ABOUT_APACHE revision a1676e72e3153253c50cb88cbe8007d96f6aa72e
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding The Apache HTTP Server Project
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingThe Apache Project is a collaborative software development effort aimed
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingat creating a robust, commercial-grade, featureful, and freely-available
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingsource code implementation of an HTTP (Web) server. The project is
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingjointly managed by a group of volunteers located around the world, using
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingthe Internet and the Web to communicate, plan, and develop the server and
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingits related documentation. These volunteers are known as the Apache Group.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingIn addition, hundreds of users have contributed ideas, code, and
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingdocumentation to the project. This file is intended to briefly describe
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingthe history of the Apache Group, recognize the many contributors, and
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingexplain how you can join the fun too.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingIn February of 1995, the most popular server software on the Web was the
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingpublic domain HTTP daemon developed by Rob McCool at the National Center
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingfor Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingHowever, development of that httpd had stalled after Rob left NCSA in
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingmid-1994, and many webmasters had developed their own extensions and bug
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingfixes that were in need of a common distribution. A small group of these
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingwebmasters, contacted via private e-mail, gathered together for the purpose
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingof coordinating their changes (in the form of "patches"). Brian Behlendorf
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingand Cliff Skolnick put together a mailing list, shared information space,
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingand logins for the core developers on a machine in the California Bay Area,
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingwith bandwidth and diskspace donated by HotWired and Organic Online.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingBy the end of February, eight core contributors formed the foundation
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingof the original Apache Group:
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Brian Behlendorf Roy T. Fielding Rob Hartill
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding David Robinson Cliff Skolnick Randy Terbush
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Robert S. Thau Andrew Wilson
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingwith additional contributions from
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Eric Hagberg Frank Peters Nicolas Pioch
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingUsing NCSA httpd 1.3 as a base, we added all of the published bug fixes
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingand worthwhile enhancements we could find, tested the result on our own
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingservers, and made the first official public release (0.6.2) of the Apache
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingserver in April 1995. By coincidence, NCSA restarted their own development
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingduring the same period, and Brandon Long and Beth Frank of the NCSA Server
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingDevelopment Team joined the list in March as honorary members so that the
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingtwo projects could share ideas and fixes.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingThe early Apache server was a big hit, but we all knew that the codebase
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingneeded a general overhaul and redesign. During May-June 1995, while
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingRob Hartill and the rest of the group focused on implementing new features
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingfor 0.7.x (like pre-forked child processes) and supporting the rapidly growing
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingApache user community, Robert Thau designed a new server architecture
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding(code-named Shambhala) which included a modular structure and API for better
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingextensibility, pool-based memory allocation, and an adaptive pre-forking
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingprocess model. The group switched to this new server base in July and added
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingthe features from 0.7.x, resulting in Apache 0.8.8 (and its brethren)
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingAfter extensive beta testing, many ports to obscure platforms, a new set
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingof documentation (by David Robinson), and the addition of many features
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingin the form of our standard modules, Apache 1.0 was released on
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingDecember 1, 1995.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingLess than a year after the group was formed, the Apache server passed
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingNCSA's httpd as the #1 server on the Internet.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingThe survey by Netcraft (http://www.netcraft.com/survey/) shows that Apache
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingis today more widely used than all other web servers combined.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding ============================================================================
e38f3ccb1d1368339739ba98be433ec16b1967e4aaronCurrent Apache Group in alphabetical order as of 18 December 2001:
e38f3ccb1d1368339739ba98be433ec16b1967e4aaron Aaron Bannert Covalent Technologies, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Brian Behlendorf Collab.Net, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Ryan Bloom Covalent Technologies, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Ken Coar IBM Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Mark J. Cox Red Hat, England
dc333aed7402e0c09b9f9d6542fe0acb82823959lars Lars Eilebrecht Parc Technologies, Munich, Germany
9b12a8c4735e90e88bb42f2b03569c852834ef36rse Ralf S. Engelschall Cable & Wireless Deutschland, Munich, Germany
7b3ca63bf6e5fe39125b04327d321d61da0afe89jerenkrantz Justin Erenkrantz eBuilt, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Roy T. Fielding eBuilt, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Tony Finch Covalent Technologies, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Dean Gaudet Transmeta Corporation, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Dirk-Willem van Gulik Covalent Technologies, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Brian Havard Australia
