ASF Project Roles
SpamAssassin, as an Apache top-level project, follows the Apache development model which [http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#roles defines the various roles] in the project:
- users: someone that uses our software
[http://www.apache.org/dev/contributors.html contributors]: anyone can provide feedback, submit bug reports, or submit patches (WeLoveVolunteers)
[http://www.apache.org/dev/committers.html committers]: a committer is simply an individual who was given write access to the codebase
[http://www.apache.org/dev/pmc.html PMC members]: the project management committee is responsible for managing a project
SpamAssassin specifics
The SpamAssassin project management committee (pmc at spamassassin.apache.org), like most other PMCs, is responsible for:
- adding new committers (and potentially removing)
- creating and destroying subprojects
- setting project direction
- handling public relations
- setting policy and procedures
In addition, there are some actions that are purely development-related, so they do not fall under the PMC mantle. Of course, people who happen to be on the PMC tend to do these, but committers could as well. Then again, a committer who was this active and responsible for the project would frequently end up being a project management committee member.
- proposing and cutting releases
- scheduling
There's a private 'PMC list', but it's not to be used as a private mailing list of general discussions for PMC members only, as this is contrary to ASF policy. Instead, it's there to discuss sensitive stuff that needs to be moderately secret. Non-sensitive PMC discussions are held on the dev list. The ASF definition of what lives on the PMC list is: 'issues that cannot be discussed in public, such as discussion of pre-disclosure security problems, pre-agreement discussions with third parties that require confidentiality, discussion of nominees for project or Foundation membership, and personal conflicts among project personnel.'
Advancement
Developers and contributors who contribute too much good code and not enough bad code usually become committers.
Committers with a long history of significant involvement in the advancement of the project and project development (ideally in more than one way), a strong ability to work with others in the ASF way, and who are not jerkwads are generally nominated to be on the PMC. After the PMC has voted to add a new PMC member, the ASF board has to approve new PMC members; this is discussed [http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html on how-it-works.html].
There are no hard criteria for either of these roles: not lines of code nor number of patches. If you're interested, you can always send a message to the PMC to ask where you are on the radar.
Committers should probably ensure they're subscribed to [http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#other the 'committers' and 'community' ASF mailing lists].
Current roles
See the [http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi/spamassassin/trunk/CREDITS?root=Apache-SVN&view=markup CREDITS page].
Changes to make during Advancement
Going from contributor to committer: See BecomingCommitter.
Going from committer to PMC: Granted all permissions in Bugzilla. Apache email address added to pmc email list.
More Details
Be sure to read [http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html how-it-works.html] – there's lots of useful stuff about ASF processes there.