Restarting free SourceForge development

[Posted December 11, 2002 by corbet]

Back when VA Linux Systems (now VA Software) launched SourceForge, the company put the underlying source code out under the GPL. VA was, at that time, very much an open source company, so releasing the code was a natural thing to do. Since then, VA has transformed itself from an open source hardware company to a proprietary software company based on SourceForge. So it is not all that surprising that VA's enthusiasm for free SourceForge code releases has waned; the last such release (from the "alexandria-dev" project) is dated November 4, 2001. Since then, VA has limited itself to proprietary releases.

The free SourceForge releases are just that, however: free. And since they are free software, there is no need to wait for VA to make new releases. So it should come as no surprise that a number of SourceForge fork projects have appeared. Most of these are the basis for other SourceForge-like development sites:

Berlios is, perhaps, the earliest SourceForge fork still operating; this site headed off with something like version 1.5 of the code.
The GNU Project's Savannah site is based on version 2.0 of the SourceForge code.
Debian-sf, a packaging of the code for Debian systems, uses version 2.5 - the last official release from VA.

All of these projects have provided useful resources for the free software community. They all have, however, gone off in their own directions to attain their specific goals; in none of these cases has the general development of the SourceForge code been one of those goals. (This is not a criticism - realistic projects can only take on so much).

Thanks to a note from Rick Moen (which is also the source for the version information above), we have been clued in to the GForge Project, which is trying to get development of the SourceForge code back on track. GForge is headed up by Tim Perdue, who certainly has the right credentials for the job: he was the original author of a good chunk of the original SourceForge system.

GForge has started with the most recent code from the SourceForge.net CVS server, which has been deemed version 2.61. It has since been enhanced with Jabber support, an improved interface, a new forum system, and easier installation. Quite a bit of effort has also gone into cleaning up the code; optimizations for hundreds of thousands of users have been deemed unnecessary, and "foundries and related nonsense" have been excised from the code base. And, of course, the whole thing is licensed under the GPL.

GForge should become the new focal point for development of the SourceForge code. The Debian-sf project is already working with GForge; Debian users can, with a suitable configuration file entry, install GForge with an apt-get command. One can only hope that GForge will lead to a new set of free software development sites popping up on the net, and further diversification away from the "official" SourceForge site. SourceForge remains a very expensive form of advertising for a company which has lost interest in free software; relying on its continued existence forever would be foolhardy.

As LWN has said before, VA has done the free software a great service by running SourceForge for the last three years. In the long run, however, it may turn out that the greater service was releasing the SourceForge code under the GPL. That release has allowed the community to continue to use and develop the SourceForge code after VA's business needs drew its attention elsewhere. We will reap the benefits of that gift long after SourceForge.net has shut down.

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Restarting free SourceForge development

Posted Dec 13, 2002 21:34 UTC (Fri) by spudbeach (guest, #5837) [Link]

Let noone forget that VA Software is sitting on a pile of money that is (not so) slowly slipping away. The IPO went over well, but they haven't had any luck actually generating revenue, especially after ditching the hardware business. Last I checked, the company was trading for it's cash value, i.e., investors don't think much of it. So, whatever actions VA software takes, I can't really blame it. It's a fucked company that just hasn't died yet.