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= Committers
Apache Incubator PMC
2002-10-16
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:jbake-status: published
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The link:/policy/incubation.html#Committers[Roles and Responsibilities] document describes the general role of a committer on an incubating project. This page provides links to more information to help new committers get started.

== Mailing Lists
Everything inside the Apache world needs to occur asynchronously and be archived. Email is currently the best platform for this. As some people say, 'If it isn't on the mailing list, it didn't happen.' Decisions only get made on public Apache mail lists, not anywhere offlist, such as IRC, IM, or private emails. If decisions are being made elsewhere, they need to be brought back to the mailing list.

Each project has a set of lists, which are typically called dev@*project*, user@*project* (or users@*project*), issues@*project* and commits@*project*. A few link:http://www.apache.org/foundation/mailinglists.html[Apache-wide lists] cross all boundaries, including:

- *community*: where all Apache committers can discuss things that are about Apache;
- *infrastructure*: where the infrastructure team discuss and work on the Apache infrastructure needs;
- *legal-discuss*: where Apache committers can ask questions that have a legal aspect;
- *builds*: discussions about the Apache continuous integration infrastructure;

Mailing lists are also archived and searchable at server places, including link:https://lists.apache.org[Apache Pony Mail].

=== Action items for committers include:

- Become familiar with Apache developer link:http://www.apache.org/dev/contrib-email-tips.html[Tips for email contributors].
- Subscribe to the user, dev, issues and commits lists for your project.
- Become aware of what else is going on in the Incubator by subscribing to the Incubator's general list.
- Become aware of what else is going on at the ASF by subscribing to the link:http://www.apache.org/foundation/mailinglists.html#foundation-community[community], link:http://www.apache.org/foundation/mailinglists.html#foundation-infrastructure[infrastructure], and link:http://www.apache.org/foundation/mailinglists.html#foundation-legal[legal-discuss] Apache-wide lists.

Apache also has private lists. For example, your project will probably have a private mail list named private@*project*.apache.org, which your Podling PMC will use for sensitive discussions. Never
mix public and private mail lists in the same post -- see the section titled link:http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#management[Balancing confidentiality and public discussion] in link:http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html[How it Works]. For example, never include both your dev and private lists in the same post. Posting to the dev list is sufficient because each member of your Podling PMC will also be on that list.

== Project Web Site
The Incubator link:sites.html[Podling Websites]  documents how to get your project web site going.

== Committer Resources

- The link:http://www.apache.org/dev/new-committers-guide.html[Guide for New Committers] is a great place to start and points to additional committer-only resources.
- Browse the pages at link:http://www.apache.org/dev[http://www.apache.org/dev/] often.
- Subscribe to the link:http://www.apache.org/foundation/mailinglists.html#foundation-infrastructure[infrastructure] list, then raise awareness on your project on what goes on behind the scenes.

Be proactive about responding to infrastructure issues on your project mailing lists. Does the webserver seem to be down? Is Jira or Git down? Check the link:http://status.apache.org/[ASF status page] and explain the reason to your project list (as you can see, no need to alert the ASF infrastructure people).


== Podling PMC (PPMC)
If you are a member of your PPMC, become familiar with the link:/policy/incubation.html[Incubation Policy] and see the link:ppmc.html[Podling PMC Guide].

== Orientating New Committers: Understanding Apache

When a committer is elected by a top level project, the nominator and other PMC members educate the new committer about Apache. In the Incubator, this is performed by the Mentors. This process is one of the most important for the long term health of a project.

Apache works on the principle that discussions should happen on the most open forum available. Unless the matter involves a sensitive matter (such as security or personal issues), it should be raised on an open mailing list. Typically this will be the podling dev list or the incubator general list. Use of the private incubator list should be reserved for sensitive topics only.

Mentors need to take care. During the initial bootstrapping a habit may develop of emailing private list. It is important to break this habit as soon as the mailing lists are available.

Netiquette about the correct use of *cc*'s may also be difficult to impart effectively. During the bootstrap process, there are a number of occasions where *cc*'s are required. The typical usage is to copy in a private listing to indicate that the action has the lazy permission of the committee. *cc*'s are very commonly used to create inefficient ad-hoc mailing lists in the commercial world. Except for a small number of defined processes, *cc*'s are frowned upon at Apache. Mentors need to encourage questions to be asked first on the public lists of the project then raised (if necessary) to the general incubator list.

== Questions?
If you have any questions, please ask on the Incubator's general mail list. Don't forget to check the information at:
- link:http://www.apache.org/dev[http://www.apache.org/dev/]