Ken Coar
Encyclopedia
Born in 1960, Ken Coar is a software developer and open development evangelist. He is probably best known for his association with The Apache Software Foundation
and the ApacheCon series of user conferences.
He currently lives in Raleigh
, North Carolina
.
, majoring in computer topics, but left before completing a degree. He worked for the University for several years, and has since been employed by General Dynamics
, Digital Equipment Corporation
, Process Software Corporation, and IBM
. In April 2011 he joined Red Hat
as a Principal Application Software Engineer.
He is co-author of RFC 3875, the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) specification.
and was a Director on its board from its incorporation in 1999 through June 2007. His involvement with the organisation dates back to late 1996, and his major code contributions have been to the Apache HTTP server project. He is also the primary contributor to the Apache Pulse project, which provides daily analyses of all of the Apache mailing lists.
Coar was Vice President and chair of the Apache Conferences project from 1998 to 2007 http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/2007/board_minutes_2007_10_17.txt, and was responsible for the ApacheCon shows which have been held in North America and Europe since 2000. He was the initial chair of the Apache Commons project, which eventually shut down http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/2004/board_minutes_2004_08_18.txt without actually having accomplished much. He helped in the creation of the Apache Incubator
project http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/2002/board_minutes_2002_10_16.txt.
In October 2005 the ASF
board appointed Ken to be the Vice President and chair of the Apache Geronimo Application Server project http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/2005/board_minutes_2005_10_26.txt in an attempt to repair the community dynamics. He voluntarily resigned one year later http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/2006/board_minutes_2006_11_15.txt, returning the now-healthy project to self-governance.
A complete and current listing of Apache projects in which he is involved is available here: Apache Committers.
, and served as a director until 1 April 2010, when he resigned. He was instrumental in improving internal organisation, expanding the board's composition internationally, and extending the OSI bylaws to allow for the creation of new initiatives. He was committed to expanding OSI's activities beyond software licence certification, and in turning the organisation into a grass roots membership structure.
scripting language, the Habari
blogging package, and a couple of Ruby gems. In the late 1990s he was involved in IBM
's efforts to get involved with the Apache HTTP Server
project, and was instrumental in the development of a working relationship between the two. Coar has a few projects at SourceForge
that he hacks on for fun.
, Linux Today, PHPBuilder, EnterpriseIT Planet, and Apache Today.
Apache Software Foundation
The Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects, including the Apache HTTP Server. The ASF was formed from the Apache Group and incorporated in Delaware, U.S., in June 1999.The Apache Software Foundation is a decentralized community of developers...
and the ApacheCon series of user conferences.
He currently lives in Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
.
Background
Coar attended the University of MassachusettsUniversity of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
, majoring in computer topics, but left before completing a degree. He worked for the University for several years, and has since been employed by General Dynamics
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...
, Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
, Process Software Corporation, and IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
. In April 2011 he joined Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
as a Principal Application Software Engineer.
Open Source
Coar has been active in open software projects, and lectures internationally about open development methodologies and distributed collaboration. He has addressed local groups, regional conferences, and government organisations.He is co-author of RFC 3875, the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) specification.
Apache Project
Ken Coar is a member of The Apache Software FoundationApache Software Foundation
The Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects, including the Apache HTTP Server. The ASF was formed from the Apache Group and incorporated in Delaware, U.S., in June 1999.The Apache Software Foundation is a decentralized community of developers...
and was a Director on its board from its incorporation in 1999 through June 2007. His involvement with the organisation dates back to late 1996, and his major code contributions have been to the Apache HTTP server project. He is also the primary contributor to the Apache Pulse project, which provides daily analyses of all of the Apache mailing lists.
Coar was Vice President and chair of the Apache Conferences project from 1998 to 2007 http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/2007/board_minutes_2007_10_17.txt, and was responsible for the ApacheCon shows which have been held in North America and Europe since 2000. He was the initial chair of the Apache Commons project, which eventually shut down http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/2004/board_minutes_2004_08_18.txt without actually having accomplished much. He helped in the creation of the Apache Incubator
Apache Incubator
Apache Incubator is the gateway for Open source projects intended to become fully fledged Apache Software Foundation projects.The Incubator project was created in October 2002 to provide an entry path to the Apache Software Foundation for projects and codebases wishing to become part of the...
project http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/2002/board_minutes_2002_10_16.txt.
In October 2005 the ASF
ASF
In computing:* Advanced Systems Format , a Microsoft streaming format associated with Windows Media Player....
board appointed Ken to be the Vice President and chair of the Apache Geronimo Application Server project http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/2005/board_minutes_2005_10_26.txt in an attempt to repair the community dynamics. He voluntarily resigned one year later http://www.apache.org/foundation/records/minutes/2006/board_minutes_2006_11_15.txt, returning the now-healthy project to self-governance.
A complete and current listing of Apache projects in which he is involved is available here: Apache Committers.
Open Source Initiative
In 2004 Coar was invited to join the board of the Open Source InitiativeOSI
- General :* OSI Pharmaceuticals, an American pharmaceutical company* OSI Restaurant Partners, the restaurant and entertainment group that includes Outback Steakhouse...
, and served as a director until 1 April 2010, when he resigned. He was instrumental in improving internal organisation, expanding the board's composition internationally, and extending the OSI bylaws to allow for the creation of new initiatives. He was committed to expanding OSI's activities beyond software licence certification, and in turning the organisation into a grass roots membership structure.
Other Open Software Projects
Coar has made minor contributions to other projects, such as the PHPPHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
scripting language, the Habari
Habari
Habari is a free and open source blog engine written in PHP and currently supports MySQL, SQLite and PostgreSQL for the database backend. It gets its name from the Swahili greeting habari, which means " news".-Features:...
blogging package, and a couple of Ruby gems. In the late 1990s he was involved in IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
's efforts to get involved with the Apache HTTP Server
Apache HTTP Server
The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to as Apache , is web server software notable for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. In 2009 it became the first web server software to surpass the 100 million website milestone...
project, and was instrumental in the development of a working relationship between the two. Coar has a few projects at 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...
that he hacks on for fun.
Publications
Coar is the author of 'Apache Server for Dummies,' co-author of RFC 3875, 'Apache Server Unleashed,' and 'Apache Cookbook,' and has written articles for a number of publications including Linux Magazine, ACM QueueACM Queue
ACM Queue is a computer magazine published by the Association for Computing Machinery . Steve Bourne helped found the magazine when he was President of the ACM and he is now Chair of the Advisory Board. The magazine is produced by computing professionals and is intended for computing professionals...
, Linux Today, PHPBuilder, EnterpriseIT Planet, and Apache Today.
See also
- Apache Software FoundationApache Software FoundationThe Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects, including the Apache HTTP Server. The ASF was formed from the Apache Group and incorporated in Delaware, U.S., in June 1999.The Apache Software Foundation is a decentralized community of developers...
- HabariHabariHabari is a free and open source blog engine written in PHP and currently supports MySQL, SQLite and PostgreSQL for the database backend. It gets its name from the Swahili greeting habari, which means " news".-Features:...
- Open Source InitiativeOpen Source InitiativeThe Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting open source software.The organization was founded in February 1998, by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, prompted by Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its flagship Netscape Communicator product...
- PHPPHPPHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
- RubyGemsRubyGemsRubyGems is a package manager for the Ruby programming language that provides a standard format for distributing Ruby programs and libraries , a tool designed to easily manage the installation of gems, and a server for distributing them. It is analogous to EasyInstall for the Python programming...
External links
- RFC 3875
- The Rodent's Burrow - Ken Coar's Web log (blog)
- Ken Coar on Twitter