Complex or Extended Incubation

DRAFT – FOR REVIEW
This content is subject to review by the IPMC and the project community. This material was developed by individuals outside the individual podling communities, who may view events differently than those directly involved. Some content was AI-generated and may contain errors; however, the material has been reviewed and verified by a human for accuracy. It is provided for training and discussion purposes and may contain minor simplifications or adjustments for clarity.

About the ASF Incubator Case Studies

The ASF Incubator Case Studies share real lessons from podlings across the Incubator. Each case study brings together projects that faced similar challenges and shows how their communities addressed them.

These case studies serve as reference material for mentors, PPMC members (Podling Project Management Committees), and contributors who wish to understand how communities have evolved and matured during incubation.

Each case study includes:

• examples based on verified ASF records and reports
• common challenges and how they were handled
• short questions to think about for your own project
• direct links to ASF policies and guides

You can use these pages to:

• help with mentoring or project leadership
• compare your project’s progress with earlier examples
• support six-month reviews or graduation discussions
• reflect on transparency, motivation, and steady progress

Together, these examples build a shared record of ASF experience in community development.

Purpose and Context

Some podlings join the Incubator with large or complex codebases. Others need time for license checks, governance changes, or a shift from corporate or academic control to open community management.

A prolonged incubation does not mean a project is failing. It often means the community is doing careful work to meet ASF standards for openness, verified licensing, and governance. Taking time can be a normal part of meeting ASF expectations for open development, independent decision-making, and clean IP clearance. Being open and clear about progress helps build trust.

These examples show that while long incubations require patience, the IPMC continues to apply consistent oversight and expects measurable progress through verified releases, public reporting, and open governance.

For mentors, this case study shows how to maintain long incubations as visible, constructive, and motivating as possible. For PPMC members, it shows how persistence, openness, and effective communication can transform what appears to be a delay into a tangible understanding of The Apache Way.

This case study examines three real-world examples: NetBeans, IoTDB, and Trafodion. Each took the time to complete migration and governance work while maintaining active communication and reporting.

These examples remind mentors and communities that steady, visible progress matters more than speed. Clear communication helps the IPMC and the wider ASF recognise real work even when it takes time.

Quick Check

Think about your own podling.

• Are migration, dependency, and license-clearance steps clearly discussed on the mailing list?
• Has the community made at least one Apache-style release that followed ASF voting and packaging rules?
• Are updates shared even when there’s no new release?
• Do mentors and the IPMC see regular progress reports and status page updates?
• Do contributors outside the original organisation have visible roles?
• Has the team discussed long-term governance and continuity plans after graduation?
• Do reports describe both technical and community progress, as expected in the ASF Maturity Model?

If any of these are hard to answer, these examples can help your podling improve its ability to stay open and maintain energy during long or complex incubation periods.

How to Use These Case Studies

These examples show how podlings with complex or lengthy incubations remained open and active. You can use them when preparing reports, explaining timelines, or helping teams stay motivated.

They can help you:

• share progress clearly, even when slow
• notice progress that isn’t just releases
• keep contributors involved and informed
• support steady IP or migration work through open updates
• make sure graduation reflects readiness, not pressure
• show clear progress toward ASF policy expectations

Case Studies

These examples show that extended incubation can still lead to success when work, licensing, and communication stay open and steady. Each project followed ASF processes at its own pace and showed persistence and collaboration.

NetBeans

Entry: Long-standing IDE originally developed by Sun Microsystems and later maintained by Oracle. Donated by Oracle and entered the Apache Incubator in October 2016.

During Incubation

• IP clearance and migration: Millions of lines of code needed review and relicensing. Oracle donated modules in several stages, each requiring separate IP checks and approvals.
• Releases: The first Apache release, NetBeans 9.0, was released in 2018, following nearly two years of migration work. Each release step also checked license headers and modular structure.
• Community growth: New contributors joined from universities, user groups, and small companies.
• Mentorship: Mentors helped the project adjust to the ASF mailing list and release practices, and maintain public communication.

Graduation: Graduated as a Top Level Project (TLP) in April 2019.
Current Status: TLP

Key Point: Large, mature codebases can succeed if they remain transparent about migration work, maintain clean IP, and welcome new contributors.
What Mentors and PPMCs Can Do: Encourage clear public tracking of IP work, license checks, and regular updates to maintain high confidence among the community and IPMC.

IoTDB

Entry: Created at Tsinghua University as part of the TSFile research project, entered the Apache Incubator in November 2018.

During Incubation

• Releases: The first incubating release appeared in 2019, followed by regular updates through 2020.
• Community growth: Expanded from a university team to include contributors from Huawei, Alibaba, and Europe.
• Mentorship: Mentors encouraged clearer documentation, more English communication, and joining ASF events to connect with the wider community.

Graduation: Graduated as a Top Level Project (TLP) in September 2020.
Current Status: TLP

Key Point: Research projects can become strong Apache communities when they release often and communicate clearly.
What Mentors and PPMCs Can Do: Help academic or institutional teams learn ASF discussion and release habits that work for global collaboration.

Trafodion

Entry: Donated by HP as a transactional SQL-on-HBase database.
Entered the Apache Incubator on May 24 2015.

During Incubation

• Releases: Produced several incubating releases between 2016 and 2017 that met ASF voting and packaging requirements.
• Governance: Followed ASF processes and showed readiness for graduation.
• Mentorship: Mentors encouraged wider contributor diversity and more visible discussion on mailing lists.

