[mlpack] mlpack and NumFOCUS (was: mlpack video meeting)

[Ryan Curtin]

Hey everyone,

(Sorry this took so long.  I have been underwater with other things
since the meeting and only now am I getting the chance to follow up...)

I wanted to highlight one point of the discussion we had last week:

On Fri, Apr 05, 2019 at 02:48:28AM +0200, Marcus Edel wrote:
> * NumFocus:
> - NumFocus is an organization that we have talked to at different events.
> - They will handle donations, help us to organize workshops and or hackathons.
> - Similar to the Apache software foundation.

Marcus and I have talked to NumFOCUS representatives in the past, most
recently at the MLOSS NeurIPS workshop in December, and so we have
discussed the possibility of joining NumFOCUS as an organization.  The
Shogun toolbox is also a part of NumFOCUS.

In short, joining NumFOCUS would not change how we as contributors
participate in the project.  We can still write code; the license does
not change; the copyright holders do not change.  Functionally, our
lives here do not change, really.

NumFOCUS would manage any donations to mlpack or any sponsorship; they
would set up the framework for that.  It's also possible that they may
be willing to give us money for development directly, or provide funding
for hackathons or meetups.  I understand there are also NumFOCUS
conferences that aim to get people from different projects in the same
room.

You can see details here:

https://numfocus.org/information-fiscal-sponsorship

We can also expect that we would have access to other NumFOCUS projects
and collaboration/visibility would be a possibility.

In return, NumFOCUS will take a cut (I think 30%? I have to check again)
of any funds donated to mlpack through NumFOCUS.  (This would not
include GSoC, as we do that individually and will continue to.)  Were we
to ever part ways with NumFOCUS, it would probably take some paperwork,
but I was assured that joining was not an irreversible decision.

Here is a list of other organizations that participate in NumFOCUS:

https://numfocus.org/sponsored-projects

During our meeting, we talked about this, and nobody seemed to have any
issue with it and our seeming consensus was that it would be beneficial
to us.  However, not everyone could join the meeting due to our
technical difficulties or scheduling conflicts. :)  So I wanted to bring
the discussion here to the list so that more people can participate if
they like.

I think it's reasonable to leave this open for a week, and if there is
no objection then I'll start the application process.

Please do feel free to contribute to this discussion if you have any
questions or concerns---we are all a part of the community and have a
say in this decision.

Thanks!

Ryan

-- 
Ryan Curtin    | "Lady, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the store."
ryan at ratml.org |   - Ash in Housewares