About Apache
About Apache
http://httpd.apache.org/
This file is intended to briefly describe the history of the Apache Group (as
it was called in the early days), recognize the many contributors, and explain
how you can join the fun too.
In February of 1995, the most popular server software on the Web was the
public domain HTTP daemon developed by Rob McCool at the National Center
for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
However, development of that httpd had stalled after Rob left NCSA in
mid-1994, and many webmasters had developed their own extensions and bug
fixes that were in need of a common distribution. A small group of these
webmasters, contacted via private e-mail, gathered together for the purpose
of coordinating their changes (in the form of "patches"). Brian Behlendorf
and Cliff Skolnick put together a mailing list, shared information space,
and logins for the core developers on a machine in the California Bay Area,
with bandwidth and diskspace donated by HotWired and Organic Online.
By the end of February, eight core contributors formed the foundation
of the original Apache Group:
Using NCSA httpd 1.3 as a base, we added all of the published bug fixes
and worthwhile enhancements we could find, tested the result on our own
servers, and made the first official public release (0.6.2) of the Apache
server in April 1995. By coincidence, NCSA restarted their own development
during the same period, and Brandon Long and Beth Frank of the NCSA Server
Development Team joined the list in March as honorary members so that the
two projects could share ideas and fixes.
The early Apache server was a big hit, but we all knew that the codebase
needed a general overhaul and redesign. During May-June 1995, while
Rob Hartill and the rest of the group focused on implementing new features
for 0.7.x (like pre-forked child processes) and supporting the rapidly growing
Apache user community, Robert Thau designed a new server architecture
(code-named Shambhala) which included a modular structure and API for better
extensibility, pool-based memory allocation, and an adaptive pre-forking
process model. The group switched to this new server base in July and added
the features from 0.7.x, resulting in Apache 0.8.8 (and its brethren)
in August.
After extensive beta testing, many ports to obscure platforms, a new set
of documentation (by David Robinson), and the addition of many features
in the form of our standard modules, Apache 1.0 was released on
December 1, 1995.
Less than a year after the group was formed, the Apache server passed
NCSA's httpd as the #1 server on the Internet.
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The Apache project is a meritocracy--the more work you have done, the more
you are allowed to do. The group founders set the original rules, but
they can be changed by vote of the active members. There is a group
of people who have logins on our server (apache.org) and access to the
svn repository. Everyone has access to the svn snapshots. Changes to
the code are proposed on the mailing list and usually voted on by active
members--three +1 (yes votes) and no -1 (no votes, or vetoes) are needed
to commit a code change during a release cycle; docs are usually committed
first and then changed as needed, with conflicts resolved by majority vote.
New members of the Apache Group are added when a frequent contributor is
nominated by one member and unanimously approved by the voting members.
In most cases, this "new" member has been actively contributing to the
group's work for over six months, so it's usually an easy decision.
The above describes our past and current (as of July 2000) guidelines,
which will probably change over time as the membership of the group
changes and our development/coordination tools improve.
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We want to see Apache httpd used very widely--by large companies, small
companies, research institutions, schools, individuals, in the intranet
environment, everywhere--even though this may mean that companies who
could afford commercial software, and would pay for it without blinking,
might get a "free ride" by using Apache httpd. We would even be happy if
some commercial software companies completely dropped their own HTTP server
development plans and used Apache httpd as a base, with the proper attributions
as described in the LICENSE file.