Graduation: Graduated as a Top Level Project (TLP) on December 20 2017.
After Graduation: Contributor diversity stayed limited and activity slowed. The project was retired in April 2021, with the move to the Attic completed in May 2021.
Current Status: Retired TLP

Key Point: Graduation signifies readiness for independence, but continued diversity and activity are necessary to maintain good health.
What Mentors and PPMCs Can Do: Help podlings plan for shared ownership and ongoing reporting before graduation, so the project remains active after graduation. Independence must be visible, not just declared.

Across these examples, similar lessons appear:
Podlings that take time to complete migration and licensing can still thrive if they communicate clearly, follow ASF release steps, and show steady progress.

Common Patterns Seen in Podlings

These patterns appear in different forms but all show practical learning of The Apache Way.

Early Warning Signs

• Long gaps in mailing-list activity during migration or review
• Few or no progress reports to mentors or IPMC
• Reports frequently late or missing from the monthly or quarterly schedule
• Work done in private systems instead of public lists
• No new committers added during long incubation
• Branding or website still marked “(incubating)” after graduation
• Graduation discussion based on fatigue instead of readiness

Check recent lists, reports, and status pages to confirm work is open and policy-aligned.

Mentor Challenges and Burnout

Long incubations can test both mentors and podlings. Sustained oversight, long review cycles, or slow progress can lead to mentor fatigue or quiet disengagement.

When mentors lose energy, projects can feel unsupported or unsure of how to move forward. This is common in long incubations, but it requires open discussion to avoid misunderstandings.

Ways to manage it:

• Share mentoring work evenly across the team and ask for help early if one person feels overloaded.
• Keep regular check-ins between mentors to stay coordinated.
• Rotate who drafts reports, reviews releases, or follows up on votes to spread the load.
• If needed, consider inviting an additional mentor or requesting assistance from the IPMC. Adding a new mentor can bring a fresh perspective and energy.
• Mentors can also step down or be rotated out when they are inactive or unavailable — this is normal and helps keep the mentoring team balanced.
• Thank mentors for their time and consistency — reliability matters more than constant activity.

Open communication between mentors, the PPMC, and the IPMC helps prevent burnout and keeps guidance balanced, visible, and supportive.

Reviewing Complex or Extended Incubation

This table helps mentors and PPMCs discuss whether progress in complex podlings stays visible and healthy.
It is a self-review tool, not an ASF checklist.

Using These Case Studies

For Mentors

• Read one example that matches your podling’s situation.
• Keep communication, releases, and updates steady.
• Remind podlings that governance and openness are progress too.
• Use the Early Warning Signs to spot risks before reports or votes.

For PPMC Members

• Review these examples as a team.
• Highlight visible progress in reports.
• Share small updates even before major releases.
• Treat long incubation as shared learning, not delay.

Optional reuse

These examples can also support mentor–PPMC discussions.

Mentor and PPMC Reference Actions – Supporting Complex or Extended Incubation

1. Make IP and migration work visible
   Post short monthly notes on clearance, dependency checks, or restructuring. (NetBeans)

2. Celebrate small wins
   Acknowledge steps such as the first ASF build, clearing the submodule, or becoming a new committer. (IoTDB)

3. Document clearly
   Track unfinished work on the wiki or in reports so others can help. (NetBeans)

4. Support clear communication
   Translate key materials or summaries if needed, so everyone can follow. (IoTDB)

5. Be patient with global communication
   Encourage asynchronous discussion and summaries to allow contributors in different time zones to stay on track. (All)

6. Plan for independence early
   Rotate release leads and report authors before graduation. (Trafodion)

7. Keep governance visible
   Show how decisions are made, not just what was achieved. (All)

8. Don’t rush graduation
   Graduate when ready—after showing diversity and proper Apache releases, not from fatigue. (Trafodion)

9. Keep morale high
   Thank contributors for their persistence during review periods. (All)

10. Report visible progress
    In each report, describe what was done and learned, not just plans. (All)

Common Mentor and PPMC Pitfalls

• Seeing long incubation as failure instead of process
• Handling license or IP work privately instead of openly
• Pushing for early graduation out of frustration
• Focusing only on code, not communication
• Forgetting post-graduation sustainability and branding cleanup

Linking to ASF Oversight

Mentors and PPMCs should make long-term progress visible in podling and board reports. The IPMC values openness, verified licensing, and regular communication more than speed of graduation. When preparing for graduation, describe visible behaviour, not only numbers.

Examples of Evidence for Podling Reports

• Mailing-list updates about IP or dependency progress (NetBeans)
• Apache-compliant releases and vote records (IoTDB)
• New committers or contributors joining during long incubation (IoTDB, NetBeans)
• Governance documents updated during migration (NetBeans)
• Diversity planning and reflection after graduation (Trafodion)

Mentors can also stay in touch briefly after graduation to make sure the new PMC is comfortable with releases, branding, and reporting routines.

These examples demonstrate the community learning ASF practices and maintaining accountability in public.

ASF Cultural Perspective

Patience and openness are core to The Apache Way. Long or complex incubations test a community’s ability to stay transparent, cooperative, and self-motivated. Mentors build trust by keeping progress visible and process compliant, not by setting deadlines. A PPMC shows maturity when it communicates steady progress through public discussion, proper releases, and open documentation. Consistency and openness foster trust, and that trust in turn sustains success.

A Shared Record of Experience

This case study summarises information from ASF public mailing lists, podling reports, and status pages. It was written from the perspective of observers outside the individual podling communities. Community members may hold differing views on events or timelines, and minor simplifications may be made for clarity or training purposes. It includes historical information drawn from public ASF sources and does not represent the current state of any project mentioned. This content may contain errors or omissions due to AI-generated elements. However, the material has been reviewed and verified by a human for accuracy. These factors do not reduce its value as a reference for understanding patterns of incubation and global collaboration.