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Launchpad (website)
Encyclopedia
Launchpad is a web application
and website
that allow users to develop and maintain software, particularly free software
. Launchpad is developed and maintained by Canonical Ltd.
On July 21, 2009 the source code
was released publicly under the GNU Affero General Public License.
, the launchpad repository hosts more than 23,500 projects. The domain launchpad.net attracted 1 million visitors by August 2009 according to a Compete.com
survey.
A significant but less visible component is Soyuz, "the distribution management portion of Launchpad." Launchpad is currently primarily used in the development of Ubuntu
, an operating system
. Launchpad uses the FOSS
(free
/open source) Zope 3
application server.
and Bazaar. Development of Launchpad is itself managed in Launchpad.
Other prominent projects using Launchpad for various aspects of managing their development include:
released "Storm", the first Launchpad component made available under a free software license.
Founder Mark Shuttleworth
's response to this criticism was that Launchpad needed paid-programmers to continue the development of the Launchpad platform, and that there would be no point in developing multiple versions of Launchpad due to the probable incompatibility of the forks
. However, this still left some members of the open-source movement dissatisfied. On 22 July 2008 Mark Shuttleworth announced at OSCON
that the complete source code would be released within the next twelve months.
On 19 December 2008, Canonical Ltd.
released the Launchpad component "lazr.config" and "lazr.delegates" under version 3 of the GNU LGPL
.
An open API is currently in beta testing, which will allow programs to interact with the website. Calls for an open API to be released were aided by projects like Leonov that resorted to screen scraping to get data from Launchpad.
In December 2008, Canonical announced that the source code to the Launchpad website would be released under a free software license by 21 July 2009. It was also announced that two large components of Launchpad, Soyuz (which is responsible for the build system, package management and Ubuntu package publishing) and Codehosting, would not be released under a free software license. Later, the specific date was changed to a more general timeframe of July/August 2009. However, on 21 July 2009, the software was released under the AGPLv3 (a fully free license specifically for web services), including the two components (Codehosting and Soyuz) that were initially planned to remain proprietary.
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
and website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
that allow users to develop and maintain software, particularly free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
. Launchpad is developed and maintained by Canonical Ltd.
On July 21, 2009 the source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
was released publicly under the GNU Affero General Public License.
, the launchpad repository hosts more than 23,500 projects. The domain launchpad.net attracted 1 million visitors by August 2009 according to a Compete.com
Compete.com
Compete.com is a web traffic analysis service of Compete, Inc. which operates in the United States and publishes the approximate number of global visitors to the top 1,000,000 web sites in the world...
survey.
Components
It has several parts:- Answers: a community support site and knowledge base.
- Blueprints: a system for tracking SpecificationSpecification (technical standard)A specification is an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, or service. Should a material, product or service fail to meet one or more of the applicable specifications, it may be referred to as being out of specification;the abbreviation OOS may also be used...
s and new features. - Bugs: a bug trackerBug tracking systemA bug tracking system is a software application that is designed to help quality assurance and programmers keep track of reported software bugs in their work. It may be regarded as a type of issue tracking system....
that allows bugs to be tracked in multiple contexts (e.g. in an Ubuntu package, as an upstream, or in remote bug trackers). - Code: source code hosting using the Bazaar version control system.
- Translations: a site for localising applications into different human languages.
A significant but less visible component is Soyuz, "the distribution management portion of Launchpad." Launchpad is currently primarily used in the development of Ubuntu
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
, an operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. Launchpad uses the FOSS
Foss
Foss may refer toPeople*Foss , people with the last name Foss*Foss Shanahan , New Zealand diplomat*Foss Westcott , English bishop...
(free
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
/open source) Zope 3
Zope 3
BlueBream is a rewrite by the Zope developers of the Zope web application server. It was created under the name "Zope 3", but the existence of two incompatible frameworks with the same name caused much confusion, and Zope 3 was renamed "BlueBream" in January 2010...
application server.
Collaboration tools
- Trac/Launchpad Plugin
- The Bugzilla Launchpad Plugin
- Launchpad login module for Drupal
- Teams module for Drupal
- Bazaar Plugin for Eclipse
- Bugmail - for Thunderbird
- Leonov
Users
Several of Canonical Ltd.'s own projects use Launchpad for development including UbuntuUbuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
and Bazaar. Development of Launchpad is itself managed in Launchpad.
