SourceForge.net is a source code repository and acts as a centralized location for software developers to control and manage open source software development. SourceForge.net is operated by Sourceforge, Inc. (formerly VA Software) and runs a version of the SourceForge software, forked from the last open-source version available. , SourceForge.net hosts more than 180,000 projects and more than 1.9 million registered users,^[1] although it does contain many dormant or single-user projects.

SourceForge.net has offered free access to hosting and tools for developers of free software / open source software for several years, and has become well-known within such development communities for these services.

SourceForge.net competes with other providers such as RubyForge, Tigris.org, BountySource, BerliOS, JavaForge and GNU Savannah.

The domain sourceforge.net attracted at least 28 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.^[2]

Offerings

SourceForge.net allows any project uniquely named in its registry to be sub-domained as http://project-name.sourceforge.net or http://project-name.sf.net. This gives some prominent URL branding to a project and a high activity in it can get the project listed on the main page http://sourceforge.net as a Top Project. Having a high number of registered members numbering over a million, and often been researched for project information, any participating project can gain fast access to the market of developers and users for a short and efficient adoption rate.

SourceForge.net provides storage space for a project to house content such as a wiki, MySQL database, source code versions managed with CVS or Subversion, and even their own website pages at the subdomain location.

By uploading code to SourceForge.net, you grant SourceForge a perpetual proprietary license.^[3]

Temporary ban in mainland China

The entire SourceForge.net website was banned in mainland China around 2002,^[4] though the ban was later lifted in 2003. Sourceforge.net had been blocked in China as of June 26, 2008.http://www.moon-blog.com/2008/06/sourceforge-blocked-in-china.html This blocking may be related to the recent protests of Beijing Olympic Games, which began on 8 August, 2008. This follows the China-boycott of the developer(s) of the (sourceforge hosted) FOSS software product Notepad++. The project's developer said that the action is not against Chinese people, but against Chinese government's repression against Tibetan unrest earlier in this year.http://www.moon-blog.com/2008/06/sourceforge-blocked-in-china.html.This ban was lifted on July 23, 2008.

Banned countries

In its terms of use^[5], SourceForge states that its services are not available to users in countries on the sanction list of the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (e.g., Cuba and Iran). As of January 2008, people from those countries can browse SourceForge projects and download from them, but access to the secure server (http's://sourceforge.net) is not allowed. This means, people coming from those IP addresses can't login to SourceForge or contribute to projects.

See also

• Comparison of open source software hosting facilities

References

1. ↑
2. ↑ Sourceforge attractes almost 30m visitors yearly
3. ↑
4. ↑
5. ↑ SourceForge.net: alexandria » Terms of Use

External links

• SourceForge.net
• "The SourceForge Story", by James Maguire (2007-10-17)

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