diff --git a/site/docs/community.md b/site/docs/community.md index ac028a46e9c3..421d41f4d969 100644 --- a/site/docs/community.md +++ b/site/docs/community.md @@ -76,7 +76,9 @@ Iceberg has four mailing lists: The Apache Iceberg community is built on the principles described in the [Apache Way](https://www.apache.org/theapacheway/index.html) and all who engage with the community are expected to be respectful, open, come with the best interests of the community in mind, -and abide by the Apache Foundation [Code of Conduct](https://www.apache.org/foundation/policies/conduct.html). +and abide by the Apache Software Foundation [Code of Conduct](https://www.apache.org/foundation/policies/conduct.html). + +More information specific to the Apache Iceberg community is in the next section, [the Path from Contributor to Committer](#the-path-from-contributor-to-committer). ### Participants with Corporate Interests @@ -100,3 +102,56 @@ Recruitment of community members should not be conducted through direct messages related to contributing to or using Iceberg can be posted to the `#jobs` channel. For questions regarding any of the guidelines above, please contact a PMC member + +## The Path from Contributor to Committer + +Many contributors have questions about how to become a committer. This section outlines what committers do and how they are invited. + +### What are the responsibilities of a committer? + +In the Iceberg project, committers are community members that can review and commit changes to Iceberg repositories. Reviewing is the primary responsibility of committers. + +### How are new committers added? + +Starting from the foundation guidelines, committers are nominated and discussed by the PMC, which uses a consensus vote to confirm a new committer. This vote is the only formal requirement in the Iceberg community — there are no other requirements, such as a minimum period of time or a minimum number of contributions. Similarly, there is no length of time or number of commits that automatically qualify someone to be a committer. + +Committers are added when someone has built trust with PMC members that they have good judgment and are a reliable reviewer. + +### What does the PMC look for? + +PMC members typically look for candidates to have demonstrated a few qualities: + +* **Conduct** — Committers are representatives of the project and are expected to follow the [ASF Code of Conduct](https://www.apache.org/foundation/policies/conduct.html). +* **Judgment** — Committers should know the areas where they are qualified to evaluate a change and when to bring in other opinions. +* **Quality** — Personal contributions are a strong signal. Contributions that don’t require major help demonstrate the context and understanding needed to reliably review changes from others. If a contributor often needs guidance, they are probably not ready to guide others. +* **Consistency** — Reviewing is the primary responsibility of a committer. A committer should demonstrate they will consistently apply their context and understanding to help contributors get changes in and ensure those changes are high quality. + +### How do I demonstrate those qualities? + +To be a committer, a candidate should act like a committer so that PMC members can evaluate the qualities above. PMC members will ask questions like these: + +* Has the candidate been a good representative of the project in mailing lists, Slack, github, and other discussion forums? +* Has the candidate followed the ASF Code of Conduct when working with others? +* Has the candidate made independent material contributions to the community that show expertise? +* Have the candidate’s contributions been stable and maintainable? +* Has the candidate’s work required extensive review or significant refactoring due to misunderstandings of the project’s objectives? +* Does the candidate apply the standards and conventions of the project by following existing patterns and using already included libraries? +* Has the candidate participated in design discussions for new features? +* Has the candidate asked for help when reviewing changes outside their area of expertise? +* How diverse are the contributors that the candidate reviewed? +* Does the candidate raise potentially problematic changes to the dev list? + +### How can I be a committer? + +You can always reach out to PMC members for feedback and guidance if you have questions. + +There is no single path to becoming a committer. For example, people contributing to Python are often implicitly trusted not to start reviewing changes to other languages. Similarly, some areas of a project require more context than others. + +Keep in mind that it’s best not to compare your contributions to others. Instead, focus on demonstrating quality and judgment. + +### How many contributions does it take to become a committer? + +The number of contributions is not what matters — the quality of those contributions (including reviews!) is what demonstrates that a contributor is ready to be a committer. + +You can always reach out to PMC members directly or using private@iceberg.apache.org for feedback and guidance if you have questions. +