A proposal for better sandbox management emerged from discussions at ApacheConEurope2005. Here IIRC is the consensus. Hopefully, folks with better memories will dive in and correct any mistakes.
Of course, other folks are encouraged to improve the proposal but it might be better to post to commons-dev about any major changes (so it can be discussed) rather than just diving in.
The sandbox contains many components which are no longer active. This confuses users. It increases the time required to checkout the sandbox. It also makes it more difficult for folks not familiar with Commons to see that we're demonstrating oversight.
Probably best to batch these together and tidy up the sandbox a couple of times a year. Probably announce dates in advance so that folks get a chance to speak up.
Though any component can be archived by lazy consensus, netiquette requires a proposal to give the chance for any committers interested in that component to reply. There is no pressing reason for haste and so an appropriate duration should be chosen for the vote.
\[remove xxxx from the externals\] |
\[add xxxx to the externals\] |