The Apache Software Foundation provides organizational, legal, and financial support for a broad range of open source software projects. The Foundation provides an established framework for intellectual property and financial contributions that simultaneously limits contributors potential legal exposure. Through a collaborative and meritocratic development process, Apache projects deliver enterprise-grade, freely available software products that attract large communities of users. The pragmatic Apache License makes it easy for all users, commercial and individual, to deploy Apache products.
Formerly known as the Apache Group, the Foundation was incorporated in 1999 as a membership-based, not-for-profit corporation in order to ensure that the Apache projects continue to exist beyond the participation of individual volunteers. Individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to collaborative open-source software development, through sustained participation and contributions within the Foundation's projects, are eligible for membership in the ASF. An individual is awarded membership after nomination and approval by a majority of the existing ASF members. Thus, the ASF is governed by the community it most directly serves -- the people collaborating within its projects.
The ASF members periodically elect a Board of Directors to manage the organizational affairs of the Foundation, as accorded by the ASF Bylaws. The Board, in turn, appoints a number of officers to oversee the day-to-day operations of the Foundation. A number of public records of our operation are made available to the community. A more detailed explanation of How the ASF works in terms of day to day operations is available, and the Apache Community Development project's goal is to help newcomers learn more about the Apache Software Foundation.
Current officers of The Apache Software Foundation:
The Foundation is a collaborative project of the ASF. Our goal is to build and sustain the literal foundation upon which our open-source software projects are based.