| # About Storm External Modules | |
| ## What is "external"? | |
| "external" is a group of modules that while not required for storm to operate, are useful for extending Storm in order to | |
| provide additional functionality such as integration with other technologies frequently used in combination with Storm. | |
| External modules are released in tandem with Storm in order to maintain version compatibility. | |
| Each external module is assigned one or more "Committer Sponsors" who have expressed interest in supporting the module. | |
| ## What is a Committer Sponsor? | |
| A Committer Sponsor is simply an Apache Storm Committer who has expressed interest in supporting a module in one way or | |
| another. For any given module, we hope to have at least one sponsor to provide some level of protection against code rot | |
| and abandonware. | |
| Note that this in no way implies that Committer Sponsors have any special roles, privileges, or obligations. The Apache | |
| Storm Committers have equal authority over and responsibility for the entire codebase. A Committer Sponsor is | |
| essentially just a Committer who has said: "I'm interested in this module, and am willing to help where I can." |