ABOUT_APACHE revision 711d4b43c1e5c33611ac1b938cf7b944c3aa77b7
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maeder The Apache HTTP Server Project
3f69b6948966979163bdfe8331c38833d5d90ecdChristian MaederThe Apache Project is a collaborative software development effort aimed
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederat creating a robust, commercial-grade, featureful, and freely-available
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maedersource code implementation of an HTTP (Web) server. The project is
f3a94a197960e548ecd6520bb768cb0d547457bbChristian Maederjointly managed by a group of volunteers located around the world, using
e6d40133bc9f858308654afb1262b8b483ec5922Till Mossakowskithe Internet and the Web to communicate, plan, and develop the server and
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederits related documentation. These volunteers are known as the Apache Group.
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian MaederIn addition, hundreds of users have contributed ideas, code, and
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederdocumentation to the project. This file is intended to briefly describe
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederthe history of the Apache Group, recognize the many contributors, and
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederexplain how you can join the fun too.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederIn February of 1995, the most popular server software on the Web was the
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederpublic domain HTTP daemon developed by Rob McCool at the National Center
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederfor Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederHowever, development of that httpd had stalled after Rob left NCSA in
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maedermid-1994, and many webmasters had developed their own extensions and bug
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederfixes that were in need of a common distribution. A small group of these
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederwebmasters, contacted via private e-mail, gathered together for the purpose
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederof coordinating their changes (in the form of "patches"). Brian Behlendorf
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederand Cliff Skolnick put together a mailing list, shared information space,
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederand logins for the core developers on a machine in the California Bay Area,
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederwith bandwidth and diskspace donated by HotWired and Organic Online.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederBy the end of February, eight core contributors formed the foundation
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederof the original Apache Group:
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder Brian Behlendorf Roy T. Fielding Rob Hartill
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder David Robinson Cliff Skolnick Randy Terbush
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder Robert S. Thau Andrew Wilson
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederwith additional contributions from
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maeder Eric Hagberg Frank Peters Nicolas Pioch
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederUsing NCSA httpd 1.3 as a base, we added all of the published bug fixes
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederand worthwhile enhancements we could find, tested the result on our own
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederservers, and made the first official public release (0.6.2) of the Apache
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederserver in April 1995. By coincidence, NCSA restarted their own development
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederduring the same period, and Brandon Long and Beth Frank of the NCSA Server
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederDevelopment Team joined the list in March as honorary members so that the
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maedertwo projects could share ideas and fixes.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederThe early Apache server was a big hit, but we all knew that the codebase
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederneeded a general overhaul and redesign. During May-June 1995, while
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederRob Hartill and the rest of the group focused on implementing new features
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederfor 0.7.x (like pre-forked child processes) and supporting the rapidly growing
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederApache user community, Robert Thau designed a new server architecture
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder(code-named Shambhala) which included a modular structure and API for better
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederextensibility, pool-based memory allocation, and an adaptive pre-forking
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederprocess model. The group switched to this new server base in July and added
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederthe features from 0.7.x, resulting in Apache 0.8.8 (and its brethren)
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederAfter extensive beta testing, many ports to obscure platforms, a new set
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederof documentation (by David Robinson), and the addition of many features
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederin the form of our standard modules, Apache 1.0 was released on
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederDecember 1, 1995.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederLess than a year after the group was formed, the Apache server passed
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederNCSA's httpd as the #1 server on the Internet.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederThe survey by Netcraft (http://www.netcraft.com/survey/) shows that Apache
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederis today more widely used than all other web servers combined.
2eb84fc82d3ffa9116bc471fda3742bd9e5a24bbChristian Maeder ============================================================================
2eb84fc82d3ffa9116bc471fda3742bd9e5a24bbChristian MaederCurrent Apache Group in alphabetical order as of 27 July 2000:
749d29b3119ff42bf90ccf341892ef91df8269a2Christian Maeder Brian Behlendorf Collab.Net, California
35db0960aa2e2a13652381c756fae5fb2b27213bChristian Maeder Ryan Bloom Covalent Technologies, California
1320edfb75af112d509a6ce0a4c02425da7fed4dChristian Maeder Ken Coar IBM Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
42c01284bba8d7c8d995c8dfb96ace57d28ed1bcTill Mossakowski Mark J. Cox Red Hat, England
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Lars Eilebrecht CyberSolutions, Munich, Germany
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder Ralf S. Engelschall Munich, Germany.
