Everyone’s life will experience many times for the first time, or surprise, or funny, or moving, or sad……
But it seems to me that no matter what you experience, those firsts make up a full and rich life and help you see more warmth and beauty in the world. When you get old and leave the workplace to enjoy life, or even lie in a wheelchair unable to walk, you can close your eyes and recall these experiences. It is as precious as a bottle of century-old wine.
In early 2000, after an all-nighter in my study, I first managed to connect to a database with a crooked piece of ASP code and save “Hello World” into it.
…
In April 2021, I gave up the recruitment of big factories and some friends’ invitations, and stepped into the open source field for the first time.
In September 2021, I became the first non-code Committer ever for Apache APISIX.
What exactly is open source
There is a saying I often say: “Your life is wonderful because you can never guess the ending, let alone who will help whom at the next stage.” Human beings are naturally curious about unknown things, but they are timid.
I believe that technical practitioners are familiar with the word “open source”, but their first impression is basically “open source? Isn’t it free? White fuck?” “, or foundations, or communities, or freedom and equality, they all seem to be absurd, and they all seem to be full of righteous words.
Under this stereotype catalytic, resulting in a lot of people believe that open source represents a “justice and freedom”, as long as a mention what License is associated with the Oracle, Microsoft, and other enterprises, but also associated with huge collection, so a lot of people think “closed source is exploited and the embodiment of evil”, but the reality is this really the case?
In order to deepen your understanding, especially for those of you outside the tech world, I did a wikipedia search in conjunction with the timeline.
The history of open source
In the 1960s and 1970s, open source software as a whole was not as fluid as it is now, and most of its use was concentrated in military units and carried out mostly on a project basis.
It wasn’t until Feb. 3, 1976, that Bill Gates wrote an open letter to computer enthusiasts complaining that unauthorized use of Altair BASIC was so widespread that the newly formed Microsoft had little return. This letter is quite well known and is seen as the real beginning of software revenue from commercial licensing, solving the problem of software liquidity.
The core of the License model is to solve the ownership problem. No matter whether an individual or an enterprise, I have invested my wisdom or resources to create a software. How should I distribute this software reasonably and legally in the market? The person or the organization that gets the license, you just use it, you don’t own it, and before that, whoever you work for, the software that comes out of that project is going to be owned by that project, because it’s a contract.
At this point, one might ask, does the licensing model run counter to what the open source model advocates?
It’s like the Matrix, where there’s black and white, right and wrong, but not from the point of view of Richard Stallman (the father of GUN Emacs), who’s thinking bigger. He eventually founded the GNU and Free Software Foundation based on his belief that the work of mankind should not be monopolized by any one institution or individual.
By 1983, Richard Stallman had publicly launched the GNU Project in the Net.UNIX-Wizards newsgroup, announcing the creation of a fully free operating system, along with a copy of the GNU Manifesto. In the manifesto, Stallman stated that a key reason for launching the project was to “recapture the spirit of software collaboration and solidarity”.
The following year, In January 1984, Richard Stallman launched the GNU Project. Since GNU was open source, he created a Copyleft license to prevent bad vendors from using free software to make it proprietary. Making all GNU programs Copyleft means that they can be copied, modified, and sold, but only under the principle that all improvements and modifications to the source code must be made available to all users.
Over the next four decades, the open and closed lines evolved according to their own rules. In particular, the License mode of closed source software protects the intellectual property rights of many small and medium-sized software companies and promotes their rapid development, among which Microsoft is the most representative one.
Therefore, for the open source community, for a long time, the main rival is Microsoft. They are afraid of the open source community and have developed a complete set of strategies to fight against it. The most famous is F.U.D. (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt).
Until now, Microsoft has quietly become the world’s number one company in support of open source. For example, the underlying framework of.NET has also been fully open source, and recently I heard that it has donated more than 2000 patents to an open source foundation.
What’s the sentence at the beginning of the Romance of The Three Kingdoms? This is not only the development of the software industry, but also the way open source and closed source interact today.
Open Source
On September 8, when it was announced as Committer, I shared this news in my moments. Soon I received comments like “What is Apache?” “, “What are committers?” .
I think it’s worth taking this opportunity to answer the question of ASF and Committer.
The Apache foundation
Simply put, the Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting open source software projects. In the Apache projects and subprojects it supports, all software products are released under the Apache License.
The organization consists of two parts, one is called the board of Directors and the other is called the Project Management Committee.
The Board of directors manages and supervises the business and day-to-day affairs of the Apache Software Foundation and ensures that they operate in accordance with the charter, while the Project Management Committee is responsible for ensuring that the activities of one or more open source communities run smoothly.
Apache Council is composed of 9 members. In the past, they were mostly white, male and old (old white male), but now they are becoming diversified. Black women and yellow young people also appear in the board. Wu Sheng, Apache SkyWalking Founder from China, for example, is a member of the board.
Different from enterprises, all members and board members in ASF are independent, which is the core and most important feature of Apache Foundation. A Member only represents himself, not his business company or team.
To put it bluntly, the changes of Member’s work will not affect his rights and obligations at all.
Community Over Code
Here, I would like to emphasize that committers emphasize individuals.
At the Apache Software Foundation, contributors are considered committers only on their contributions: code, documentation, evangelism, and more. That said, people like me can be elected as committers by contributing to Apache APISIX evangelism.
On the other hand, when electing committers or PMCS, many of the committers have never met before, and they don’t even know their age, skin color, or height. Is it different from some of the “hidden rules” and “big pressure on small officials” in the enterprise?
If you know a little about ASF, you must have heard the phrase “Community Over Code”. Some friends have asked me what it means. Where is it reflected?
The following quotes are from the article of Apache APISIX PMC Chair Wen Ming listed in his official account:
Public discussion
Anyone can participate publicly in any Apache project through the mailing list. Whether it’s a release or a project graduation, everyone can vote, and while only the VOTES of PMC members are valid, everyone’s views are publicly expressed through the mailing list.
Earn your mandate by contributing
Unlike the hierarchy of power within a corporation, the Apache Foundation operates a “meritocracy” democracy: the more it contributes, the more influence it has. That is, anyone can participate, but each person’s influence and voting power are different.
Consensus-based decision making
In any Apache project, you must have open and full discussion as a prerequisite for consensus. When a consensus is reached, a vote will follow.
What? You want to use power to manipulate? I’m sorry, if you can’t figure that out, then the project isn’t really a community project, or it could fall on its face.
independence
By following the first three constraints, you can ensure that no company can control the direction of the Apache project.
Online welfare · New column will be launched soon
Starting in November, the Apache APISIX community launched a new live stream — Apache APISIX Face to Face.
Apache APISIX Face to Face is an interview program hosted by the Apache APISIX community. It brings you quality content about open source culture, projects, communities, commercialization, personal growth and so on, through live broadcast every two weeks. It aims to let more people understand open source and join open source. I hope I can get more inspirations in the interview and bring inspirations to every audience.
In the first issue of Apache APISIX, we will meet and discuss the topic of “open source” **.
You are welcome to join the Apache APISIX video channel at 19:00 on November 2nd to interact and ask questions. You are also welcome to join the Apache APISIX live studio to talk about your open source story.