Incubation FAQ

Frequently asked questions about the incubation process, and requirements for OSGeo projects.

The following answers are not yet approved by the incubation committee or the board.

General

How and when can my project enter incubation?

(unanswered)

Contributor Agreement

Contributor Agreement (includes FAQ)

Code Provenance Review

Is there an audit checklist for our code?

(unanswered)

How to deal with long term projects where original developers are away?

(unanswered)

What do we need to check?

(unanswered)

What evidence to we need to provide that we did our checks?

(unanswered)

What ongoing checks do we need to do as PSC members?

(unanswered)

What criteria and evidence to we need to provide in incorporating libraries?

(unanswered)

Can we distribute libraries as part of our distribution?

Foundation projects will depend on many libraries. If a library is external, that is not distributed as part of the project source release, then generally nothing special needs to be done.

If it is included within project source releases, then it should be kept in a subdirectory and clearly marked as a seperate component with (potentially) distinct license terms from the project source code. The library subdirectory should include a README making prominent mention of the fact that the library is not part of the overall project. Furthermore, the main project README or LICENSES files should make clear that this library is present in the source tree, but is not considered to be part of the project.

Generally speaking foundation projects should avoid including copies of libraries within their own source tree as it complicates licensing issues.