SourceForge
| Company type | Web service |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software development, Open-source software hosting |
| Founded | November 1999 |
| Founder | Tony Guntharp, Uriah Welcome, Tim Perdue, Drew Streib |
| Headquarters | San Diego , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Source code repository hosting, bug tracking, download mirroring, wikis, mailing lists, forums, user reviews and ratings, news updates, micro-blogging |
| Owner | Slashdot Media (BIZX, LLC) |
| Parent | Slashdot Media |
| Website | sourceforge |
SourceForge is a web service launched in November 1999 by Tony Guntharp, Uriah Welcome, Tim Perdue, and Drew Streib. It functions as a centralized platform for discovering software, hosting and managing open-source projects, and providing a comprehensive directory for comparing and reviewing over 104,500 business-to-business software products. The site offers numerous tools including source code repository hosting, bug tracking, download mirroring to balance traffic loads, wikis for documentation purposes, mailing lists for developers and users, discussion forums, user-generated reviews and ratings, news updates, micro-blogging for project announcements, among other capabilities.
As one of the pioneers in delivering free services to open-source initiatives, SourceForge has been operating on the Apache Allura framework since 2012. It continues to support developers by providing no-cost hosting and development tools tailored for free and open-source software projects.
By September 2020, SourceForge was home to more than 502,000 projects with a registered user base exceeding 3.7 million.
Concept
SourceForge serves as an online source code repository, offering a unified platform for free and open-source software initiatives. It was the earliest platform to provide complimentary hosting services tailored for open-source development, equipping developers with centralized storage and project management resources. The platform is renowned for its integration with revision control systems such as CVS, Subversion, Bazaar, Git, and Mercurial. Key features include project-specific wiki pages, analytical metrics, access to a MySQL database backend, and distinctive sub-domain URLs (for example, http://project-name.sourceforge.net).
With a community surpassing three million users as of 2013, SourceForge provides projects with exposure to an extensive developer audience. This dynamic fosters a beneficial cycle where increased activity enhances visibility through SourceForge’s internal ranking algorithms within its directory and Enterprise Directory listings. Such visibility contributes to project sustainability by attracting developer engagement—addressing a frequent reason behind open-source project discontinuation.
Revenue model
Historically, SourceForge’s main income source was advertising banner sales, which expanded from roughly US$1 million per quarter in 2005 to US$6.5 million in 2006. Revenue peaked at approximately US$23 million quarterly in 2009 before decreasing to an annual total near US$20 million in 2011 across SourceForge, Slashdot, and Freecode combined.
Beginning in 2013, SourceForge explored alternative revenue approaches including bundleware strategies aimed at increasing earnings. These initiatives met with adverse reactions from the community, prompting reevaluation of such programs. Nonetheless, by February 2014 the partnership program was extended to encompass all hosted projects.
On February 9, 2016, under new ownership by BIZX, LLC, the controversial DevShare program was discontinued to address user concerns and rebuild community trust.
History
Established in 1999 by VA Software, SourceForge was the first centralized platform delivering free hosting services specifically for open-source software development. Its underlying site software was released as free software in January 2000 under the name SourceForge Alexandria; the final free license version appeared in November 2001. Following the collapse of the Dot-com bubble, SourceForge shifted to a proprietary model with the introduction of SourceForge Enterprise Edition, rewritten in Java and targeted at managing offshore outsourcing projects.
The platform experienced temporary access blocks in China during 2002, 2008, and again in 2012. In November 2008, it faced legal action from the French rights organization SPPF due to hosting downloads of the file-sharing tool Shareaza.
In 2009, SourceForge unveiled Allura—an extensible open source platform developed using Python and MongoDB, featuring RESTful APIs. By June 2012, Allura was contributed to the Apache Software Foundation under the name Apache Allura.
In September 2012, online employment site Dice.com acquired SourceForge along with Slashdot and Freecode from Geeknet for $20 million, creating Slashdot Media. Dice announced intentions to sell both SourceForge and Slashdot in July 2015; subsequently in January 2016 these assets were purchased by San Diego-based BIZX, LLC for an undisclosed amount. In December 2019 BIZX rebranded itself as Slashdot Media.
On September 26, 2012, a security breach occurred when attackers compromised a SourceForge mirror server and modified a download of phpMyAdmin to include malicious exploits.
Installer incorporating adware
In July 2013, SourceForge launched DevShare, an optional program that enabled project maintainers to embed proprietary, advertisement-supported components within their installers, sharing the resulting ad revenue with the projects. This initiative received varied feedback; some users expressed apprehension about reliability and openness, while others considered it a viable model for generating sustainable funding under the developers' control.
By November 2013, GIMP withdrew its download offerings from SourceForge due to deceptive download buttons and SourceForge's Windows installer packaging potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) alongside GIMP. The GIMP team publicly condemned SourceForge for permitting problematic advertisements, signaling a departure from SourceForge's earlier standing as a dependable host for open-source initiatives. Reports indicated that some bundled applications contained malware.
As of May 2015, SourceForge had assumed control over pages of five projects that had relocated elsewhere, substituting their original downloads with installers containing adware, including GIMP. This action conflicted with SourceForge’s prior assurances not to distribute adware without explicit developer authorization.
On June 1, 2015, SourceForge declared it had stopped bundling third-party offers with projects lacking active maintenance. Nevertheless, developers reported instances of project pages being taken over by SourceForge staff accounts without any changes to the binaries themselves, impacting projects such as nmap and VLC media player. Subsequently, on June 18, 2015, SourceForge removed maintained mirrors of these projects and announced plans to establish a Community Panel tasked with reviewing its mirroring policies.
Following its acquisition by BizX in early 2016, SourceForge discontinued the DevShare program along with all installer bundling practices. Beginning May 17, 2016, the platform implemented malware scanning across all hosted projects and started displaying alerts on downloads identified as infected.
Usage
By May 2013, SourceForge was hosting in excess of 300,000 projects and had registered over 3 million users, although not all accounts were actively engaged. According to a Compete.com analysis from August 2009, the domain attracted a minimum of 33 million visitors.
SourceForge’s terms of service prohibit access from users located in countries listed under sanctions by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. Since 2008, its secure contribution server blocked connections originating from these regions. In January 2010, this restriction expanded to encompass all site access including downloads. By February 2010, these limitations were eased to permit individual projects to determine download availability for those countries. However, by November 2020, restrictions were reinstated for North Korea and other sanctioned areas. Additionally, access from Crimea has been blocked since February 2015.
See also
External links
- "The SourceForge Story", authored by James Maguire (2007-10-17)