I think that I am in a unique position to comment on this question. I am sure there are a lot of legal things and the Maven repository that can be pointed to as reasons why not to have an Incubator but I have been very pleased with the fact that Apache *does* have the Incubator. It has been incredibly helpful to me as I attempt to find the right people to show me the ropes at Apache. Code releases aside, it appears that it is generally accepted that people and projects who are part of the incubator are either novices with Apache or those who are willing to help the novices. Without that starting point, finding new people and projects could become limited. There is a centralized place at Apache for those who are starting out, and without the incubator, it doesn't appear that Apache has that.

I agree that people may be using projects that are part if the incubator and not realizing that it doesn't have the same level of support that the TLPs have. I also agree that a naming convention may solve part of that problem. You might also see if you have modify the Apache License a little so that in first few lines of an incubator project the license file clearly states that a project is in incubation and therefore has additional risks to it.

Angie

At 07:00 PM 7/7/2008, Davanum Srinivas wrote: