129 lines
5.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
129 lines
5.5 KiB
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==========================================
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Introduction: A Bit of OpenStack History
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==========================================
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The origin
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==========
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OpenStack was created during the first months of 2010. Rackspace wanted to
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rewrite the infrastructure code running its Cloud servers offering, and
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considered open sourcing the existing Cloud files code. At the same time,
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Anso Labs (contracting for NASA) had published beta code for `Nova`_, a
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Python-based "cloud computing fabric controller".
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Both efforts converged and formed the base for OpenStack. The first Design
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Summit was held in Austin, TX on July 13-14, 2010, and the project was
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officially announced at OSCON in Portland, OR, on July 21st, 2010.
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.. _Nova: https://web.archive.org/web/20100620230941/http://novacc.org/
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The mission
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===========
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The OpenStack mission is "to produce a ubiquitous Open Source Cloud Computing
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platform that is easy to use, simple to implement, interoperable between
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deployments, works well at all scales, and meets the needs of users and
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operators of both public and private clouds".
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It was updated in February of 2016 to include interoperability and better
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serving end users.
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The original mission was "to produce the ubiquitous Open Source Cloud Computing
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platform that will meet the needs of public and private clouds regardless of
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size, by being simple to implement and massively scalable". It originally
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appeared on the wiki on May 24th, 2010.
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The Four Opens
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==============
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The best short definition of "the OpenStack Way" is the four opens as
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defined in the governance document approved by the Technical
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Committee:
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https://governance.openstack.org/tc/reference/opens.html
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These were further refined in a set of guiding principles that apply to all
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OpenStack projects:
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https://governance.openstack.org/tc/reference/principles.html
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In the following chapters, we'll further elaborate on those basic principles
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and explain more precisely what they mean for OpenStack project teams.
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A quick history of OpenStack governance
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=======================================
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Original governance
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-------------------
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The original project governance defined three main bodies: the Advisory
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Board, the Architecture Board and Technical Committees for each sub-project.
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This was quickly replaced early 2011 by the Project Oversight Committee,
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which consisted of a mix of elected and Rackspace-appointed members. PTLs
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were appointed by Rackspace too.
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The governance model was once again tweaked in March 2011. The Project
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Oversight Committee was renamed to Project Policy Board (still a mix of
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appointed and elected members), and PTLs were elected by the contributors
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to their project for the first time.
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The OpenStack Foundation
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------------------------
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In September 2012, the `OpenStack Foundation`_ was launched as an independent
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body providing shared resources to protect, empower, and promote OpenStack
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software and the community around it.
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The responsibilities of the Project Policy Board were split between two bodies:
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* The Foundation `Board of Directors`_, which defines the objectives of the
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OpenStack Foundation, controls how the Foundation budget is spent, and
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has authority on the OpenStack trademark
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* The `Technical Committee`_, which manages the technical matters and has
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authority over the open source upstream OpenStack Project
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The Foundation bylaws also established a third body, the `User Committee`_,
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to more accurately reflect the views and needs of the users of OpenStack.
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The Technical Committee was originally formed by all the PTLs + five members
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directly elected by all the contributors. In June 2013, to accommodate the
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growth in the number of project teams and PTLs, the Technical Committee
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decided to switch to 13 directly-elected members instead. Half of those are
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renewed every 6 months.
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The Project structure reform (a.k.a. the 'big tent')
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----------------------------------------------------
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One of the prerogatives of The Technical Committee (and its predecessors) is
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to define what is "an OpenStack project" from an upstream, open source project
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perspective. OpenStack started with two projects, but as their functionality
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was refactored and as our community grew, new projects were added.
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Requirements for new projects evolved over time. End of 2012 we introduced
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the concept of incubation, to be able to grow new projects for inclusion in
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"OpenStack". However, requirements based on maturity created a catch-22, as
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projects had trouble attracting enough contributors until they were
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recognized as official. Concerns around the size of the "integrated
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release" also resulted in artificially excluding a lot of people from
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the OpenStack community.
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In December 2014, the Technical Committee introduced a
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`Project structure reform`_ (dubbed the 'big tent') that moved to a
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community-centric definition of 'OpenStack'. Its premise was that teams
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that follow the OpenStack principles, use our development model and have
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a scope compatible with the OpenStack mission should not be excluded from the
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OpenStack community. They can apply to become official OpenStack project
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teams: if approved they are placing themselves under the OpenStack governance
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rules, and their deliverables are considered OpenStack projects.
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.. _OpenStack Foundation: http://www.openstack.org/foundation/
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.. _Board of Directors: http://www.openstack.org/foundation/board-of-directors/
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.. _Technical Committee: https://governance.openstack.org/tc/
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.. _User Committee: https://governance.openstack.org/uc/
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.. _Project structure reform: https://governance.openstack.org/tc/resolutions/20141202-project-structure-reform-spec.html
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