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Define criteria for incubation stage 2 #78

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Define criteria for incubation stage 2 #78

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bb96338
Clarify the definition of the incubation stages
cornelius Jun 18, 2024
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Draft the criteria for stage 2
cornelius Jun 18, 2024
c5bbcfb
Be more precise what is still in a draft status
cornelius Sep 18, 2024
0b53129
Formulate criteria in a uniform way
cornelius Sep 18, 2024
62371e8
Formulate criteria for stage 1 in a consistent way
cornelius Sep 18, 2024
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Add note about support by the TC
cornelius Sep 19, 2024
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Clarify language
cornelius Sep 19, 2024
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Clarify that steps can not be skipped
cornelius Sep 19, 2024
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# OpenRail Incubation process

*This is a draft*

This document describes the incubation process for projects in the OpenRail Association. This includes how a project can join OpenRail as well as how a project can move to subsequent stages of maturity.

Projects can be in four stages which are reflecting the maturity of the project and the level of adoption in the OpenRail community (Sandbox, Incubation, Graduated, Retired). For each stage the project has to fulfill a set of criteria. Projects can propose to be moved from one stage to the next. The TC will evaluate the proposal and decide if the project can move to the next stage.
Expand All @@ -10,24 +8,27 @@ Projects can be in four stages which are reflecting the maturity of the project

The criteria for entering each stage cover the compliance, business, and technical evaluation of the project. The evaluation has to be done for each version of the project. A community version could be accepted and not the enterprise version.

The criteria for each stage are listed in the subsequent sections along with the process how projects are accepted into the corresponding stage.
The criteria for each stage are listed in the subsequent sections along with the process how projects are accepted into the corresponding stage. Projects are going through the stages in a sequential order, stages can't be skipped, even if the project is already starting from a mature point. The exception is the Retired state which can always directly be entered by projects which are not active anymore.

## Stage 0: Candidate

Projects which intend to join the OpenRail Association are considered candidates. Candidates are not yet OpenRail projects. They are evaluated by the Technical Committee on request of the project to become part of the OpenRail Association. Candidates need to at least fulfill the criteria for the Sandbox stage to be accepted into the OpenRail Association.

## Stage 1: Sandbox

The Sandbox stage is the initial stage for projects being hosted by the OpenRail Association. Sandbox projects meet the minimal requirements necessary for being considered to be part of the OpenRail Association. The Sandbox stage is meant for projects that are in an early phase and are being prepared for meeting the full criteria of the Incubation stage.
The Sandbox stage is the initial stage for projects being hosted by the OpenRail Association. Sandbox projects meet the minimal requirements necessary for being considered to be part of the OpenRail Association.

The Sandbox stage is the entry stage for all projects hosted by the OpenRail Association. This stage is meant for projects to mature and work on meeting the criteria for the Incubation stage while already being part of the OpenRail Association. This can be projects that are in an early phase or it can be projects which already are mature. More mature projects will likely spend less time in the Sandbox stage.

The barrier for entering the Sandbox stage is intended to be low, so that it's easy for projects to become part of the OpenRail Association and the work necessary for moving to the next stage can be done within the Association.
The barrier for entering the Sandbox stage is intended to be low, so that it's easy for projects to become part of the OpenRail Association and the work necessary for moving to the next stage can be done within the Association with the support of the Technical Committee.

### Criteria

* Describe project
* Name maintainers of the project
* Adopt the OpenRail Association Code of Conduct
* Adhere to OpenRail Association IP Policy
* **The project contributes to solving challenges of the railway sector in an open collaborative way so that it is in the scope of the purpose of the OpenRail Association.**
* **The project is clearly described so that the OpenRail Association and potential users and contributors have a clear idea what it does.** The description and additional information is documented as part of the new project questionnaire.
* **The project has designated its maintainers so that it is clear who is making decisions in the project and can add additional contributors.** The maintainers are documented in the project repository.
* **The project adopts the OpenRail Association Code of Conduct so that social norms are well defined and enforced.** The code of conduct is documented in the project repository.
* **The project adheres to the OpenRail Association IP Policy so that there is a safe and equal base to use and contribute to the project.** This means in particular that the repo only contains code licensed under an OSI approved license and that the project intends to transfer any trademarks related to the project to the OpenRail Association.

