the.world.is.flat-第24章
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by a group of programmers； and was a program for drawing fractals。 ＇Fractals are
beautiful images produced at the intersection of art and math。＇ When the program
started up； the screen would show this scrolling list of e…mail addresses for all
the scientists and mathematicians who contributed to it。 I noticed that the source
code was included with the program。 This was my first exposure to the concept of
open…source。 Here was this program that you just downloaded for free； and they even
gave you the source code with it； and it was done by a community of people。 It
started to paint a different picture of programming in my mind。 I started to think
that there were some interesting social dynamics to the way certain kinds of software
were written or could be written…as opposed to the kind of image I had of the
professional software developer in the back office tending to the mainframe； feeding
info in and taking it out for the business。 That seemed to me to be just one step
above accounting and not very exciting。〃
After graduating in 1991； Behlendorf went to Berkeley to study physics； but he quickly
became frustrated by the disconnect between the abstractions he was learning in the
classroom and the excitement that was starting to emerge on the Internet。
〃When you entered college back then； every student was given an e…mail address； and
I started using it to talk to students and explore discussion boardsthat were starting
to appear around music；〃 said Behlendorf。 〃In 1992；1 started my own Internet mailing
list focused on the local electronic music scene in the Bay Area。 People could just
post onto the discussion board； and it started to grow； and we started to discuss
different music events and DJs。 Then we said； 'Hey； why don't we invite our own DJs
and throw our own events？' It became a collective thing。 Someone would say； 'I have
some records；' and someone else would say； 'I have a sound system；' and someone else
would say； 'I know the beach and if we showed up at midnight we could have a party。'
By 1993； the Internet was still just mailing lists and e…mail and FTP sites ＇file
transfer protocol repositories where you could store things＇。 So I started collecting
an archive of electronic music and was interested in how we could put this online
and make it available to a larger audience。 That was when I heard about Mosaic ＇the
Web browser developed by Marc Andreessen。＇ So I got a job at the computer lab in the
Berkeley business school； and I spent my spare time researching Mosaic and other Web
technologies。 That led me to a discussion board with a lot of the people who were
writing the first generation of Web browsers and Web servers。〃
（A Web server is a software program that enables anyone to use his or her home or
office computer to host a Web site on the World Wide Web。 Amazon。com； for instance；
has long run its Web site on Apache software。
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When your Web browser goes to www。amazon。com； the very first piece of software it
talks to is Apache。 The browser asks Apache for the Amazon Web page and Apache sends
back to the browser the content of the Amazon Web page。 Surfing the Web is really
your Web browser interacting with different Web servers。）
〃I found myself sitting in on this forum watching Tim Berners…Lee and Marc Andreessen
debating how all these things should work；〃 recalled Behlendorf。 〃It was pretty
exciting； and it seemed radically inclusive。 I didn't need a Ph。D。 or any special
credentials； and I started to see some parallels between my music group and these
scientists； who had a common interest in building the first Web software。 I followed
that ＇discussion＇ for a while and then I told a friend of mine about it。 He was one
of the first employees at Wired magazine； and he said Wired would be interested in
having me set up a Web site for them。 So I joined there at 10 an hour； setting up
their e…mail and their first Web site…HotWired 。。。 It was one of the first ad…supported
online magazines。〃
HotWired decided it wanted to start by having a registration system that required
passwords…a controversial concept at that time。 〃In those days；〃 noted Andrew Leonard；
who wrote a history of Apache for Salon。com in 1997； 〃most Webmasters depended on
a Web server program developed at the University of Illinois's National Center for
Super…computing Applications （also the birthplace of the groundbreaking Mosaic Web
browser）。 But theNCSA Web server couldn't handle password authentication onthe scale
that HotWired needed。 Luckily； the NCSA server was in the public domain； which meant
that the source code was free to all comers。 So Behlendorf exercised the hacker
prerogative： He wrote some new code； a 'patch' to the NCSA Web server； that took care
of the problem。〃 Leonard commented； 〃He wasn't the only clever programmer rummaging
through the NCSA code that winter。 All across the exploding Web； other Webmasters
were finding it necessary to take matters into their own keyboards。 The original code
had been left to gather virtual dust when its primary programmer； University of
Illinois student Rob McCool； had been scooped up （along with Marc Andreessen and Lynx
author Eric Bina） by a little…known company in Silicon Valley named Netscape。
Meanwhile； the Web refused to stop growing…and
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kept creating new problems for Web servers to cope with。〃 So patches of one kind or
another proliferated like Band…Aids on bandwidth； plugging one hole here and
breaching another gap there。
Meanwhile； all these patches were slowly； in an ad hoc open…source manner； building
a new modern Web server。 But everyone had his or her own version； trading patches
here and there； because the NCSA lab couldn't keep up with it all。
〃I was just this near…dropout；〃 explained Behlendorf。 〃I was having a lot of fun
building this Web site for Wired and learning more than I was learning at Berkeley。
So a discussion started in our little working group that the NCSA people were not
answering our e…mails。 We were sending in patches for the system and they weren't
responding。 And we said； 'If NCSA would not respond to our patches； what's going to
happen in the future？' We were happy to continue improving this thing； yet we were
worried when we were not getting any feedback and seeing our patches integrated。 So
I started to contact the other people I knew trading patches。 。 。 Most of them were
on the standards working groups ＇the Internet Engineering Task Force＇ that were
setting the first standards for the interconnectivity between machines and
applications on the Internet。。。 And we said； 'Why don't we take our future into our
own hands and release our own ＇Web server＇ version that incorporated all our patches？'
〃We looked up the copyright for the NCSA code； and it basically just said give us
credit at Illinois for what we invented if you improve it…and don't blame us if it
breaks；〃 recalled Behlendorf。 〃So we started building our own version from all our
patches。 None of us had time to be a full…time Web server developer； but we thought
if we could combine our time and do it in a public way； we could create something
better than we could buy off the shelf…and nothing was available then； anyway。 This
was all before Netscape had shipped its first commercial Web server。 That was the
beginning of the Apache project。〃
By February 1999； they had completely rewritten the original NCSA program and
formalized their cooperation under the name 〃Apache。〃
〃I picked the name because I wanted it to have a positive connotation of being
assertive；〃 said Behlendorf。 〃The Apache tribe was the last tribe
to surrender to the oncoming U。S。 government； and at the time we worried that the
big companies would come in and 'civilize' the landscape that the early Internet
engineers built。 So 'Apache' made sense to me as a good code name； and others said
it also would make a good pun〃…as in the APAtCHy server； because they were patching
all these fixes together。
So in many ways； Bellendorf and his open…source colleagues…most of whom he had never
met but knew only by e…mail through their open…sourc
