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http://www.apacheweek.com/issues/96-04-04 http://www.apacheweek.com/issues/96-04-04 > If you don't know where Apache came from, here's a short history lesson.

by derleth 14y ago

http://www.apacheweek.com/issues/96-04-04 http://www.apacheweek.com/issues/96-04-04 > If you don't know where Apache came from, here's a short history lesson. In late 1994 and early 1995, the NCSA server was stuck at version 1.3. Patches being submitted for the NCSA server didn't get incorporated. So a group of people who wanted to keep developing the server got together, and using the public domain code from NCSA 1.3 developed their own server. There was also some doubt over what the license would be for the next version of NCSA. Because the new server developed from a need to integrate outstanding patches, it became known as "a patchy" server. http://web.archive.org/web/19961028122409/www.apache.org/docs/FAQ.html http://web.archive.org/web/19961028122409/www.apache.org/doc... > Why the name "Apache" ? > A cute name which stuck. Apache is "A PAtCHy server". It was based on some existing code and a series of "patch files". So there you go. You'd think a bunch of people who make web servers would understand the archival properties of the web.

dalke 14y ago
The earliest archive reference I can find for "Apache" is dated 27 Feb 1995, at http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/httpd-dev/199503.mbox/%3C9502281620.AA24455@volterra%3E http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/httpd-dev/199503.mb... : > As to the product, we seem to have decided to call it Apache. (If you're wondering about the name, say "Apache server" ten time fast. Europeans may want to fake their best American accent while trying this). It does not give the origin of the name. That discussion must have been pre-archive or in private email. This topic has come up elsewhere. Quoting from a Linux Magazine interview of Brian Behlendorf published in April 2000: and available at http://web.archive.org/web/20000711011824/http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-04/behlendorf_02.html http://web.archive.org/web/20000711011824/http://www.linux-m... : LM: Who thought of the name Apache? BB: I had some friends at a company called Enterprise Integration Technology, and somebody there asked me, "What would be your ideal Web server?" So I wrote about a bunch of stuff that I thought was missing from NCSA's server -- some stuff that still isn't in a lot of Web servers like revision control and stuff like that. I put it on a page and said: "I should come up with a name for this." The name literally came out of the blue. I wish I could say that it was something fantastic, but it was out of the blue. I put it on a page and then a few months later when this project started, I pointed people to this page and said: "Hey, what do you think of that idea?" [BB:] Someone said they liked the name and that it was a really good pun. And I was like, "A pun? What do you mean?" He said, "Well, we're building a server out of a bunch of software patches, right? So it's a patchy Web server." I went, "Oh, all right." Quoting elsewhere: On Sat, 2003-11-29 at 18:35, Roy T. Fielding wrote: > Apache was named after the Apache tribes -- "a patchy" server was an afterthought. We've generally avoided any discussion of the topic because involvement of a native american "activist" will only result in trouble for us. Those people are not Apache -- they don't even have a clue. The various tribes that are called Apache (by their enemies) have more specific names for themselves. Thus, we don't have any complaints from the Apache people (only from white folks who think they know better). The best conclusion I can draw is that nobody is certain about why the name was chosen. Different people involved have different views, and no one has published an email from that time. (I can assume that if an email existed AND it was archived AND someone who had a copy cared enough to research it AND if it didn't jibe with the current FAQ then there MIGHT be disincentive to publish it. However, that's too long of a chain to be a useful inference.) However, the FAQ should definitely not be so certain about its claim.
- rst 14y ago
  I am the author of the email you quoted, and the punning reference to "patchy" is exactly what the "say 'Apache Server' ten times fast" bit was meant to refer to. (I didn't feel the need to elaborate, at the time, because the whole thing was about patches. As that email also states, we didn't yet have any kind of central source control; we were instead reviewing and voting on code deltas in patch format that we were sending around in other email.)
  - gruseom 14y ago
    Someone ought to point out that this response is definitive.
    - dalke 14y ago
      This response isn't definitive. More precisely, it's no more definitive than the other quotes from people who were involved in the project when the name was selected. As you read, Fielding unambiguously declared that the name was chosen to honor the Apache. That personal recollection is not definitive because it appears to be contradicted by the historical evidence. Similarly, this personal recollection cannot be seen as definitive. Instead, it should be seen as strengthening the argument that the primary choice of the name by the project members was for the pun. However, it could still be that of those who cared, 2/3rd of the people chose it to honor the Apache nations, 1/3rd of the people chose it for the pun, and it was the latter who wrote the initial documentation, while the others didn't think it was an issue. The available evidence doesn't preclude that admittedly unlikely option.
      - gruseom 14y ago
        You're treating these "recollections" as equivalent in weight, but they're not. The earliest email announcing the name of the server in a way that made clear the name depended on the sound ("say it ten times fast"), combined with a confirmation from the author of that email that this is exactly what he meant, is a combination of textual and authorial evidence. "More definitive than the other quotes" is precisely what that is.

