The Apache Software Foundation: history, structure and projects

Updated November 2026

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is a US non-profit charity, incorporated in June 1999, that gives open-source projects a neutral legal and organizational home. It grew out of the group that built the Apache HTTP Server. As of November 2026 the ASF says it hosts more than 290 open-source projects with more than 10,100 committers. Almost all of the work is done by volunteers.

The ASF's own counts change constantly; check apache.org and projects.apache.org for the current numbers.

From the Apache Group to the ASF

The foundation's story starts with the web server. In February 1995 a small group of webmasters began sharing patches for the stalled NCSA httpd. Eight core contributors formed what was called the Apache Group. Their server, first released in April 1995, became the most used web server in 1996 (see the release history).

By 1999 the project needed more than a mailing list. In June 1999 members of the Apache Group formed the Apache Software Foundation, incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. According to the ASF, it was created to:

The httpd project itself remains an ASF project with its own committee. In the ASF's committee data its start date is February 1995, older than the foundation.

Milestones

Selected ASF milestones, from apache.org
DateEvent
February 1995Apache Group forms around NCSA httpd patches
June 1999ASF incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit
March 2000First ApacheCon, Orlando, Florida; Apache 2.0 alpha 1 released there
2000Apache License 1.1 approved
October 2002Board creates the Apache Incubator
January 2004Apache License 2.0 published
November 2008Apache Attic created for retired projects
Third quarter of 2021Volunteer download mirrors replaced by a global content delivery network
September 11, 2025New ASF logo, an oak leaf
October 14, 2026Apache Auron, Apache Reqsign and Apache ResilientDB become top-level projects

How the ASF is run

The ASF has no offices or buildings. Its only physical existence is its technical infrastructure and its staff. Three kinds of body govern it:

Board of Directors
Nine directors, elected every year by and from the ASF members. The board manages the corporation's money, trademarks and other assets, sets up and closes project committees, and appoints officers. It does not decide technical questions for projects.
Project Management Committees (PMCs)
Each project, or group of related projects, is run by a PMC made up of committers. The board appoints a chair from the PMC members; the chair becomes a vice president of the ASF and reports to the board. The PMC must vote to approve every formal release, and its main job is oversight: legal correctness, proper process, and a healthy community.
Officers
Appointed by the board for foundation-wide areas such as legal affairs, brand management and fundraising.

Inside a project, people move up a ladder based on what they contribute:

  1. User: uses the software and reports bugs or ideas.
  2. Developer or contributor: sends patches, documentation or other help.
  3. Committer: has write access to the code repository and a signed Contributor License Agreement (CLA) on file.
  4. PMC member: a committer elected to help run the project, with a binding vote.
  5. ASF member: nominated and elected by existing members; members elect the board and can propose new projects.

The foundation does not pay anyone to write project code. Many committers are paid by their employers to work on Apache projects, but people take part as individuals, not as representatives of a company.

The Apache Way

"The Apache Way" is the ASF's name for how its communities work. The ASF describes it with these principles:

Votes use a simple scale: +1 (yes), 0 (no opinion), −1 (no). A PMC member who votes −1 must explain why or offer an alternative. Much day-to-day work runs on "lazy consensus": a few +1 votes and no −1 is enough to go ahead. In the httpd project, a change to an older, released branch such as 2.4.x needs consensus approval: at least three binding +1 votes and no veto. Publishing a release needs majority approval: at least three binding +1 votes and more +1 than −1 votes.

The Incubator and the Attic

New projects enter through the Apache Incubator, set up by the board in October 2002. A project in incubation is called a podling. The Incubator assigns mentors, reports monthly to the board on the progress of podlings, and recommends podlings that are ready to graduate to top-level project (TLP) status. The Incubator usually asks a new project to arrive with at least the start of a community built around an existing codebase. It does not accept or reject projects by what they do, because the ASF deliberately has no technical strategy; what matters is whether a project can grow a healthy, independent community. In October 2026, for example, Auron and ResilientDB graduated from the Incubator, while Reqsign became a TLP after growing up as part of Apache OpenDAL.

At the other end, the Apache Attic, created in November 2008, takes over projects that have reached end of life. It keeps their code and user lists available but does not fix bugs or make releases.

The Apache License

All ASF software is released under the Apache License. The current version, 2.0, dates from January 2004; version 1.1 was approved in 2000. The license lets anyone use, change and redistribute the code, in open-source or proprietary products, with a few conditions such as keeping notices. Many projects outside the ASF use it too. The Apache License 2.0 explained page covers what it allows and requires.

How to contribute

A contribution does not have to be code. Good bug reports, answers on user lists, documentation, testing, translation and design all count. A practical path:

  1. Pick a project you already use. The project directory at projects.apache.org lists them by name, category and language.
  2. Join its user mailing list and read its developer list for a few weeks. Most projects also have their code on GitHub under the apache organization.
  3. Start small: fix a documentation error, reproduce a reported bug, or answer a question.
  4. Send patches through the project's normal process, and respond to review.

For Apache httpd specifically, the project asks that bugs go through its bug report form, user questions go to the users list, and the developer list be kept for people working on the code. The project's guidelines say that a developer who makes sustained, welcome contributions for more than six months is usually invited to become a committer. For other ASF projects, see the Apache projects section.

Independent site. This site is not part of the ASF. "Apache" and the project names are trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation and are used here only to name the software. For authoritative information, downloads and support, use apache.org and the projects' own websites.

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