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Roy T. Fielding eBuilt, California
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Tony Finch Covalent Technologies, California
07b1bf56f3a486f26d69514d05b73100abb25a0eChristian Maeder Dean Gaudet Transmeta Corporation, California
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder Dirk-Willem van Gulik Covalent Technologies, California
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Brian Havard Australia
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Ben Hyde Gensym, Massachusetts
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maeder Jim Jagielski jaguNET Access Services, Maryland
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Manoj Kasichainula Collab.Net, California
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Alexei Kosut Stanford University, California
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Martin Kraemer Munich, Germany
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder Ben Laurie Freelance Consultant, UK
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder Rasmus Lerdorf Linuxcare, California
083679daeba30fce9d60f7170a2cfd9f9c80bfb2Till Mossakowski Daniel Lopez Ridruejo Covalent Technologies, California
083679daeba30fce9d60f7170a2cfd9f9c80bfb2Till Mossakowski Doug MacEachern Covalent Technologies, California
083679daeba30fce9d60f7170a2cfd9f9c80bfb2Till Mossakowski Aram W. Mirzadeh CableVision, New York
e33e3b425e953236b4617870f995d263ac35b883Christian Maeder Chuck Murcko The Topsail Group, Pennsylvania
58564afba8f0bb6b57783c4b440d0b666edf5f67Christian Maeder Sameer Parekh California
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maeder David Reid UK
e33e3b425e953236b4617870f995d263ac35b883Christian Maeder William A. Rowe, Jr. Covalent, Illinois
3a3bbc51abf804d91bc9d8e0f2ce745cfae4c9c7Christian Maeder Wilfredo Sanchez Apple Computer, California
083679daeba30fce9d60f7170a2cfd9f9c80bfb2Till Mossakowski Cliff Skolnick California
083679daeba30fce9d60f7170a2cfd9f9c80bfb2Till Mossakowski Marc Slemko Canada
083679daeba30fce9d60f7170a2cfd9f9c80bfb2Till Mossakowski Greg Stein California
083679daeba30fce9d60f7170a2cfd9f9c80bfb2Till Mossakowski Bill Stoddard IBM Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maeder Paul Sutton Seattle
083679daeba30fce9d60f7170a2cfd9f9c80bfb2Till Mossakowski Randy Terbush Covalent Technologies, California
f624c6980131e5b0598e00e7d8b4acb9720f8996Christian MaederApache Emeritus (old group members now off doing other things)
3a3bbc51abf804d91bc9d8e0f2ce745cfae4c9c7Christian Maeder Rob Hartill Internet Movie DB, UK
083679daeba30fce9d60f7170a2cfd9f9c80bfb2Till Mossakowski David Robinson Cambridge University, UK
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Robert S. Thau MIT, Massachusetts
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Andrew Wilson Freelance Consultant, UK
083679daeba30fce9d60f7170a2cfd9f9c80bfb2Till MossakowskiOther major contributors
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Howard Fear (mod_include), Florent Guillaume (language negotiation),
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Koen Holtman (rewrite of mod_negotiation),
1865083b72c1307e9040d78c2743abd5a54ee260Christian Maeder Kevin Hughes (creator of all those nifty icons),
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Brandon Long and Beth Frank (NCSA Server Development Team, post-1.3),
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Ambarish Malpani (Beginning of the NT port),
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Rob McCool (original author of the NCSA httpd 1.3),
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder Paul Richards (convinced the group to use remote CVS after 1.0),
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder Garey Smiley (OS/2 port), Henry Spencer (author of the regex library).
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederMany 3rd-party modules, frequently used and recommended, are also
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederfreely-available and linked from the related projects page:
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder<http://modules.apache.org/>, and their authors frequently
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maedercontribute ideas, patches, and testing.
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian MaederHundreds of people have made individual contributions to the Apache
e953bea49e7f0e1a43bccf2a66c5e2a2b50848e0Christian Maederproject. Patch contributors are listed in the src/CHANGES file.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederFrequent contributors have included Petr Lampa, Tom Tromey, James H.
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian MaederCloos Jr., Ed Korthof, Nathan Neulinger, Jason S. Clary, Jason A. Dour,
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian MaederMichael Douglass, Tony Sanders, Brian Tao, Michael Smith, Adam Sussman,
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian MaederNathan Schrenk, Matthew Gray, and John Heidemann.
1509ea46b471bef1c5e70864fb1cfc0a5280266bChristian Maeder ============================================================================
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian MaederHow to become involved in the Apache project
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederThere are several levels of contributing. If you just want to send
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederin an occasional suggestion/fix, then you can just use the bug reporting
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederform at <http://www.apache.org/bug_report.html>. You can also subscribe
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederto the announcements mailing list (apache-announce@apache.org) which we
e64aab3e57d843884cd489cc3aa130120a400b05Christian Maederuse to broadcast information about new releases, bugfixes, and upcoming
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederevents. There's a lot of information about the development process (much
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederof it in serious need of updating) to be found at <http://dev.apache.org/>.
