Kohsuke Kawaguchi
Kohsuke Kawaguchi | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Computer programmer |
| Known for | Initiating the Jenkins project, lead developer of Hudson |
| Notable work | Hudson, Jenkins |
is a computer programmer recognized primarily for initiating the Jenkins project. During his tenure at Sun Microsystems, he was the lead developer behind the Hudson project. His contributions to Jenkins earned him the 2011 O'Reilly Open Source Award.
Career
While working at Sun Microsystems, Kawaguchi played a significant role in projects related to Java, XML, and Solaris, with notable achievements including the creation of Hudson and the Multi Schema Validator. Hudson's development began in 2004 and it was officially launched in 2005.
Following Oracle's acquisition of Sun, conflicts emerged concerning Hudson’s management and infrastructure, especially over the trademarked "Hudson" name, which Oracle claimed ownership of in December 2010. This dispute prompted a community vote in January 2011 to rename the project "Jenkins," a proposal that was accepted and led to the establishment of the Jenkins project. Oracle continued its work on Hudson independently, regarding Jenkins as a derivative, resulting in the coexistence of two separate projects.
In April 2010, Kawaguchi established InfraDNA, Inc., a company offering support services for continuous integration centered on Hudson. InfraDNA merged with CloudBees in November 2010. For his efforts on Hudson/Jenkins, he was honored with the Google-O'Reilly Open Source Award in 2011.
Kawaguchi was appointed as Chief Technology Officer at CloudBees in 2014. By January 2020, he shifted into an advisory capacity at CloudBees to dedicate more attention to his startup, Launchable, Inc.
On August 7, 2024, CloudBees revealed its acquisition of Launchable, incorporating AI-driven insights into its product suite.