by derleth 14y ago

dalke 14y ago

The earliest archive reference I can find for "Apache" is dated 27 Feb 1995, at http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/httpd-dev/199503.mbox/%3C9502281620.AA24455@volterra%3E http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/httpd-dev/199503.mb... : > As to the product, we seem to have decided to call it Apache. (If you're wondering about the name, say "Apache server" ten time fast. Europeans may want to fake their best American accent while trying this). It does not give the origin of the name. That discussion must have been pre-archive or in private email. This topic has come up elsewhere. Quoting from a Linux Magazine interview of Brian Behlendorf published in April 2000: and available at http://web.archive.org/web/20000711011824/http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-04/behlendorf_02.html http://web.archive.org/web/20000711011824/http://www.linux-m... : LM: Who thought of the name Apache? BB: I had some friends at a company called Enterprise Integration Technology, and somebody there asked me, "What would be your ideal Web server?" So I wrote about a bunch of stuff that I thought was missing from NCSA's server -- some stuff that still isn't in a lot of Web servers like revision control and stuff like that. I put it on a page and said: "I should come up with a name for this." The name literally came out of the blue. I wish I could say that it was something fantastic, but it was out of the blue. I put it on a page and then a few months later when this project started, I pointed people to this page and said: "Hey, what do you think of that idea?" [BB:] Someone said they liked the name and that it was a really good pun. And I was like, "A pun? What do you mean?" He said, "Well, we're building a server out of a bunch of software patches, right? So it's a patchy Web server." I went, "Oh, all right." Quoting elsewhere: On Sat, 2003-11-29 at 18:35, Roy T. Fielding wrote: > Apache was named after the Apache tribes -- "a patchy" server was an afterthought. We've generally avoided any discussion of the topic because involvement of a native american "activist" will only result in trouble for us. Those people are not Apache -- they don't even have a clue. The various tribes that are called Apache (by their enemies) have more specific names for themselves. Thus, we don't have any complaints from the Apache people (only from white folks who think they know better). The best conclusion I can draw is that nobody is certain about why the name was chosen. Different people involved have different views, and no one has published an email from that time. (I can assume that if an email existed AND it was archived AND someone who had a copy cared enough to research it AND if it didn't jibe with the current FAQ then there MIGHT be disincentive to publish it. However, that's too long of a chain to be a useful inference.) However, the FAQ should definitely not be so certain about its claim.

rst 14y ago
I am the author of the email you quoted, and the punning reference to "patchy" is exactly what the "say 'Apache Server' ten times fast" bit was meant to refer to. (I didn't feel the need to elaborate, at the time, because the whole thing was about patches. As that email also states, we didn't yet have any kind of central source control; we were instead reviewing and voting on code deltas in patch format that we were sending around in other email.)
- gruseom 14y ago
  Someone ought to point out that this response is definitive.
  - dalke 14y ago
    This response isn't definitive. More precisely, it's no more definitive than the other quotes from people who were involved in the project when the name was selected. As you read, Fielding unambiguously declared that the name was chosen to honor the Apache. That personal recollection is not definitive because it appears to be contradicted by the historical evidence. Similarly, this personal recollection cannot be seen as definitive. Instead, it should be seen as strengthening the argument that the primary choice of the name by the project members was for the pun. However, it could still be that of those who cared, 2/3rd of the people chose it to honor the Apache nations, 1/3rd of the people chose it for the pun, and it was the latter who wrote the initial documentation, while the others didn't think it was an issue. The available evidence doesn't preclude that admittedly unlikely option.
    - gruseom 14y ago
      You're treating these "recollections" as equivalent in weight, but they're not. The earliest email announcing the name of the server in a way that made clear the name depended on the sound ("say it ten times fast"), combined with a confirmation from the author of that email that this is exactly what he meant, is a combination of textual and authorial evidence. "More definitive than the other quotes" is precisely what that is.