Other prominent projects using Launchpad for various aspects of managing their development include:
- DrizzleDrizzle (database server)Drizzle is a free software/open source relational database management system that was forked from version 6.0 of the MySQL DBMS.Like MySQL, Drizzle has a client/server architecture and uses SQL as its primary command language...
- GNOME DoGNOME DoGNOME Do is a popular, free application launcher for Linux originally created by David Siegel, and currently maintained by Alex Launi...
- InkscapeInkscapeInkscape is a free software vector graphics editor, licensed under the GNU General Public License. Its goal is to implement full support for the Scalable Vector Graphics 1.1 standard....
(bug tracking, code hosting) - Linux MintLinux MintLinux Mint is a Linux-based computer operating system best known for its usability and ease of installation, particularly for users with no previous GNU/Linux experience...
(bug tracking, blueprints, and translations) - MySQLMySQLMySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
(code hosting) - PintaPinta (software)Pinta is a lightweight open-source, cross-platform bitmap image drawing and editing program inspired by Paint.NET, a similar image editing program which is limited to Microsoft Windows. Pinta aims to offer a free and open-source simpler alternative to GIMP on the GNOME desktop environment...
(bug tracking and translations) - UpstartUpstartUpstart is an event-based replacement for the traditional init daemon — the method by which several Unix-like computer operating systems perform tasks when the computer is started. It was written by Scott James Remnant, a former employee of Canonical Ltd....
- Zope 3Zope 3BlueBream is a rewrite by the Zope developers of the Zope web application server. It was created under the name "Zope 3", but the existence of two incompatible frameworks with the same name caused much confusion, and Zope 3 was renamed "BlueBream" in January 2010...
(bug tracking)
Transition to Free Software
Launchpad was initially criticized by the Jem Report and other members of the free software community for not being available under a free license, such as the GNU GPL, despite its aims. In response, the developers stated that they aimed to eventually release it under a free software license, but that it could potentially take years. On 9 July 2007, Canonical Ltd.Canonical Ltd.
Canonical Ltd. is a private company founded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth to market commercial support and related services for Ubuntu Linux and related projects. Canonical is registered in London and employs staff around the world...
released "Storm", the first Launchpad component made available under a free software license.
Founder Mark Shuttleworth
Mark Shuttleworth
Mark Richard Shuttleworth is a South African entrepreneur who was the second self-funded space tourist. Shuttleworth founded Canonical Ltd. and as of 2010, provides leadership for the Ubuntu operating system...
's response to this criticism was that Launchpad needed paid-programmers to continue the development of the Launchpad platform, and that there would be no point in developing multiple versions of Launchpad due to the probable incompatibility of the forks
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
. However, this still left some members of the open-source movement dissatisfied. On 22 July 2008 Mark Shuttleworth announced at OSCON
O'Reilly Open Source Convention
The O'Reilly Open Source Convention is an annual convention for the discussion of free and open source software. It is organized by the publisher O'Reilly Media and is held each summer in the United States.-Notable events:...
that the complete source code would be released within the next twelve months.
On 19 December 2008, Canonical Ltd.
Canonical Ltd.
Canonical Ltd. is a private company founded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth to market commercial support and related services for Ubuntu Linux and related projects. Canonical is registered in London and employs staff around the world...
released the Launchpad component "lazr.config" and "lazr.delegates" under version 3 of the GNU LGPL
GNU Lesser General Public License
The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
.
An open API is currently in beta testing, which will allow programs to interact with the website. Calls for an open API to be released were aided by projects like Leonov that resorted to screen scraping to get data from Launchpad.
In December 2008, Canonical announced that the source code to the Launchpad website would be released under a free software license by 21 July 2009. It was also announced that two large components of Launchpad, Soyuz (which is responsible for the build system, package management and Ubuntu package publishing) and Codehosting, would not be released under a free software license. Later, the specific date was changed to a more general timeframe of July/August 2009. However, on 21 July 2009, the software was released under the AGPLv3 (a fully free license specifically for web services), including the two components (Codehosting and Soyuz) that were initially planned to remain proprietary.
External links
- Official website
- [irc://irc.freenode.net/launchpad #launchpad] on irc.freenode.net
- Canonical