Top of the FOSS!

Some of the most notable projects in history.

2023-03-07 -

Linux Kernel

Where would we be without Tux? Running some form of BSD or Open Indiana, we guess. BSD Format, anyone? We couldn’t have a top open source list without Linux in there somewhere, and where better than at the start? We’re not going to pontificate – you know Linux, we know Linux, even Microsoft loves Linux. For more details, see our feature in LXF280 on 30 years of Linux and how it’s gone from being a bedroom i386 project to running much of the modern world, from IoT devices and Android to the top 500 supercomputers and your PC.

DETAILS

WEB: www.kernel. org

AGE: 17th Sept 1991; 31 years ago

VERSION: 6.10

LICENCE: GPL 2

GNU Compiler Collection

A free software movement wouldn’t get far if it couldn’t compile its own source code, so in 1983, when Richard Stallman announced he was working on Free Unix, he listed a C compiler as one of the key components. It was initially called the GNU C Compiler (GCC). As time went on, it added front-end support for C++, D, Ada, Go and more, so was renamed the GNU Compiler Collection. The backend supports more architectures than any other compiler. See part Apple-backed Clang front-end and LLVM back-end for another compiler collection.

DETAILS

WEB: https://gcc. gnu.org

AGE: 22nd March 1987; 36 years ago

VERSION: 12.2

LICENCE: GPL 3+

Apache

A good chunk of the internet is run on LAMP – Linux Apache, MySQL and PHP – the common components of your average webserver. Apache took off after the previously most popular NCSA server (based on Tim BernersLee’s CERN HTTP daemon) stalled in development. At one point in 2005, around 71% of all websites used Apache, but the rise of Nginx and lowerresource options has seen that drop to a still respectable 21%. The 2.4 release added a more optimised asynchronous event module to address performance.

DETAILS

WEB: https://httpd. apache.org

AGE: 1995; 28 years ago

VERSION: 2.4.55

LICENCE: Apache 2.0

WordPress

As with the best open source projects, WordPress

is a fork of another project, b2/cafelog,

which is now defunct, and its developer works for WordPress.

Created in 2003, WordPress is a PHP content management system designed to run on a LAMP server using a MariaDB or MySQL

database. At the time, WordPress was free, offered an easy install, was easy to customise and extensible, and hit version 1.2 in 2004 just as the market leader Moveable Type started to charge for use. It is now ubiquitous, with 41% of the top 10 million sites using it.

DETAILS

WEB: https:// wordpress.org

AGE: 27th May 2003; 19 years ago

VERSION: 6.1.1

LICENCE: GPL 2

OBS Studio

Let’s throw a curveball in here… A more recent project that shows how a small personal open source hack can become a worldleading streaming platform tool. It was created originally so its developer Hugh Bailey could ‘cheat’ at StarCraft by streaming the minimap to another display. Bailey puts the success of OBS Studio down to community development helping optimise the software for as wide a range of hardware as possible. It’s now the leading streaming tool, backed by the likes of Twitch and YouTube.