The Apache Software Foundation
In 1999, the same folks who wrote the Apache server formed the Apache Software Foundation (ASF).
The ASF is a nonprofit organization that was created to facilitate the development of open source soft-
ware projects. Tomcat is developed under the auspices of the ASF. According to their Web site, the ASF
accomplishes this goal by the following:
❑ Providing a foundation for open, collaborative software development projects by supplying
hardware, communication, and business infrastructure
❑ Creating an independent legal entity to which companies and individuals can donate resources
and be assured that those resources will be used for the public benefit
❑ Providing a means for individual volunteers to be sheltered from legal suits directed at ASF
projects
❑ Protecting the Apache brand (as applied to its software products) from being abused by other
organizations
In practice, the ASF does indeed sponsor a great many open source projects. While the best-known of
these projects is likely the aforementioned Apache Web server, the ASF hosts many other well-respected
and widely used projects, including such respected industry standards as the following:
❑ PHP — Perhaps the world’s most popular Web scripting language
❑ Xerces — A Java/C++ XML parser with JAXP bindings
❑ Ant — A Java-based build system (and much more)
❑ Axis — A Java-based Web Services engine
The list of ASF-sponsored projects is growing fast. Visit www.apache.org to see the latest list.
The Jakar ta Project
Of most relevance to this blog is Apache’s Jakarta project, of which the Tomcat server is a subproject. The
Jakarta project is an umbrella under which the ASF sponsors the development of many Java subprojects.
As of this writing, there is an impressive array of more than 20 such projects. They are divided into the
following three categories:
❑ Libraries, tools, and APIs
❑ Frameworks and engines
❑ Server applications
Tomcat fits into the latter of these three.

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