1.5 M Lines Of Oracle Code Now in Apache NetBeans Git

Hurray! The 2nd Oracle donation of NetBeans to the Apache Software Foundation, constituting 1.5M lines of code, providing tools for enterprise Java, JavaScript, PHP, Groovy, and more, has now landed on a branch of Apache NetBeans Git:

Go here to see the new branch containing the 2nd donation: https://github.com/apache/incubator-netbeans/tree/2ndDonation

Posted at 04:21PM Jun 26, 2018 by Geertjan in General  |   | 

NetBeans Status at FossBack '18

The session outlining 10 tips for large corporate projects moving to Apache, with NetBeans as an illustrative example, presented at FossBack '18, is now available on YouTube:

Click above or, alternatively, go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnznard9Nls

The full report on the session and NetBeans attendance is here: https://blogs.apache.org/netbeans/entry/apache-netbeans-at-foss-backstage

Posted at 07:58PM Jun 22, 2018 by Geertjan in General  |   | 

1.5M Lines of NetBeans Code from Oracle to Apache

Great news: the process of completing the 2nd donation is now done and Oracle has made available a ZIP file constituting the 2nd donation. Oracle donated around 4,000,000 lines of code in the 1st donation last year and has now completed the 2nd donation constituting around 1,500,000 lines of code. This donation constitutes the modules of NetBeans dealing with enterprise Java, JavaScript, PHP, Groovy, as well as miscellaneous features applicable to Mobile and Web development.

We will continue to wrap up the final release of Apache NetBeans (incubating) 9.0, which will be focused on Java SE only. After that, or at least separate from that process, we will start relicensing the new code, i.e., from the 2nd donation, once it is in Apache NetBeans Git. Right now, it is a ZIP file, it needs to be moved to Apache NetBeans Git, and we need to do that in the right way, and figure out what the right way is.

This is a significant step forward in the transition of NetBeans from Oracle to Apache.

Posted at 12:12PM Jun 21, 2018 by Geertjan in General  |  Comments [1]  | 

Apache NetBeans at FOSS Backstage 2018

Yesterday I attended FOSS Backstage in Berlin. FOSS Backstage is a "conference on everything governance, collaboration, legal & economics within the scope of FOSS". I went there to present my session, based on the Apache NetBeans experiences of the past two years or so, entitled 10 Tips for Moving Large Corporate Projects to Apache. I also went because I knew that several people from the Apache Software Foundation who have been instrumental in the transition of NetBeans to Apache would also be there and I thought it was time to put some faces to the many new names that we've been confronted with during the transition process!

The event began for me with a wonderful speakers dinner, where I met three of the absolute key Apache people involved in the Apache NetBeans project — Emmanuel Lecharny, Bertrand Delacretaz, and Mark Struberg. Here we are, literally about 5 minutes after meeting, discussing the current status of the transition process (click the image below to increase size):

Bertrand and Mark are two of the Apache NetBeans mentors, while Emmanuel was a mentor during the beginning phase of the transition. Both Bertrand and Emmanuel were involved really in the pre-start phase of the donation, with many thanks to Emmanuel Hugonnet who introduced us, after a very nice and long conversation some years ago in Athens!

During the event, I also met several others who I have seen on Apache mailing lists — Justin McLean, Shane Curcuru, and Jim Jagielski. Really amazing to meet all these names in person — and not to forget, I also met Mark Thomas, who is the Apache VP for Brand Management, i.e., who we need to work with for the brand/domain donation, and Malcolm Bain, a lawyer specialising in ICT law, based in Barcelona, with a special focus on Open Source Projects. I also spoke with Kevin A. McGrail, who is Apache VP Fundraising, who later sent me this very nice and welcome message: "Did I hear you correct and you wanted to talk about how I can help NetBeans with sponsorship?" Yes, you did, Kevin!

What really struck me is how positive everyone at Apache is about the Apache NetBeans project. Everyone mentioned how great and active the Apache NetBeans community is, i.e., active mailing lists, several discussion threads, voting in new PPMC members, and of course also doing releases already, with everyone positive and committed to the project. I realized, especially as I was doing my presentation, when I was talking about the history of NetBeans, that the reason why Apache NetBeans is going so well in many respects is because we've been working on our community from the very beginning. I.e., even while NetBeans was part of commercial entities (i.e., Sun and Oracle), we had an army of volunteers all over the world, organized in structures such as NetCAT (i.e., volunteer testers), and the NetBeans Dream Team (i.e., volunteer evangelists), while we've also been organizing NetBeans Days all over the world for several years, i.e., we've come to Apache with a ready-made community, whereas for the majority of other projects coming to Apache the reason that they're coming to Apache is because they don't yet have a community and are looking to Apache to provide the infrastructure for doing so.

Also, really crucially, we've spent years educating developers everywhere about the NetBeans APIs, the NetBeans source structure, etc. That's been massively impactful now that we're in Apache, since those who are most active right now are those that have been involved with NetBeans for around 20 years or so. In short, there are definitely advantages to being a large corporate project in terms of transitioning to Apache — just like NetBeans, you may take a long time to get all your code across (because the donating company needs to spend time auditing and cleaning the code etc), though on the other hand you'll potentially be bringing a massive amount of existing knowledge and a vibrant community along with you.

In short, it was great to be at FOSS Backstage and I am sure more and more Apache NetBeans community members will be submitting sessions to similar Apache events around the world and sharing their experiences, too.

Posted at 08:48AM Jun 14, 2018 by Geertjan in General  |  Comments [1]  |