### Process

Expand All @@ -41,20 +42,22 @@ The barrier for entering the Sandbox stage is intended to be low, so that it's e

## Stage 2: Incubation

The Incubation stage is for projects that have reached a level of maturity that indicates they are ready to be used by end users. Incubation projects meet the main criteria of the OpenRail Association which make sure that the project is governed openly. Open governance means that decisions are taken in a transparent way and there is a path to become committer and maintainer based on the merits of contributions.
The Incubation stage is for projects that have reached a high level of quality and maturity that indicates they are ready to be used by end users. Incubation projects meet the main criteria of the OpenRail Association which make sure that the project is governed openly. Open governance means that decisions are taken in a transparent way and there is a path to become committer and maintainer based on the merits of contributions.

The Incubation stage focuses on quality criteria the project can reach on its own and doesn't require a high degree of external adoption or contributions yet.

The barrier for entering the Incubation stage is intended to be high, so there is a high level of quality for projects which have reached this stage.

### Criteria

*Examples from CNCF incubation process, to be adopted*

* Have a healthy number of committers. A committer is defined as someone with the commit bit; i.e., someone who can accept contributions to some or all of the project.
* Demonstrate a substantial ongoing flow of commits and merged contributions.
* Since these metrics can vary significantly depending on the type, scope and size of a project, the TOC has final judgement over the level of activity that is adequate to meet these criteria
* A clear versioning scheme.
* Specifications must have at least one public reference implementation.
* Project explains the business roadmap.
* **The project has a healthy base of contributors so that it is developed in a sustainable way.** It has a healthy number of committers, i.e., people who can accept contributions to some or all of the project. Committers can come from the same organization. It demonstrates a substantial ongoing flow of commits and merged contributions. Since these metrics can vary significantly depending on the type, scope and size of a project, the TC has final judgement over the level of activity that is adequate to meet these criteria.
* **There is a clear release process so that users know what to expect from releases.** This includes transparency about the release cycle, communicating changes via changelogs, and a clear versioning scheme. It also includes cryptographically signing release artifacts so that users can make sure they receive the software from trustable sources.
* **Specifications must have at least one public reference implementation so that the practicality of the specification is demonstrated and adopters have a base to start from.**
* **The project has implemented an open governance process so that participation in the project becomes possible.** It is documented how decisions are taken in the project and how people can become committers and maintainers.
* **There is a public business roadmap so that there is transparency about what drives the project.**
* **The project's software is used in production so that it is demonstrated that the software is ready for serious use.** It is sufficient if this is only the organization developing the project.
* **There is clarity about the licensing of the project so that it can be safely used in a compliant way.** To achieve that the project is [REUSE](https://reuse.software) compliant and there is an automatic check which runs the REUSE linter. Indicating copyright and license information in headers in each file is the preferred solution but to declare this information with the REUSE toml file can be a valid solution as well.
* **The project requires the [Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO)](https://developercertificate.org/) so that there is clarity about the provenance of contributed code.** The presence of the DCO information is automatically checked so that it is made sure that it is present in all commits.

### Process

Expand All @@ -65,10 +68,16 @@ The barrier for entering the Incubation stage is intended to be high, so there i

## Stage 3: Graduated

The Graduated stage is for projects which have reached a level of hight maturity and adoption. They are the flagship projects of the OpenRail Association.
The Graduated stage is for projects which have reached a level of high maturity and adoption. They are the flagship projects of the OpenRail Association.

The Graduated stage is for projects which have not only reached a high level of quality, but also demonstrate that they are widely used and have a diverse set of contributors. This indicates that they can be relied on and they don't depend on a single organization.

Projects at the Graduated stage fit into the overall architecture of the OpenRail Association. There are no competing projects on this stage which implement the same capabilities.

### Criteria

*The criteria for stage 3 are still a draft*

*Examples from CNCF incubation process, to be adopted*

* Document that it is being used successfully in production by at least three independent adopters which, in the TC’s judgement, are of adequate quality and scope.
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