Apache Launches New ‘Extras` Site for Open-Source Innovation

The Apache Software Foundation has announced a new Google-hosted site to spur innovation on open-source efforts that feature code associated with Apache projects.

The new site is known as Apache Extras and can be found at apache-extras.org. ASF officials said the site is for code associated with Apache projects that are not part of the foundation's more than 80 top-level projects and dozens of initiatives in the Apache Incubator and Labs.

ASF said projects on the new Google-hosted service will not be managed by Apache. That means that developers are free to use whatever license and project management process they desire. And Apache-extras.org will provide a level of visibility for these projects that is unavailable on other code-hosting forges, ASF officials claim.

Meanwhile, existing Google Code projects related to Apache products can be easily migrated to the new apache-extras.org site. And developers involved with new Apache-related projects can start quickly by filling out a simple form. The ASF Community Development team will work directly with Apache Extras to ensure innovation around Apache projects is accelerated.

"The Apache Software Foundation has a long history of software innovation through collaboration; the larger the pool of potential contributors the more innovation we see," said Ross Gardler, ASF vice president of community development, in a statement. "Apache Extras provides a home for Apache related software which is not formally a part of the ASF itself. Having these projects on a single hosting platform will help to further accelerate innovation involving Apache software."

Moreover, among the ASF's strengths are its well-established requirements relating to intellectual property management, license use and community management, the ASF said in a press release on the launch of the new site. Apache-extras.org provides a home for projects that are unable to, or do not wish to, conform to those rules yet still want to signal their relationship to official Apache projects, the foundation said.

In addition, foundation officials said technical queries regarding the ASF's relationship with apache-extras.org can be directed to the ASF Community Development team at dev@community.apache.org. For information on migrating or setting up new projects, visit http://www.apache-extras.org.