| <?php |
| /** |
| * Copyright (c) 2005, 2018 Eclipse Foundation and others. |
| * |
| * This program and the accompanying materials are made |
| * available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0 |
| * which is available at https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/ |
| * |
| * Contributors: |
| * Eric Poirier (Eclipse Foundation) - initial API and implementation |
| */ |
| ?> |
| <div id="maincontent"> |
| <div id="midcolumn"> |
| <p>The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of individuals and |
| organizations with a mature, scalable, and business-friendly environment for |
| open source software collaboration and innovation. The Foundation is home to |
| the Eclipse IDE, Jakarta EE, and over 350 open source projects, including |
| runtimes, tools, and frameworks for a wide range of technology domains |
| such as the Internet of Things, automotive, geospatial, systems |
| engineering, and many others.</p> |
| <p> |
| The Eclipse Foundation is a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit organization |
| supported by over 275 <a href="/membership">members</a> who |
| value the Foundation’s unique <a href="/org/workinggroups/">Working Group</a> |
| governance model, open innovation processes, and <a |
| href="http://events.eclipse.org/" |
| >community-building events</a>. Our members include industry leaders who |
| have embraced open source as a <a href="/org/value">key |
| enabler for business strategy</a>. |
| </p> |
| <h2>Origins</h2> |
| <p> |
| The <a href="/eclipse/">Eclipse Project</a> was originally created by IBM |
| in November 2001 and supported by a consortium of software vendors. The |
| Eclipse Project continues to be used by millions of developers. |
| </p> |
| <p>The Eclipse Foundation was created in January 2004 as an independent |
| not-for-profit corporation to act as the steward of the Eclipse community. |
| The independent not-for-profit corporation was created to allow a |
| vendor-neutral, open, and transparent community to be established around |
| Eclipse.</p> |
| <h2>Structure</h2> |
| <p> |
| The Eclipse community consists of individual developers and organizations |
| spanning many industries. The Foundation employs a full-time <a |
| href="/org/foundation/staff.php" |
| >professional staff</a> to provide services to the community. The Eclipse |
| Foundation is funded by annual dues from our <a href="/membership ">members</a> |
| and governed by a <a href="/org/foundation/directors.php">Board of |
| Directors</a>. Strategic Developers and Strategic Consumers hold seats |
| on this Board, as do representatives elected by Add-in Providers and Open |
| Source committers. Eclipse committers are typically employed by |
| organizations or are independent developers that volunteer their time to |
| work on the Eclipse projects. |
| </p> |
| <h2>Services</h2> |
| <p> |
| The Eclipse Foundation provides four key services to the Eclipse |
| community: 1) <a href="/org/#IP_Management">IP Management</a>, 2) <a |
| href="/org/#Ecosystem" |
| >Ecosystem Development</a>, 3) <a href="/org/#Development">Development |
| Process</a>, and 4) <a href="/org/#IT">IT Infrastructure</a>. Full-time |
| staff are associated with each of these areas and work with the greater |
| Eclipse community to assist in meeting the needs of stakeholders. |
| </p> |
| <h2 id="IP_Management">Intellectual Property (IP) Management</h2> |
| <p> |
| An important aspect of the Eclipse Foundation is the focus on enabling the |
| use of open source technology in commercial software products and |
| services. We consciously promote and encourage software vendors to use |
| Eclipse technology for building their commercial software products and |
| services. This is made possible by the fact that all Eclipse projects are |
| licensed under the <a href="/org/documents/epl-2.0">Eclipse Public License |
| (EPL)</a>, a commercial friendly OSI approved license. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| The Eclipse Foundation also undertakes a number of steps to attempt to |
| ensure the pedigree of the intellectual property contained within Eclipse |
| projects. The first step in the due diligence process is trying to ensure |
| that all contributions are made by the rightful copyright holder and under |
| the Eclipse Public License (EPL). All committers are required to sign a <a |
| href="/legal/committer_process/EclipseIndividualCommitterAgreementFinal.pdf" |
| >committer agreement</a> that stipulates all of their contributions are |
| their original work and are being contributed under the EPL. If a |
| committer is sponsored to work on an Eclipse project by a Member |
| organization, then that organization is asked to sign a <a |
| href="/legal/EclipseMemberCommitterAgreementFinal.pdf" |
| >Member Committer Agreement</a> to ensure the intellectual property rights |
| of the organization are contributed under the EPL. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| The second step is that the source code related to all contributions which |