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian MaederIf you'd like to become an active contributor to the Apache project (the
e953bea49e7f0e1a43bccf2a66c5e2a2b50848e0Christian Maedergroup of volunteers who vote on changes to the distributed server), then
e64aab3e57d843884cd489cc3aa130120a400b05Christian Maederyou need to start by subscribing to the dev@httpd.apache.org mailing list.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederOne warning though: traffic is high, 1000 to 1500 messages/month.
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian MaederTo subscribe to the list, send "subscribe dev" in the body of
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maedera message to <dev-subscribe@httpd.apache.org>. We recommend reading the
e64aab3e57d843884cd489cc3aa130120a400b05Christian Maederlist for a while before trying to jump in to development.
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder NOTE: The developer mailing list (dev@httpd.apache.org) is not
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder a user support forum; it is for people actively working on development
e64aab3e57d843884cd489cc3aa130120a400b05Christian Maeder of the server code and documentation, and for planning future
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder directions. If you have user/configuration questions, send them
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maeder to the USENET newsgroup "comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix", or for
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder Windows users, "comp.infosystems.www.servers.ms-windows".
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian MaederThere is a core group of contributors (informally called the "core")
e64aab3e57d843884cd489cc3aa130120a400b05Christian Maederwhich was formed from the project founders and is augmented from time
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederto time when core members nominate outstanding contributors and the
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederrest of the core members agree. The core group focus is more on
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maeder"business" issues and limited-circulation things like security problems
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederthan on mainstream code development. The term "The Apache Group"
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maedertechnically refers to this core of project contributors.
e64aab3e57d843884cd489cc3aa130120a400b05Christian MaederThe Apache project is a meritocracy -- the more work you have done, the more
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederyou are allowed to do. The group founders set the original rules, but
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederthey can be changed by vote of the active members. There is a group
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederof people who have logins on our server (apache.org) and access to the
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian MaederCVS repository. Everyone has access to the CVS snapshots. Changes to
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederthe code are proposed on the mailing list and usually voted on by active
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maedermembers -- three +1 (yes votes) and no -1 (no votes, or vetoes) are needed
25a0b76bc87e80c0f697951d9817862755a71d33Christian Maederto commit a code change during a release cycle; docs are usually committed
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederfirst and then changed as needed, with conflicts resolved by majority vote.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederOur primary method of communication is our mailing list. Approximately 40
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maedermessages a day flow over the list, and are typically very conversational in
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maedertone. We discuss new features to add, bug fixes, user problems, developments
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederin the web server community, release dates, etc. The actual code development
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maedertakes place on the developers' local machines, with proposed changes
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maedercommunicated using a patch (output of a unified "diff -u oldfile newfile"
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maedercommand), and committed to the source repository by one of the core
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederdevelopers using remote CVS. Anyone on the mailing list can vote on a
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederparticular issue, but we only count those made by active members or people
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederwho are known to be experts on that part of the server. Vetoes must be
e64aab3e57d843884cd489cc3aa130120a400b05Christian Maederaccompanied by a convincing explanation.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederNew members of the Apache Group are added when a frequent contributor is
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maedernominated by one member and unanimously approved by the voting members.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederIn most cases, this "new" member has been actively contributing to the
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maedergroup's work for over six months, so it's usually an easy decision.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederThe above describes our past and current (as of July 2000) guidelines,
e953bea49e7f0e1a43bccf2a66c5e2a2b50848e0Christian Maederwhich will probably change over time as the membership of the group
e953bea49e7f0e1a43bccf2a66c5e2a2b50848e0Christian Maederchanges and our development/coordination tools improve.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maeder ============================================================================
25a0b76bc87e80c0f697951d9817862755a71d33Christian MaederThe Apache Software Foundation (www.apache.org)
c58a5efdb3c9fbc80deb1c69716f09c67292a41dChristian MaederThe Apache Software Foundation exists to provide organizational, legal,
25a0b76bc87e80c0f697951d9817862755a71d33Christian Maederand financial support for the Apache open-source software projects.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederFounded in June 1999 by the Apache Group, the Foundation has been
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederincorporated as a membership-based, not-for-profit corporation in order
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederto ensure that the Apache projects continue to exist beyond the participation
42c01284bba8d7c8d995c8dfb96ace57d28ed1bcTill Mossakowskiof individual volunteers, to enable contributions of intellectual property
e953bea49e7f0e1a43bccf2a66c5e2a2b50848e0Christian Maederand funds on a sound basis, and to provide a vehicle for limiting legal
e953bea49e7f0e1a43bccf2a66c5e2a2b50848e0Christian Maederexposure while participating in open-source software projects.
