More ASFs

The popular open source network traffic analyzer Ethereal is now Wireshark . The name change came about because Gerald Combs, the founder of the project, changed jobs and his old employer held the Ethereal trademark. NewsForge has the details . In discussing the situation and the solutions, Gerald mentions the need for open source foundations:

I’d like opinions from the community about where we should proceed after that. If you’re comfortable with me holding the trademarks, I’d be proud to do so. If you’d rather see an organization formed to ensure the continued success of the project, I’d be happy about that too. If you have any other (realistic, constructive) suggestions, please send them.

[ BTW, why aren’t there more umbrella organizations for open source like the ASF? In particular, why isn’t there an umbrella organization for open source networking software? ]

I’ve read complaints by some developers that foundations like Apache come with too much “overhead”. However at a certain point that sort of overhead is a necessary evil. And what is that overhead anyway? Mostly it’s nothing more than properly keeping track of contributions and licensing matters. Something responsible projects should be doing anyways. And until there are more ASFs out there, the foundation is open to projects via the incubator . Of course, not every project is going to find a home with the ASF; but if nothing else there is always an open invitation to come and see how we work.