SourceForge.net

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)
For other uses, see SourceForge (disambiguation).
SourceForge.net
URL http://sourceforge.net/
Commercial? Yes
Type of site collaborative revision control and software development management system
Registration optional
Available language(s) English
Owner SourceForge, Inc. (Formerly VA Software)
Created by VA Software
Launched November 1999
Current status Active

SourceForge.net is a source code repository and acts as a centralized location for software developers to control and manage open source software development. SourceForge.net is operated by Sourceforge, Inc. (formerly VA Software) and runs a version of the SourceForge software, forked from the last open-source version available. A large number of open source projects are hosted on the site (it had reached 178,832 projects and 1,861,990 registered users[1] as of 2008, although it does contain many dormant or single-user projects).

SourceForge.net has offered free access to hosting and tools for developers of free software / open source software for several years, and has become well-known within such development communities for these services.

SourceForge.net competes with other providers such as RubyForge, Tigris.org, BountySource, BerliOS, JavaForge and GNU Savannah.

The domain sourceforge.net attracted at least 28 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.[2]

Contents

[edit] Offerings

SourceForge.net allows any project uniquely named in its registry to be sub-domained as http://project-name.sourceforge.net or http://project-name.sf.net. This gives some prominent URL branding to a project and a high activity in it can get the project listed on the main page http://sourceforge.net as a Top Project. Having a high number of registered members numbering over a million, and often been researched for project information, any participating project can gain fast access to the market of developers and users for a short and efficient adoption rate.

SourceForge.net provides ample storage space for a project to completely house their contents such as a wiki, MySQL database, source code versions managed with CVS or Subversion, and even their own website pages at the subdomain location.

By uploading code to SourceForge.net, you grant SourceForge a perpetual proprietary license.[3]

[edit] Temporary ban in mainland China

Main article: Golden Shield Project

The entire SourceForge.net website was banned in mainland China around 2002,[4] though the ban was later lifted in 2003[citation needed].

[edit] Banned countries

In its terms of use[5], SourceForge states that its services are not available to users in countries on the sanction list of the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (e.g., Cuba and Iran). As of January 2008, people from those countries can browse SourceForge projects and download from them, but access to the secure server (https://sourceforge.net) is not allowed. This means, people coming from those IPs can't login to SourceForge or contribute to the source codes.

[edit] See also

Free software Portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ SourceForge.net: Welcome to SourceForge.net
  2. ^ Sourceforge attractes almost 30m visitors yearly
  3. ^ Terms and Conditions of Use. SourceForge.net. SourceForge, Inc. (2000-08-15). Retrieved on 2008-02-22. “By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through SourceForge.net, you grant Company a worldwide, non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, fully sublicensable, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, create derivative works from, publish, perform, display, rent, resell and distribute such Content (in whole or part) on SourceForge.net and incorporate Content in other works, in any form, media, or technology developed by Company, though Company is not required to incorporate Feedback into any Company products or services. Company reserves the right to syndicate Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through SourceForge.net and use that Content in connection with any service offered by Company.”
  4. ^ China says asta la vista to Altavista. vnunet.com (2002-09-06). Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
  5. ^ SourceForge.net: alexandria » Terms of Use

[edit] External links