Apache Incubator: Voting in a new committer

If a developer has contributed a signicant number of high-quality patches, is interested in continuing the contribution, has demonstrated the ability to work well with others under the Apache guidelines, it may be proposed to grant that developer commit access. See also the ASF How it Works document which explains meritocracy and roles.

Discussion of a potential new committer should take place on the project's PPMC list (normally, it would take place on a project's PMC list). After vetting the new candidate, the vote can take place either on the PPMC list (with notice posted to the Incubator PMC list) or on the developer list (with a notice posted to the Incubator's general list). The latter practice of a private discussion followed by a public, pro-forma, vote is re-emerging as a Best Practice for ASF projects.

Process details

Below is a more detailed breakdown of the voting process from the perspective of the committer who proposes the vote.

1. It is a good practice to first make an informal nomination on the private project committer or PPMC list to check that there are no objections to giving committer access to the nominated contributor. If there are objections, then they can be resolved in private or the committer vote can be postponed or cancelled without raising personal issues on the public mailing list.
2. The formal vote is proposed by sending a [VOTE] message to the developer mailing list and the general Incubator mailing list (general@incubator.apache.org). The message subject should identify the vote and the body should contain the nomination and brief voting instructions. Good examples can be found in the archives.
3. Both the project committers and the Incubator PMC members are entitled to vote. See the voting page for information on how to express votes. In a normal ASF project the project PMC makes the decision on adding a new committer. In a podling project it is the Incubator PMC that has formal right to accept new committers. This is the reason for sending the committer vote also to the Incubator mailing list.
4. A committer vote requires at least three positive votes (+1) and no objections (-1) to pass. Because of the above, there needs to be at least three positive votes from the Incubator PMC for the vote to pass. For examples of how the vote can proceed, please see the archives.

If the vote (only votes cast by PMC/PPMC members are binding) is positive, the contributor formally becomes an Apache committer. A (P)PMC member should then follow the documented procedures** to complete the process.

** Please CC both the Incubator PMC and the PPMC when sending the necessary e-mails to root.

Also, please direct the new committer to the Apache developer's pages and to the Apache Incubator site for important additional information.