GNU Savannah
Encyclopedia
GNU Savannah is a project of the Free Software Foundation
initiated by Loïc Dachary
, which serves as a collaborative software development management system
for Free Software
projects. Savannah currently offers CVS
, GNU arch
, Subversion, Git
, Mercurial
, Bazaar, mailing list, web hosting, file hosting, and bug tracking services. Savannah runs Savane, which is based on the same software as that used to run the popular SourceForge
portal.
Savannah's website is split into two domain names: savannah.gnu.org for software that is officially part of the GNU Project
, and savannah.nongnu.org for all other software.
Unlike SourceForge
, Savannah's focus is for hosting free software
projects and has very strict hosting policies, including a ban against the use of non-free formats (such as Macromedia Flash) to ensure that only free software is hosted. When registering a project, project submitters have to state which free software license the project uses.
In 2004, after a security compromise and resignations among the Savannah "hackers" (i.e. volunteers) team, FSF announced that it was going to move GNU Savannah from the Savannah (now Savane) software to GForge
due to a mistaken perception that the codebase was now unmaintained. The Savannah hackers protested and the plan to migrate ceased.
web-based software hosting system, best known as the hosting software for the GNU Project's Savannah websites.
The GNU Project's Savannah website started out using SourceForge
as its hosting software. However, after Savannah was set up, SourceForge was changed into proprietary software
by its authors. The site's administrators at the Free Software Foundation
forked the software in order to maintain it.
This software fork was originally called simply Savannah, since it was the software running the GNU Project's Savannah website and had no other name. It was later renamed Savane, the French
word for "savanna
h", to distinguish the software itself from the websites, such as the GNU Project's Savannah, that use the software.
The software is currently being rewritten using the programming language Python
, the Django web framework and CSS
.
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
initiated by Loïc Dachary
Loïc Dachary
Loïc Dachary has been a free software developer and activist in France since 1987. Dachary currently contributes to Free Software projects and acts as president of the Free Software Foundation in France. He is a speaker for the GNU Project and the April association.- Career :Dachary started as a...
, which serves as a collaborative software development management system
Forge (software)
A software forge is a collaboration platform allowing collaborative software development over the Internet. A forge platform aggregates a set of applications with integrated Web interfaces, and generally hosts multiple independent projects...
for Free Software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
projects. Savannah currently offers CVS
Concurrent Versions System
The Concurrent Versions System , also known as the Concurrent Versioning System, is a client-server free software revision control system in the field of software development. Version control system software keeps track of all work and all changes in a set of files, and allows several developers ...
, GNU arch
GNU arch
In computing, GNU arch is a distributed revision control system that is part of the GNU Project and licensed under the GNU General Public License...
, Subversion, Git
Git (software)
Git is a distributed revision control system with an emphasis on speed. Git was initially designed and developed by Linus Torvalds for Linux kernel development. Every Git working directory is a full-fledged repository with complete history and full revision tracking capabilities, not dependent on...
, Mercurial
Mercurial (software)
Mercurial is a cross-platform, distributed revision control tool for software developers. It is mainly implemented using the Python programming language, but includes a binary diff implementation written in C. It is supported on Windows and Unix-like systems, such as FreeBSD, Mac OS X and Linux...
, Bazaar, mailing list, web hosting, file hosting, and bug tracking services. Savannah runs Savane, which is based on the same software as that used to run the popular SourceForge
SourceForge
SourceForge Enterprise Edition is a collaborative revision control and software development management system. It provides a front-end to a range of software development lifecycle services and integrates with a number of free software / open source software applications .While originally itself...
portal.
Savannah's website is split into two domain names: savannah.gnu.org for software that is officially part of the GNU Project
GNU Project
The GNU Project is a free software, mass collaboration project, announced on September 27, 1983, by Richard Stallman at MIT. It initiated GNU operating system development in January, 1984...
, and savannah.nongnu.org for all other software.
Unlike SourceForge
SourceForge
SourceForge Enterprise Edition is a collaborative revision control and software development management system. It provides a front-end to a range of software development lifecycle services and integrates with a number of free software / open source software applications .While originally itself...
, Savannah's focus is for hosting free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
projects and has very strict hosting policies, including a ban against the use of non-free formats (such as Macromedia Flash) to ensure that only free software is hosted. When registering a project, project submitters have to state which free software license the project uses.
In 2004, after a security compromise and resignations among the Savannah "hackers" (i.e. volunteers) team, FSF announced that it was going to move GNU Savannah from the Savannah (now Savane) software to GForge
GForge
GForge is a free software fork of the web-based project-management and collaboration software originally created for SourceForge, called Savane...
due to a mistaken perception that the codebase was now unmaintained. The Savannah hackers protested and the plan to migrate ceased.
Savane
Savane is a freeFree software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
web-based software hosting system, best known as the hosting software for the GNU Project's Savannah websites.
The GNU Project's Savannah website started out using SourceForge
SourceForge
SourceForge Enterprise Edition is a collaborative revision control and software development management system. It provides a front-end to a range of software development lifecycle services and integrates with a number of free software / open source software applications .While originally itself...
as its hosting software. However, after Savannah was set up, SourceForge was changed into proprietary software
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
by its authors. The site's administrators at the Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
forked the software in order to maintain it.
This software fork was originally called simply Savannah, since it was the software running the GNU Project's Savannah website and had no other name. It was later renamed Savane, the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
word for "savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
h", to distinguish the software itself from the websites, such as the GNU Project's Savannah, that use the software.
The software is currently being rewritten using the programming language Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
, the Django web framework and CSS
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
.
See also
- Comparison of Free Software Hosting FacilitiesComparison of free software hosting facilitiesA source code repository or source code escrow is a file archive and web hosting facility where large amounts of source code are kept, either publicly or privately. They are often used by open source projects and other multi-developer projects to handle various versions and developers submitting...
- BerliOSBerliOSBerliOS is a project founded by FOKUS, a Fraunhofer Institute located in Berlin, to coordinate the different interest groups in the field of open source software and to assume a neutral coordinator function...
– another software development hosting site - GForgeGForgeGForge is a free software fork of the web-based project-management and collaboration software originally created for SourceForge, called Savane...
– another fork of SourceForgeSourceForgeSourceForge Enterprise Edition is a collaborative revision control and software development management system. It provides a front-end to a range of software development lifecycle services and integrates with a number of free software / open source software applications .While originally itself... - Gna.orgGna.orgGna! is a centralized location where software developers can develop, distribute and maintain free software.- History:In the beginning, GNA stood for "Gna's Not Axis"...
– a software development hosting site: home site of Savane - SourceForgeSourceForgeSourceForge Enterprise Edition is a collaborative revision control and software development management system. It provides a front-end to a range of software development lifecycle services and integrates with a number of free software / open source software applications .While originally itself...
– software used by GNU Savannah before fork - Tigris.orgTigris.orgTigris.org is an open source software development community. It hosts software development services such as web hosting, mailing lists, issue tracking, wiki, download, and revision control with Subversion or Concurrent Versions System . It is hosted by CollabNet, the initiators and stewards of...
– a software development hosting site for software hosting software itself
External links
- http://savannah.gnu.org/ and http://savannah.nongnu.org/ – Savannah main sites
- Savane – software home site Article and discussion about potential software change which didn't happen