JCP - A Question of Validity

At the recent IOUC / JUG Leaders Summit I attended this week, it was announced that Sou Java's Bruno Souza is being nominated to fill the open JCP Executive Committee (EC) position vacated by the Apache Foundation. Although there is not way to fill the void filled by the loss of Apache on the JCP, Bruno's nomination is a good replacement. I hope and encourage all other JCP members to follow me and ratify his position in the upcoming special election.

Patrick Curran posted in his blog The Fine Print - For Your Eyes Only that there are a number of negative perceptions about the JCP. I couldn't agree more. I have added some comments to his post which I hope he will approve soon. I believe that the only way to fix the majority of these negative perceptions is through change. Bruno is the start of that change.

When I spoke to Patrick at the conference, he convinced me that we (JUG Leaders, and community members) can make a difference. We spoke about the transparency which he wrote very eloquently about in his blog post, and how to effect change in the JCP.

I will tell the same story here which I added as comments to Patrick's blog post. I always tell my kids that unless you ask, the answer is always "no". If you want to make a change you must be willing to ask, you may be surprised that in a lot of cases, the answer will be a "yes".

I personally am sick and tired about hearing how broken the JCP is. The JCP EC is comprised of 15 seats. Ten of the seats are nominated by Oracle and ratified by the JCP members. The remaining five seats are openly elected seats. Here is my proposal: JUGs should fill those seats via the election process, unless a qualified individual from the community nominates themselves.  This will ensure that the Java community is well represented at the JCP EC table.

I want to be very clear that individuals from the community should be given priority over JUG communities per se. I don't want the JUG Leaders and JUGs accused of being just another set of large organizations vying for positions. It is my intent to protect those openly elected seats for members of the community, or JUGs for safekeeping if no other qualified individuals step forward.

I believe that with 1/3 of the voting block in control of the community, we can make the changes necessary to bring further transparency, and legitimacy to the JCP.

Do not get me wrong, I believe that the loss of Apache Foundation and Doug Lea are terrible for the Java ecosystem. I want Apache back on the EC, but I understand their position. I want to make the changes necessary to the JCP to have them back at the table. I would be the first person to pull out a chair for them. Until that time, it is up to us to make the difference.

I will propose that the JUG Leaders take a look at my post, and we as a community can decide on how to proceed. I am willing to nominate myself for the elected position in the upcoming election, but would readily concede to another candidate that represents the community like Bruno. I just want to make sure that we do not miss out on the opportunity that presents itself before us.

Any JUG, or individual who is not a member of the JCP is encouraged to join and be a part of the solution. I see opportunity, and think it could be an exciting time to be a part of something that matters. If you are reading this blog post and have gotten this far, you need to be a participant otherwise the answer will be... "no".