The Summit Open Source Development Group
Encyclopedia
The Summit Open Source Development Group is a non-profit organization
formed in 2000.
The group encourages the development of open-source software
, anti-abuse/spam fighting spam methods, and is run by a small volunteer team of senior staff members with multiple standard staff members maintaining the various sub-projects.
There are three distinctive generations of the SOSDG, with each timeframe representing an evolution of the group's goals and focus.
The first generation was headed and formed by Brian Bruns, and ran from 2000 until 2002 when it was shut down for unspecified reasons. The group maintained an early port of ircII EPIC to the Windows platform, provided a free hosting and development platform for Open Source
and Free Software
developers, and created the 2mbit Blackhole List (a predecessor of the modern AHBL
).
The second generation was formed in 2003 by three of the previous generation's senior members, and headed by Andrew Kirch. The group focused on development of a new anti-abuse and spam fighting platform collectively known as The Abusive Hosts Blocking List, as well as created Windows ports of ClamAV, a new improved ircII EPIC client, and several other software packages. In late 2006 and early 2007, this generation was being phased out.
The third and most recent generation was officially formed in 2007, once again under the guidance of Andrew Kirch and Brielle Bruns but with a much more comprehensive administration team and a completely redesigned network infrastructure
based on Xen
virtualization technologies. The group once again returned focus to hosting and software development and spun the AHBL into a separate group (but still under the SOSDG's management).
Among its current projects, the group hosts The Abusive Hosts Blocking List, a Linux
kernel
LXR, a Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Cygwin
port of ClamAV and ircII EPIC, ircII EPIC4-OpenVMS, ircII EPIC4-OSX, mod_access_rbl2 (a re-ported version of mod_access_rbl for use in Apache 1.3.x), CeeMedia Media Catalogue, and The Raptor HPC project. The Raptor HPC Project is headed by SOSDG Volunteer Systems Engineer Gregory Taylor out of Seattle, WA to create a fully functional open source mini HPC
cluster system for military, medical and research applications on a modified Hypercube
computer model.
In 2005, the group was named as a defendant in the dismissed case of Scoville Et Al., vs. Bruns et al. due to its maintainership of the AHBL. The suit was dismissed http://www.ahbl.org/legal/scoville/courtdocs/DISMISSAL.pdf January 6, 2006 for lack of jurisdiction http://www.ahbl.org/legal/scoville/courtdocs/DSAPP.pdf
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
formed in 2000.
The group encourages the development of open-source software
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
, anti-abuse/spam fighting spam methods, and is run by a small volunteer team of senior staff members with multiple standard staff members maintaining the various sub-projects.
There are three distinctive generations of the SOSDG, with each timeframe representing an evolution of the group's goals and focus.
The first generation was headed and formed by Brian Bruns, and ran from 2000 until 2002 when it was shut down for unspecified reasons. The group maintained an early port of ircII EPIC to the Windows platform, provided a free hosting and development platform for Open Source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
and 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...
developers, and created the 2mbit Blackhole List (a predecessor of the modern AHBL
The Abusive Hosts Blocking List
The Abusive Hosts Blocking List is an internet abuse tracking and filtering system developed by The Summit Open Source Development Group, and based on the original Summit Blocking List .-DNSbl and RHSbl lists:...
).
The second generation was formed in 2003 by three of the previous generation's senior members, and headed by Andrew Kirch. The group focused on development of a new anti-abuse and spam fighting platform collectively known as The Abusive Hosts Blocking List, as well as created Windows ports of ClamAV, a new improved ircII EPIC client, and several other software packages. In late 2006 and early 2007, this generation was being phased out.
The third and most recent generation was officially formed in 2007, once again under the guidance of Andrew Kirch and Brielle Bruns but with a much more comprehensive administration team and a completely redesigned network infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
based on Xen
Xen
Xen is a virtual-machine monitor providing services that allow multiple computer operating systems to execute on the same computer hardware concurrently....
virtualization technologies. The group once again returned focus to hosting and software development and spun the AHBL into a separate group (but still under the SOSDG's management).
Among its current projects, the group hosts The Abusive Hosts Blocking List, a Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
LXR, a Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Cygwin
Cygwin
Cygwin is a Unix-like environment and command-line interface for Microsoft Windows. Cygwin provides native integration of Windows-based applications, data, and other system resources with applications, software tools, and data of the Unix-like environment...
port of ClamAV and ircII EPIC, ircII EPIC4-OpenVMS, ircII EPIC4-OSX, mod_access_rbl2 (a re-ported version of mod_access_rbl for use in Apache 1.3.x), CeeMedia Media Catalogue, and The Raptor HPC project. The Raptor HPC Project is headed by SOSDG Volunteer Systems Engineer Gregory Taylor out of Seattle, WA to create a fully functional open source mini HPC
High-performance computing
High-performance computing uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Today, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.-Overview:...
cluster system for military, medical and research applications on a modified Hypercube
Hypercube
In geometry, a hypercube is an n-dimensional analogue of a square and a cube . It is a closed, compact, convex figure whose 1-skeleton consists of groups of opposite parallel line segments aligned in each of the space's dimensions, perpendicular to each other and of the same length.An...
computer model.
In 2005, the group was named as a defendant in the dismissed case of Scoville Et Al., vs. Bruns et al. due to its maintainership of the AHBL. The suit was dismissed http://www.ahbl.org/legal/scoville/courtdocs/DISMISSAL.pdf January 6, 2006 for lack of jurisdiction http://www.ahbl.org/legal/scoville/courtdocs/DSAPP.pdf