Backstage Weekly 76 - New governance model, OAuth redirect flow

Hi y’all! Summer time is on in Europe… but here are some actually exciting news!

• Backstage’s New Governance model just dropped, 8 new org members were added
• New in: OAuth redirect flow instead of pop-up based.
• This Thursday: hear tips for making people use your Backstage instance

New Governance model: 5 roles

The PR that officially introduces a formal contribution ladder into the project was merged last week, synthesizing months of discussion that started at the Backstage Project Meeting in Detroit last year. As a result, there are now five clearly defined roles that go from plain contributor to core contributor.

Before, the model pretty much was either full-time contributor or nothing official. While contributions have continuously been poured in generously, it didn’t feel right that contributors didn’t get specific recognition. Plus, in practical terms, there were very few people available to perform reviews, which slowed down contributions in general.

The five roles introduced allow for a transition in responsibilities and privileges from a casual contributor to core maintainer. Extra reviewing eyes are added in Project Area Maintainer and Plugin Maintainer level, scoped to their corresponding responsibilities. To understand how to become a part of each tier, check out the Governance document.

As a first effect of the governance model, last week nine contributors were promoted to Org Member for their previous contributions. Welcome kuangp, webark, tarasm, awanlin, punkle, pjungermann, jamieklassen, OrkoHunter. Thank you for your contributions!

Using managed Backstage lets you focus on building value for your team instead of learning internals and upgrading your instance. Get a Roadie Backstage demo

OAuth2 redirect flow

Previously, OAuth2 authentication was only available by opening a pop up, which was bothersome as it broke the uniformity of most other auth flows. Thanks to headphonejames, it is now possible to set up your OAuth2 authentication flow through redirects.

This feature will be shipped with Backstage 1.13, scheduled for April 18th. To start becoming familiar on how to enable the redirect flow in your instance, review the PR.

This Thursday: Adoption tips webinar

Great, you’ve set up your Backstage POC! Now, what? How to get to org-wide adoption is the most-asked question I hear from people approaching Backstage. Hear from two succesful adopters on how they made their instance popular among developers.

I’ll have the honor of moderating this webinar, don’t miss out on great tips and suggestions from experts who achieved significant adoption rates in their organizations. RSVP now!

Talk to you next week!

Jorge L