Section 5.1. Apache: a Brief History

5.1. Apache: a Brief History

Apache , like Linux, has its roots in the open source philosophy. It exemplifies all the elements of the classic open source approach, including collaborative development and freely available source code. Apache is also developed by volunteersprimarily, interested usersand succeeds without a paid staff dedicated to product development or marketing. The Apache Group exists as an assembly of volunteer directors who communicate, plan, and coordinate the development of the server software from around the world.

As the World Wide Web's popularity flourished in the early 1990s, the most widely-used server software was the NCSA HTTP daemon (NCSA HTTPd) written by Rob McCool. McCool was yet another in the long line of students involved in open source application development. He created the HTTPd application while working for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). McCool was also intimately involved in a number of projects at Netscape, maker of the most popular browser of the day.

McCool left NCSA in mid-1994, and development on the project subsequently stalled. With the increasing need for a reliable Web server, Webmasters and administrators around the globe continued to develop patches and extensions for the server. These all occurred outside the official realm of the project, though the extensions and fixes found their way around the 'Net, and were implemented on servers throughout the world.

Recognizing the need to consolidate all the fixes, the Apache Group was formed over email in early 1995. The group used NCSA HTTPd version 1.3 as a base, rolling all the fixes and patches that were deemed practical into the new Apache server. In fact, the name Apache was chosen because the initial software was indeed "a patchy server." Development continued throughout 1995, culminating in the release of Apache 1.0 in December, 1995. Since then, Apache has been the top server software on the Internet.

For the purposes of this book, we'll be using the latest release of Apache version 2.