| are developed outside of the Eclipse development process is processed |
| through the Eclipse Foundation <a |
| href="/legal/EclipseLegalProcessPoster.pdf" |
| >IP approval process</a>. This process includes analyzing selected code |
| contributions to try to ascertain the provenance of the code, and license |
| compatibility with the EPL. Contributions that contain code licensed under |
| licenses not compatible with the EPL are intended to be screened out |
| through this approval process and thus not added to an Eclipse project. |
| The end result is a level of confidence that Eclipse open source projects |
| release technology that can be safely distributed in commercial products. |
| </p> |
| <h2 id="Ecosystem">Ecosystem Development</h2> |
| <p>A unique aspect of the Eclipse community and the role of the Eclipse |
| Foundation is the active marketing and promotion of Eclipse projects and |
| wider Eclipse ecosystem. A healthy vibrant ecosystem that extends beyond |
| the Eclipse open source community to include things like commercial |
| products based on Eclipse, other open source projects using Eclipse, |
| training and services providers, magazines and online portals, books, etc, |
| are all key to the success of the Eclipse community.</p> |
| <p> |
| To assist in the development of the Eclipse ecosystem, the Eclipse |
| Foundation organizes a number of activities, including co-operative |
| marketing events with Member companies, <a |
| href="https://www.eclipsecon.org" |
| >community conferences</a>, online resource catalogs (<a |
| href="http://marketplace.eclipse.org/" |
| >Eclipse Marketplace</a> and the <a |
| href="http://www.youtube.com/user/EclipseFdn" |
| >Eclipse YouTube Channel</a>), bi-annual Members meetings and other |
| programs to promote the entire Eclipse community. |
| </p> |
| <h2 id="Development">Development Community Support</h2> |
| <p>The Eclipse community has a well-earned reputation for providing quality |
| software in a reliable and predictable fashion. This is due to the |
| commitment of the committers and organizations contributing to the open |
| source projects. The Eclipse Foundation also provides services and support |
| for the projects to help them achieve these goals.</p> |
| <p> |
| The Foundation staff help implement the <a |
| href="/projects/dev_process/development_process.php" |
| >Eclipse Development Process</a>. This process assists new project startup |
| and ensures that all Eclipse projects are run in an open, transparent and |
| meritocratic manner. As part of this process, the Foundation organizes |
| member community reviews for projects to ensure consistent interaction |
| between the projects and the broader membership. |
| </p> |
| <p>The Eclipse community organizes an annual release train that provides a |
| coordinated release of those Eclipse projects which wish to participate. |
| The release train makes it easier for downstream consumers to adopt new |
| releases of the projects because 1) all the projects are available on the |
| same schedule, so you don't have to wait for independent project |
| schedules, and 2) a level of integration testing occurs before the final |
| release to help identify cross-project issues.</p> |
| <h2 id="IT">IT Infrastructure</h2> |
| <p>The Eclipse Foundation manages the IT infrastructure for the Eclipse open |
| source community, including Git code repositories and code review tools, |
| bug trackers, Jenkins build farm, development-oriented mailing lists and |
| forums, download site and website. The infrastructure is designed to |
| provide reliable and scalable service for the committers developing the |
| Eclipse technology and the consumers who use the technology.</p> |
| <h2>A Unique Model for Open Source Development</h2> |
| <p>The Eclipse Foundation has been established to serve the Eclipse open |
| source projects and the Eclipse community. As an independent |
| not-for-profit corporation, the Foundation and the Eclipse governance |
| model ensures no single entity is able to control the strategy, policies |
| or operations of the Eclipse community.</p> |
| <p>The Foundation is focused on creating an environment for successful open |
| source projects and to promote the adoption of Eclipse technology in |
| commercial and open source solutions. Through services like IP Due |
| Diligence, annual release trains, development community support, and |
| ecosystem development, the Eclipse model of open source development is a |
| unique and proven model for open source development.</p> |
| </div> |
| <div id="rightcolumn"> |
| <div class="sideitem"> |
| <h6>Related Links</h6> |
| <ul> |
| <li><a href="../membership/">Membership</a></li> |
| <li><a href="../membership/become_a_member/">Become a member</a></li> |
| </ul> |
| </div> |
| <div class="sideitem"> |
| <h6>Thank you!</h6> |
| <p> |
| Thanks to our many <a href="/corporate_sponsors/">Corporate Sponsors</a> |
| for their generous donations to our infrastructure. |
| </p> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
