GNU Savannahis a project of theFree Software Foundationinitiated by Loïc Dachary, which serves as a collaborativesoftware development management systemforfree softwareprojects. Savannah currently offersCVS,GNU arch,Subversion,Git,Mercurial,[1]Bazaar,[2]mailing list, web hosting, file hosting, and bug tracking services. Savannah initially ran on the same SourceForge software that at the time was used to run theSourceForgeportal.[3]
Savannah's website is split into two domain names:savannah.gnu.orgfor software that is officially part of theGNU Project,andsavannah.nongnu.orgfor all other software.
UnlikeSourceForgeorGitHub,Savannah's focus is for hostingfree softwareprojects and has very strict hosting policies, including a ban against the use of non-free formats (such asAdobe Flash[4]) to ensure that only free software is hosted. When registering a project, project submitters have to state whichfree software licensethe project uses.
Project owners do not have the freedom of deleting their submitted projects on their own wish and the staff has a policy of refusing all deletion requests, unless the project was approved by mistake or has always been empty.[4][5]
History
editLoïc Dachary installed SourceForge on a server located in Boston for the benefit of theGNU Project(specifically, to power the GNU Savannah's website). When, as contributor to SourceForge, he found out it was to be turned into proprietary software, he forked it and named it Savannah (since it was the software running the GNU Project's Savannah website and had no other name). People contributing to GNU Savannah were called savannah-hackers from this day, as it was at first more a quick hack than anything else.
CERNtook interest in the sourcecode and hired Mathieu Roy, a savannah-hacker, to work in Geneva. It led to the development ofSavane (software)starting in 2003.
In 2003,Vincent Caron,friend to Loïc Dachary, found out the security of the server located was compromised. A new server was bought by theFree Software Foundationto provide a clean reinstall of the software. When this server was put in place, after a four-month outage without any public news, only Free Software Foundation employees had access to it. Notably savannah-hackers had no access[6]and found out thatRichard M. Stallmandecided to move GNU Savannah toGForgebecause it was "seriously maintained".[7]In response, Vincent Caron, Loïc Dachary and Mathieu Roy put up an alternative instance of the software calledGna!,with a specific constitution inspired by theDebian Social Contractdesigned to prevent any unexpected take over.[8]
GNU Savannah was totally or partly offline for months and, ultimately, did not move to GForge, which itself turned into proprietary software.
See also
edit
- Savane (software)— the software running GNU Savannah
- Puszcza[9]— a sister software development hosting site of GNU Savannah maintained by long-time GNU volunteer Sergey Poznyakoff in Ukraine
- Gna!— a sister software development hosting site of GNU Savannah, by Free Software Foundation France (now deactivated)
- Comparison of source-code-hosting facilities
- FusionForge— the continuity of the original opensourceGForge
- GForge— another fork ofSourceForge,now proprietary
- SourceForge— software used by GNU Savannah before fork
- Apache Allura— the continuation of the originalSourceForgesoftware
References
edit- ^Lee, Matt (2008-08-06)."On the savannah, where the gnu roam..."Free Software Foundation.Retrieved2017-07-11.
- ^"Why Choose Savannah?".GNU Savannah.Archivedfrom the original on April 23, 2021.RetrievedApril 23,2021.
- ^"Savannah: Welcome".GNU Savannah.Archived fromthe originalon 27 February 2001.Retrieved26 June2022.
- ^ab"Hosting requirements - site wide".GNU Savannah.Free Software Foundation, Inc.Retrieved27 May2021.
- ^"Savannah documentation/RemovingProject".GNU Savannah.Free Software Foundation, Inc. Archived fromthe originalon 23 December 2020.Retrieved27 May2021.
- ^Roy, Mathieu (2003-12-11)."about savannah reinstallation management".lists.gnu.org.Retrieved2017-07-11.
- ^Stallman, Richard (2004-04-10)."Re: [Savane-dev] [IMPORTANT] GNU Savannah migration from Savannah (the Software) to GForge – Why?!".lists.gnu.org.Retrieved2017-07-11.
- ^"the Gna! Project".about.gna.org.Archived fromthe originalon 2012-03-14.Retrieved2016-07-18.
- ^"Puszcza".Retrieved2018-06-11.