Ken Coar

File:KenCoar small.jpg

Ken Coar

Ken Coar is a software developer and open development evangelist. He is probably best known for his association with The Apache Software Foundation and the ApacheCon series of user conferences.

He currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Background

Coar attended the University of Massachusetts, majoring in computer topics, but left before completing a degree. He worked for the University itself for several years, and has since been employed by General Dynamics, Digital Equipment Corporation, Process Software Corporation, and IBM.

Open Source

Coar has been active in various open software projects, and enthusiastically lectures and educates internationally about open development methodologies and distributed collaboration. He has addressed numerous local groups, regional conferences, and government organisations.

He is co-author of RFC 3845, the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) specification.

Apache Project

Ken Coar is a member of The Apache Software Foundation and was a Director on its board from its incorporation in 1999 through June 2007. His involvement with the organisation dates back to late 1996, and his major code contributions have been to the Apache HTTP server project.

Coar was also the Vice President and chair of the Apache Conferences project from 1998 through 2007[1], and was responsible for the ApacheCon shows which have been held in North America and Europe since 2000. He was the initial chair of the Apache Commons project, which eventually shut down[2] without actually having accomplished much. He agitated for and precipitated the creation of the Apache Incubator project[3].

In October 2005 the ASF board appointed Ken to be the Vice President and chair of the Apache Geronimo Application Server project[4] in an attempt to repair the community dynamics. He voluntarily resigned one year later[5], returning the now-healthy project to self-governance.

A complete and current listing of Apache projects in which he is involved is available here: Apache Committers.

Open Source Initiative

In 2004 Coar was invited to join the board of the Open Source Initiative, and has served as one of the organisation's directors ever since. He has been instrumental in improving internal organisation, expanding the board's composition internationally, and extending the OSI bylaws to allow for the creation of new initiatives. He is very dedicated to expanding OSI's activities beyond software licence certification, and in turning the organisation into a grass roots membership structure.

Other Open Software Projects

Coar has made minor contributions to other projects, such as the PHP scripting language. In the late 1990s he was involved in IBM's efforts to get involved with the Apache HTTP Server project, and was instrumental in the development of a working relationship between the two. He has also been a key figure in a number of similar collaborations between Apache and IBM. Coar has a few projects at SourceForge that he hacks on for fun.

Publications

Coar is the author of 'Apache Server for Dummies,' co-author of RFC 3875, 'Apache Server Unleashed,' and 'Apache Cookbook,' and has written articles for a number of publications including Linux Magazine, ACM Queue, Linux Today, PHPBuilder, EnterpriseIT Planet, and Apache Today.

See also

• Apache Software Foundation
• Open Source Initiative
• PHP

External links

• RFC 3875
• The Rodent's Burrow - Ken Coar's Web log (blog)

Bibliography

• Apache Server for Dummies (1999) ISBN 0-7645-0291-3
• Apache Server Unleashed (2000) ISBN 0-672-31808-3
• Apache Cookbook 1st edition (2003) ISBN 0-596-00191-6, 2nd edition (2008) ISBN 0-596-52994-5
• The Sun Never Sets on Distributed Development ACM Queue, Volume 1, No. 9
• Secure Apache: Out, Damned Bot! (2008) Enterprise IT Planet
• Apache Software Foundation Member Ken Coar Interview (1999) [Linux Today]