The Apache Software Foundation

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects, including the Apache HTTP Server. The ASF was formed from the Apache Group and incorporated in Delaware, USA, in June, 1999.

The Apache Software Foundation is a decentralized community of developers working on its open source software projects. The Apache projects are characterized by a collaborative, consensus based development process and an open and pragmatic software license. Each project is managed by a self-selected team of technical experts who are active contributors to the project. The ASF is a meritocracy, implying that membership to the foundation is granted only to volunteers who have actively contributed to Apache projects.

Among the ASF's objectives are to provide legal protection to volunteers working on Apache projects, and to protect the Apache brand name from being used by other organizations. ASF projects are licensed under the Apache License.

The ASF also holds several ApacheCon conferences each year, highlighting Apache projects, related technology, and allowing Apache developers to gather together.

Projects

A list of some of the projects maintained by Apache :

• Apache HTTP Server: Web server
• Ant: Java-based build tool
• APR: Apache Portable Runtime, a portability library written in C
• Beehive: Java application framework (Incubator)
• Cocoon: XML publishing framework
• DB: database solutions
• Excalibur: Inversion of Control container named Fortress and related components
• Forrest: documentation framework based upon Cocoon
• FOP: formatting objects processor
• Geronimo Application Server: a J2EE server
• Gump: integration, dependencies, and versioning management
• Incubator: for aspiring ASF projects
• Jakarta: server side Java (including its own set of sub-projects)
• James: Java email and news server
• Lenya: content management system
• Logging: logging services for application debugging and auditing, including log4j
• Lucene: text search engine library written entirely in Java
• Maven: Java project management and comprehension tool
• MyFaces: JavaServer Faces implementation
• mod_perl: dynamic websites using Perl
• Portals: portal related software
• SpamAssassin: email filter used to identify spam.
• Struts: Java web applications framework
• TCL: dynamic websites using Tool Command Language
• Jakarta Tomcat: servlet and Java Server Pages container
• Web services
• XML: XML solutions for the web
• XMLBeans: XML-Java binding tool
• XML Graphics: conversion of XML formats to graphical output
• ApacheCon: an annual conference of all things Apache

History

History of the Apache Software Foundation is linked to the Apache HTTP Server, the work on which started in 1994. A group of eight developers started working on enhancing the NCSA HTTPd daemon. They were Brian Behlendorf, Roy T. Fielding, Rob Hartill, David Robinson, Cliff Skolnick, Randy Terbush, Robert S. Thau and Andrew Wilson with additional contributions from Eric Hagberg, Frank Peters and Nicolas Pioch.

The enhanced product called the Apache server was released in April 1995. In 1999, members of the Apache Group formed the foundation to provide support for the Apache HTTP Server. The ASF has a membership of 151 members as of 2005.

External links

• http://www.apache.org
• http://wiki.apache.org/general
• http://wiki.apache.org/ApacheCon/FrontPage