a1676e72e3153253c50cb88cbe8007d96f6aa72eianh Ian Holsman CNET, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Ben Hyde Gensym, Massachusetts
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Jim Jagielski jaguNET Access Services, Maryland
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Manoj Kasichainula Collab.Net, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Alexei Kosut Stanford University, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Martin Kraemer Munich, Germany
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Ben Laurie Freelance Consultant, UK
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Rasmus Lerdorf Linuxcare, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Daniel Lopez Ridruejo Covalent Technologies, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Doug MacEachern Covalent Technologies, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Aram W. Mirzadeh CableVision, New York
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Chuck Murcko The Topsail Group, Pennsylvania
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Sameer Parekh California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding David Reid UK
2342e783a2f2e1d69c46c6fa3e8d987069d53046wrowe William A. Rowe, Jr. Covalent, Illinois
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Wilfredo Sanchez Apple Computer, California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Cliff Skolnick California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Marc Slemko Canada
e60a4dc5bad9da4e835be390de54053c9d696918slive Joshua Slive Canada
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Greg Stein California
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Bill Stoddard IBM Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Paul Sutton Seattle
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Randy Terbush Covalent Technologies, California
acf47691e4f2e788ea89e30f27015402f4bf9075trawick Jeff Trawick IBM Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC
c835d410b99e00a4c30527529aefba6fea659688jwoolley Cliff Woolley University of Virginia
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingApache Emeritus (old group members now off doing other things)
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Rob Hartill Internet Movie DB, UK
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding David Robinson Cambridge University, UK
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Robert S. Thau MIT, Massachusetts
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Andrew Wilson Freelance Consultant, UK
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingOther major contributors
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Howard Fear (mod_include), Florent Guillaume (language negotiation),
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Koen Holtman (rewrite of mod_negotiation),
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Kevin Hughes (creator of all those nifty icons),
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Brandon Long and Beth Frank (NCSA Server Development Team, post-1.3),
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Ambarish Malpani (Beginning of the NT port),
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Rob McCool (original author of the NCSA httpd 1.3),
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Paul Richards (convinced the group to use remote CVS after 1.0),
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding Garey Smiley (OS/2 port), Henry Spencer (author of the regex library).
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingMany 3rd-party modules, frequently used and recommended, are also
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingfreely-available and linked from the related projects page:
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding<http://modules.apache.org/>, and their authors frequently
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingcontribute ideas, patches, and testing.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingHundreds of people have made individual contributions to the Apache
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingproject. Patch contributors are listed in the src/CHANGES file.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingFrequent contributors have included Petr Lampa, Tom Tromey, James H.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingCloos Jr., Ed Korthof, Nathan Neulinger, Jason S. Clary, Jason A. Dour,
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingMichael Douglass, Tony Sanders, Brian Tao, Michael Smith, Adam Sussman,
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingNathan Schrenk, Matthew Gray, and John Heidemann.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding ============================================================================
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingHow to become involved in the Apache project
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingThere are several levels of contributing. If you just want to send
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingin an occasional suggestion/fix, then you can just use the bug reporting
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingform at <http://www.apache.org/bug_report.html>. You can also subscribe
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingto the announcements mailing list (apache-announce@apache.org) which we
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldinguse to broadcast information about new releases, bugfixes, and upcoming
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingevents. There's a lot of information about the development process (much
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingof it in serious need of updating) to be found at <http://dev.apache.org/>.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingIf you'd like to become an active contributor to the Apache project (the
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldinggroup of volunteers who vote on changes to the distributed server), then
711d4b43c1e5c33611ac1b938cf7b944c3aa77b7jerenkrantzyou need to start by subscribing to the dev@httpd.apache.org mailing list.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingOne warning though: traffic is high, 1000 to 1500 messages/month.
0729ed19effa96566e715392dd17440bb5a107d6jwoolleyTo subscribe to the list, send an email to dev-subscribe@httpd.apache.org.
0729ed19effa96566e715392dd17440bb5a107d6jwoolleyWe recommend reading the list for a while before trying to jump in to
0729ed19effa96566e715392dd17440bb5a107d6jwoolleydevelopment.
711d4b43c1e5c33611ac1b938cf7b944c3aa77b7jerenkrantz NOTE: The developer mailing list (dev@httpd.apache.org) is not
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding a user support forum; it is for people actively working on development
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding of the server code and documentation, and for planning future
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding directions. If you have user/configuration questions, send them
c79b597fec8589dc6a2c74192235a1fbc6c9db0cwrowe to the USENET newsgroup "comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix", or for
c79b597fec8589dc6a2c74192235a1fbc6c9db0cwrowe Windows users, "comp.infosystems.www.servers.ms-windows".