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian MaederYou are invited to participate in The Apache Software Foundation. We welcome
50dce6b011347f92377adb8bbabaeeb80975e86dChristian Maedercontributions in many forms. Our membership consists of those individuals
50dce6b011347f92377adb8bbabaeeb80975e86dChristian Maederwho have demonstrated a commitment to collaborative open-source software
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederdevelopment through sustained participation and contributions within the
7325bbe03797fd413af504fb3fac109b2c652a7bChristian MaederFoundation's projects. Many people and companies have contributed towards
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederthe success of the Apache projects.
50dce6b011347f92377adb8bbabaeeb80975e86dChristian Maeder ============================================================================
c58a5efdb3c9fbc80deb1c69716f09c67292a41dChristian MaederWhy Apache Is Free
c58a5efdb3c9fbc80deb1c69716f09c67292a41dChristian MaederApache exists to provide a robust and commercial-grade reference
c58a5efdb3c9fbc80deb1c69716f09c67292a41dChristian Maederimplementation of the HTTP protocol. It must remain a platform upon which
7325bbe03797fd413af504fb3fac109b2c652a7bChristian Maederindividuals and institutions can build reliable systems, both for
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederexperimental purposes and for mission-critical purposes. We believe the
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maedertools of online publishing should be in the hands of everyone, and
50dce6b011347f92377adb8bbabaeeb80975e86dChristian Maedersoftware companies should make their money providing value-added services
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maedersuch as specialized modules and support, amongst other things. We realize
50dce6b011347f92377adb8bbabaeeb80975e86dChristian Maederthat it is often seen as an economic advantage for one company to "own" a
42c01284bba8d7c8d995c8dfb96ace57d28ed1bcTill Mossakowskimarket - in the software industry that means to control tightly a
50dce6b011347f92377adb8bbabaeeb80975e86dChristian Maederparticular conduit such that all others must pay. This is typically done
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederby "owning" the protocols through which companies conduct business, at the
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederexpense of all those other companies. To the extent that the protocols of
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederthe World Wide Web remain "unowned" by a single company, the Web will
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maederremain a level playing field for companies large and small. Thus,
50dce6b011347f92377adb8bbabaeeb80975e86dChristian Maeder"ownership" of the protocol must be prevented, and the existence of a
50dce6b011347f92377adb8bbabaeeb80975e86dChristian Maederrobust reference implementation of the protocol, available absolutely for
e3c9174a782e90f965a0b080c22861c3ef5af12dTill Mossakowskifree to all companies, is a tremendously good thing.
90bf4bf40789422552e566b73738ba5efae144c3Christian MaederFurthermore, Apache is an organic entity; those who benefit from it
3a3bbc51abf804d91bc9d8e0f2ce745cfae4c9c7Christian Maederby using it often contribute back to it by providing feature enhancements,
e3c9174a782e90f965a0b080c22861c3ef5af12dTill Mossakowskibug fixes, and support for others in public newsgroups. The amount of
e83ed59502a681713982f25c559aae77a4145734Christian Maedereffort expended by any particular individual is usually fairly light, but
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederthe resulting product is made very strong. This kind of community can
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maederonly happen with freeware -- when someone pays for software, they usually
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederaren't willing to fix its bugs. One can argue, then, that Apache's
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederstrength comes from the fact that it's free, and if it were made "not
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederfree" it would suffer tremendously, even if that money were spent on a
1320edfb75af112d509a6ce0a4c02425da7fed4dChristian Maederreal development team.
1320edfb75af112d509a6ce0a4c02425da7fed4dChristian MaederWe want to see Apache used very widely -- by large companies, small
1320edfb75af112d509a6ce0a4c02425da7fed4dChristian Maedercompanies, research institutions, schools, individuals, in the intranet
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maederenvironment, everywhere -- even though this may mean that companies who
eb483f2216949400bfef8f6deb5320f071445626Christian Maedercould afford commercial software, and would pay for it without blinking,
9929f81562adecc8aafaefb14a0159afcf4a3351Christian Maedermight get a "free ride" by using Apache. We would even be happy if some
3639c2cf7f65e04c883054f4a52c6fa733663304Christian Maedercommercial software companies completely dropped their own HTTP server