A key differentiator of the Apache Way versus other Foundations is our project independence from vendor control. Users can trust that projects adopted by the ASF will be governed long-term for the benefit of the whole contributor community. ASF projects are also immune from licensing changes away from open source licenses, since the ASF only ever uses the Apache-2.0 license. Even in the case of projects that get deprecated or lose sufficient community to maintain the code, the ASF ensures that all project resources will remain read-only in the Apache Attic forever.
A key question then is, how does the ASF ensure project independence? While independent governance isn’t an issue for many projects, the ASF has certainly had it’s share of projects built in fast-moving commercially successful technology areas. As companies change direction, build up marketing campaigns, and buyout competitors, their messaging has sometimes been seen as being a controlling force around core techologies – including, sometimes, ASF projects.
The ASF has several of methods to ensure independent governance in our projects, even in the face of extreme vendor pressures. While governance changes often take time in broad-based communities, these three pillars are the building blocks of the ASF’s independent ethos – and serve as a backstop to all Apache projects. I wrote about these three pillars for a recent ASF board meeting, lightly edited here.
Three Pillars Of Independence At Apache
1. The ASF Membership
Our hundreds of ASF Members are individuals (never corporations) from around the world and from all walks of life. Members are nominated privately within the existing Membership and elected annually by other individual members. Nominations and elections are based on their positive contributions to ASF projects, and their willingness to promote the public good when making decisions for their projects. A nominee’s employment or contributions outside the ASF are not a factor in electing new Members.
These hundreds of Members provide a technical and community mentoring
backbone to all of our projects, as well as a focus on our mission for
the public good. Many Members continue to volunteer across multiple ASF projects, and across various employers during their careers. Since Membership is permanent, a key cadre of Members from the first 10 years of the ASF’s history are still involved with governance and mentoring, providing a rich and fiercely independent culture.
2. Apache Project Trademarks
The ASF owns all trademarks on behalf of our project communities. The Apache brand benefits our projects and the ASF as a whole, given our strong brand recognition for independent and welcoming communities building software openly. Potential contributors know what to expect from any Apache project, and that with their contributions to the project, they’ll have a fair chance at being elected to a project’s PMC to help govern that project in the future.
Protecting the Apache brand – and the brands of all Apache projects – is a key focus of the ASF as a whole. Since the ASF as a nonprofit owns all trademarks of our projects, we have the ability to ensure that users always know where to get official Apache software products. While users are welcome to fork our code – it’s under Apache-2.0 as always – they may not fork our trademarks.
3. The Apache Board
The nine member ASF Board is elected annually from within the ASF Membership. Board elections are competitive and are based on individual Directors’ contributions to the ASF as a whole, not for outside activities and never for commercial affiliations. Since Board elections are private within the Membership, there is no chance for commercial interests outside the ASF to influence our annual Board elections, or the independent culture that our Board holds dear.
Every ASF project reports directly to the ASF board on a quarterly basis. Directors read all reports, and may have comments or suggestions for project governance when they are needed. This regular contact between projects and the board ensures that project governance is always at top of mind.
From time to time some commercial vendors have abused the ASF’s trademarks and goodwill for a vendor’s sole benefit, at a cost to the community as a whole. At other times, vendors have worked to bend project governance for their own benefit, either by hiring project contributors or by having their employees who are contributors unduly influence project direction.
In each of these cases, the independent ASF Board serves as a backstop to ensure projects are governed for the public good. While the board doesn’t make technical changes in projects (that would be silly, anyway), the board maintains Project Management Committee membership lists, and in rare cases can make corrections when needed. Similarly, the board and VP, Brand Management work to ensure that Apache trademarks are respected and reserved for the actual project communities that have done the work, not associated vendors.
The Board and our many volunteer officers’ efforts to preserve project
independence are not always visible publicly, but rest assured: Apache
projects are governed for the public good. While governance mentoring and corrections sometimes take time, the ASF board will always be here to ensure all our projects are truly working for the public good.