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingThere is a core group of contributors (informally called the "core")
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingwhich was formed from the project founders and is augmented from time
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingto time when core members nominate outstanding contributors and the
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingrest of the core members agree. The core group focus is more on
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding"business" issues and limited-circulation things like security problems
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingthan on mainstream code development. The term "The Apache Group"
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingtechnically refers to this core of project contributors.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingThe Apache project is a meritocracy -- the more work you have done, the more
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingyou are allowed to do. The group founders set the original rules, but
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingthey can be changed by vote of the active members. There is a group
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingof people who have logins on our server (apache.org) and access to the
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingCVS repository. Everyone has access to the CVS snapshots. Changes to
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingthe code are proposed on the mailing list and usually voted on by active
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingmembers -- three +1 (yes votes) and no -1 (no votes, or vetoes) are needed
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingto commit a code change during a release cycle; docs are usually committed
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingfirst and then changed as needed, with conflicts resolved by majority vote.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingOur primary method of communication is our mailing list. Approximately 40
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingmessages a day flow over the list, and are typically very conversational in
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingtone. We discuss new features to add, bug fixes, user problems, developments
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingin the web server community, release dates, etc. The actual code development
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingtakes place on the developers' local machines, with proposed changes
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingcommunicated using a patch (output of a unified "diff -u oldfile newfile"
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingcommand), and committed to the source repository by one of the core
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingdevelopers using remote CVS. Anyone on the mailing list can vote on a
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingparticular issue, but we only count those made by active members or people
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingwho are known to be experts on that part of the server. Vetoes must be
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingaccompanied by a convincing explanation.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingNew members of the Apache Group are added when a frequent contributor is
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingnominated by one member and unanimously approved by the voting members.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingIn most cases, this "new" member has been actively contributing to the
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldinggroup's work for over six months, so it's usually an easy decision.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingThe above describes our past and current (as of July 2000) guidelines,
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingwhich will probably change over time as the membership of the group
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingchanges and our development/coordination tools improve.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding ============================================================================
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingThe Apache Software Foundation (www.apache.org)
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingThe Apache Software Foundation exists to provide organizational, legal,
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingand financial support for the Apache open-source software projects.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingFounded in June 1999 by the Apache Group, the Foundation has been
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingincorporated as a membership-based, not-for-profit corporation in order
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingto ensure that the Apache projects continue to exist beyond the participation
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingof individual volunteers, to enable contributions of intellectual property
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingand funds on a sound basis, and to provide a vehicle for limiting legal
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingexposure while participating in open-source software projects.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingYou are invited to participate in The Apache Software Foundation. We welcome
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingcontributions in many forms. Our membership consists of those individuals
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingwho have demonstrated a commitment to collaborative open-source software
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingdevelopment through sustained participation and contributions within the
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingFoundation's projects. Many people and companies have contributed towards
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingthe success of the Apache projects.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding ============================================================================
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingWhy Apache Is Free
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingApache exists to provide a robust and commercial-grade reference
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingimplementation of the HTTP protocol. It must remain a platform upon which
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingindividuals and institutions can build reliable systems, both for
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingexperimental purposes and for mission-critical purposes. We believe the
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingtools of online publishing should be in the hands of everyone, and
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingsoftware companies should make their money providing value-added services
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingsuch as specialized modules and support, amongst other things. We realize
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingthat it is often seen as an economic advantage for one company to "own" a
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingmarket - in the software industry that means to control tightly a
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingparticular conduit such that all others must pay. This is typically done
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingby "owning" the protocols through which companies conduct business, at the
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingexpense of all those other companies. To the extent that the protocols of
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingthe World Wide Web remain "unowned" by a single company, the Web will
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingremain a level playing field for companies large and small. Thus,
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffielding"ownership" of the protocol must be prevented, and the existence of a
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingrobust reference implementation of the protocol, available absolutely for
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingfree to all companies, is a tremendously good thing.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingFurthermore, Apache is an organic entity; those who benefit from it
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingby using it often contribute back to it by providing feature enhancements,
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingbug fixes, and support for others in public newsgroups. The amount of
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingeffort expended by any particular individual is usually fairly light, but
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingthe resulting product is made very strong. This kind of community can
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingonly happen with freeware -- when someone pays for software, they usually
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingaren't willing to fix its bugs. One can argue, then, that Apache's
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingstrength comes from the fact that it's free, and if it were made "not
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingfree" it would suffer tremendously, even if that money were spent on a
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingreal development team.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingWe want to see Apache used very widely -- by large companies, small
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingcompanies, research institutions, schools, individuals, in the intranet
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingenvironment, everywhere -- even though this may mean that companies who
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingcould afford commercial software, and would pay for it without blinking,
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingmight get a "free ride" by using Apache. We would even be happy if some
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingcommercial software companies completely dropped their own HTTP server
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingdevelopment plans and used Apache as a base, with the proper attributions
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingas described in the LICENSE file.
5beae861ede7eba138c7140f195ae77ba3106cbffieldingThanks for using Apache!