Board Report 2019 3

DESCRIPTION

Apache Royale is a new implementation of the principles of Apache Flex, designed for JavaScript instead of Adobe Flash/AIR runtimes. Apache Royale improves developer productivity in creating applications to run wherever JavaScript runs, including on browsers as well as in Apache Cordova applications, Node, etc.

ISSUES

There are no issues requiring board attention at this time.

RELEASES

• Apache Royale 0.9.2 was released on March 16 2018.
• Apache Royale 0.9.4 was released on November 14 2018.

ACTIVITY

• No releases this quarter; however, we have started discuss about next release. We would like to make the whole process less complex, so there is a discussion on the dev list about making one central point where most of the steps happen automatically.
• Lots of improvements in one of the core parts of Royale responsible for communications with server sites (AMF).
• Lots of progress on a new default look (component set) for Royale apps.
• Lots of progress on migrating large Flex apps to Royale. A new "Flex Emulation" component set is being worked on to ease migrations.
• The owner of an ActionScript code base that doesn't use Flex is attempting to use the Royale compiler to cross-compile his code to JavaScript.
• There have been a number of blog posts on using Royale. They seem to be well-received.
• We are using Disqus for blog comments. It seems to help engagement. We were not able to figure out how to get comments sent to the @dev list.
• We had a lot of activity on social networks, sharing what is happening in Apache Royale as we progress in the project. We think it is important to do this so people outside the project and not following in a daily basis can get a notion of how we are doing. The numbers are:
  • Our Twitter account has gained 507 followers since we opened it, and we are getting around 30 likes and 10 to 20 retweets when we post something, showing interest in what we're doing.
  • Our Facebook page has 116 likes, and we get 10-15 interactions (likes) and some comments on each post, showing interest in Apache Royale.
  • We started a LinkedIn Group that 122 people joined almost immediately. Groups in LinkedIn tend to be watched by many people who remain silent most of the time.
• A contributor was able to migrate an Apache Flex application with success. The application, part of a suite is in the process of validation and testing and should be put in production for a client in about a month. The current version is the app's first iteration since the Flex version, a huge app developed over several years. The plan is to continue to migrate other parts of the suite in phases as the client requires them.

COMMUNITY

• Greg Dove was added as committer on October 28, 2018.
• No new PMC Members yet
• Two new contributors are candidates to become committers.

Mailing list activity:

User-lists continue to grow. Fewer emails to read, but still a lot of emails.

• users@royale.apache.org:

  • 72 subscribers (up 1 in the last 3 months):
  • 366 emails sent in the past 3 months (528 in the previous quarter)

• dev@royale.apache.org:

  • 77 subscribers (up 1 in the last 3 months):
  • 1389 emails sent in the past 3 months (1974 in the previous quarter)