contribute it.
– Basically, do and “svn import” of your code into
your area of the Apache SVN.
• Congratulations, you are now an incubator
and must figure out how to graduate
– There is no set criteria.
– Your champion and mentors help determine this.

11. • Apache Rave is a joint submission of
OneHippo, MITRE, SURFNet, and IU.
– Unusual submission
• It’s a generalization of the OGCE Gadget
Container
• Champion: Ate Douma
• Mentors:
– Sylvain Wallez
– Upayavira
– Ross Gardler
– Hadrian Zbarcea

12. • Apache Airavata consists of the workflow tools
developed by the OGCE
– More traditional submission
• Champion: Ross Gardler
• Mentors:
– Alek Slominski
– Ate Douma
– Sanjiva Weerawarna
– Paul Fremantle
– Chris A. Mattmann
• Website design by Barbara Hallock

13. Apache Connections
• Successful incubator graduation depends on
establishing connections with other Apache
projects.
• Rave: Shindig, Wookie
• Airavata: ODE, Axis2, QPID, OODT

14. Is It Worth It?
• Early impressions are positive
• We’ve been introduced to a number of great
developers.
– It is useful to spend time looking at other people’s
codes
– And it is useful to have even informal code
reviews, so make sure your code is clean and you
have your unit tests in place.

15. Apache Contributions Aren’t Just
Software
• Apache contributors and committers aren’t
just code writers.
• Successful communities include
– Web developers
– Documentation and tutorial writers
– Testers, requirements providers, and constructive
complainers
• Using Jira and mailing lists

16. More Information
• Links below are to the Websites
– Further links to mailing lists, SVN browsing, Jira
system, Jenkins, Sonar, and other Apache
infrastructure
• Apache Rave:
http://incubator.apache.org/rave
• Apache Airavata:
http://incubator.apache.org/airavata/