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It started out as a patchy version of NCSA HTTPD. That's the joke. A patchy webserver. EDIT: I am aware that the name was retconned into a more "sophisticated"

It started out as a patchy version of NCSA HTTPD. That's the joke. A patchy webserver. EDIT: I am aware that the name was retconned into a more "sophisticated" origin story, but the original project docs back me up. https://web.archive.org/web/19970415054031/http://www.apache.org/info.html https://web.archive.org/web/19970415054031/http://www.apache... > Why is it called Apache? > The Apache group was formed around a number of people who provided patch files that had been written for NCSA httpd 1.3. The result after combining them was A PAtCHy server.

deleted 4y ago
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kemayo 4y ago
Brian Behlendorf does say[1] that the origin wasn't that, though apparently the "a patchy" pun was almost-immediately picked up. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_Server#Name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_Server#Name
rvieira 4y ago
I have to admit I always thought "a patchy server" was the name's origin...
hutzlibu 4y ago
From the article: One of the founders, Brian Behlendorf, describes how he came about choosing the name Apache in the documentary “Trillions and Trillions Served”: "I suggested the name Apache partly because the web technologies at the time that were launching were being called cyber this or spider that or something on those themes and I was like we need something a little more interesting, a little more romantic, not to be a cultural appropriator or anything like that, I had just seen a documentary about Geronimo and the last days of a Native American tribe called the Apaches, right, who succumbed to the invasion from the West, from the United States, and they were the last tribe to give up their territory and for me that almost romantically represented what I felt we were doing with this web-server project…"
- bitwize 4y ago
  I get the feeling that this is a retcon etymology. Either way, it's marginalizing[1] and needs to be changed. [1] In one of my wife's murder mysteries, I forget which, a woman quips in a brilliant stroke of teleplay writing: "Don't call people 'babes' or 'lushes', it's marginalising." I propose we use "marginalizing" instead of "offensive" because "offensive" is subjective whereas "marginalizing" denotes objective harm to a community.
nerdponx 4y ago
In other words, the name of the actual group of people is not even relevant, it's a programming pun that more or less disregards the existence of actual human beings who have come to be known by that name. It was a bad name then and it's a bad name now.

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kemayo 4y ago

Brian Behlendorf does say[1] that the origin wasn't that, though apparently the "a patchy" pun was almost-immediately picked up. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_Server#Name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_Server#Name

rvieira 4y ago

I have to admit I always thought "a patchy server" was the name's origin...

hutzlibu 4y ago

From the article: One of the founders, Brian Behlendorf, describes how he came about choosing the name Apache in the documentary “Trillions and Trillions Served”: "I suggested the name Apache partly because the web technologies at the time that were launching were being called cyber this or spider that or something on those themes and I was like we need something a little more interesting, a little more romantic, not to be a cultural appropriator or anything like that, I had just seen a documentary about Geronimo and the last days of a Native American tribe called the Apaches, right, who succumbed to the invasion from the West, from the United States, and they were the last tribe to give up their territory and for me that almost romantically represented what I felt we were doing with this web-server project…"

bitwize 4y ago
I get the feeling that this is a retcon etymology. Either way, it's marginalizing[1] and needs to be changed. [1] In one of my wife's murder mysteries, I forget which, a woman quips in a brilliant stroke of teleplay writing: "Don't call people 'babes' or 'lushes', it's marginalising." I propose we use "marginalizing" instead of "offensive" because "offensive" is subjective whereas "marginalizing" denotes objective harm to a community.

nerdponx 4y ago

In other words, the name of the actual group of people is not even relevant, it's a programming pun that more or less disregards the existence of actual human beings who have come to be known by that name. It was a bad name then and it's a bad name now.