OSDN (formerly SourceForge.JP) is a web-based collaborative development environment for open-source software projects. It provides source code repositories and web hosting services. With features similar to SourceForge, it acts as a centralized location for open-source software developers.

OSDN
Type of site
Collaborative development environment
OwnerOSChina
Created byVA Linux Systems Japan K.K. [Wikidata]
URLosdn.net Edit this at Wikidata
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedApril 18, 2002; 22 years ago (2002-04-18)
Current statusActive
SourceForge.JP Official Character[1][2][3]

The OSDN repository hosts more than 5,000 projects and more than 50,000 registered users.[4] Registered software used to be mostly specialized for Japanese use, such as input method systems, fonts, and so on, but also included applications like Cabos, TeraTerm, and Shiira. Also, since the renewal of the brand name to OSDN, some projects that used to be developed on SourceForge moved to OSDN, such as MinGW, TortoiseSVN, Android-x86, and Clonezilla.[5]

History

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SourceForge.JP was started by VA Linux Systems (latterly SourceForge, Inc.) and its subsidiary VA Linux Systems Japan on April 18, 2002.[6][7] OSDN K.K. spun off of VA Linux Systems Japan in August 2007.[8][9] As of June 2009, OSDN K.K. was operating the SourceForge.JP.

On May 11, 2015, the site was renamed from "SourceForge.JP" to "OSDN".[10][11] In the same month that OSDN changed the site name, SourceForge caused two controversies: DevShare adware and project hijacking. In contrast, OSDN totally refuses adware bundling and project hijacking.[12][13] For that reason, the changing of the site name to OSDN is perceived to have been done based on criticism of and adverse reactions to SourceForge's monetization.[14]

On February 26, 2020, it was announced on the site that OSDN was being transferred to Appirits, Inc., a Japanese software company.[15]

Open Source China (OSChina) announced on 24 July 2023 that they had acquired OSDN in 2022.[16] The site had reliability problems almost immediately after this announcement,[17] and there was an effort by SourceForge (the original, American-based site) to recruit projects that might choose to leave OSDN; especially those using SVN, which would be unsupported on GitHub.[18][19] Many projects did leave OSDN, including Vim and TeraTerm.[17][20]

ITmedia NEWS reported on January 22, 2024 that OSDN had announced they would shut down the associated Slashdot Japan-successor site (Surado) at the end of January 2024.[21] However, articles in ITmedia NEWS and Surado at the end of January reported that the closure of both sites had been cancelled and OSChina now hoped to keep them in operation while seeking acquirers to take them over.[22][23]

Features

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OSDN provides revision control systems such as CVS, SVN, Git, Mercurial, and every feature in SourceForge. What makes OSDN different from SourceForge is the bug tracking system and the wiki system. On OSDN, these are very Trac-like systems.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "SourceForge.JP no Kōshiki Kyarakutā" SourceForge.JPの公式キャラクター [SourceForge.JP Official Character] (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2012-04-23.
  2. ^ "OSDN no Rogo to Kōshiki Kyarakutā" OSDNのロゴと公式キャラクター [OSDN Logo and Official Character] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  3. ^ "OSDN Logo and Official Character". OSDN. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  4. ^ "Project ranking overview". OSDN. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  5. ^ Marshall, Keith (2018-01-21). "MinGW.org Project Hosting". Mingw-users (Mailing list). Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  6. ^ "世界最大のオープンソース・ソフトウェア開発サイト" (in Japanese). OSDN K.K. 2002-04-18.
  7. ^ ITmedia Enterprise (2002-03-19). "VA Linux,オープンソースソフト開発サイト「SourceForge.jp」を運用開始" (in Japanese). ITmedia.
  8. ^ "ユーザの皆様へのOSDN株式会社の設立についてのご説明" (in Japanese). OSDN K.K. 2007-09-01.
  9. ^ ITmedia Enterprise (2007-09-03). "Slashdot Japanはどうなる? OSDN事業部がサンブリッジの100%子会社に" (in Japanese). ITmedia.
  10. ^ "News: サイト名称変更に伴うURL、ドメインの変更についてのお知らせ - OSDN Admin". OSDN (in Japanese). 2015-05-01. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  11. ^ impress (2015-04-08). "「Slashdot Japan」が「スラド」に、「SourceForge.JP」が「OSDN」に名称変更" (in Japanese). Impress.
  12. ^ "News: OSDN's Current Policy Regarding Adwares and Irrelevant ads - OSDN Docs". 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  13. ^ Windows Forest (2015-06-01). "米SourceForgeが開発者に無断で「GIMP for Windows」へソフトをバンドル" (in Japanese). Impress.
  14. ^ impress (9 June 2015). "SourceForgeとGIMPのバンドル論争" (in Japanese). Impress. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  15. ^ Shuji Saito. ""OSDN Business is Transferred to Appirits". Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  16. ^ Open Source China (2023-07-24). "开源中国收购日本老牌开源社区 OSDN" (in Chinese). Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  17. ^ a b Matthew Skala (2024-02-07). "What's up with OSDN?". Tsukurimashou Project. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  18. ^ impress (2023-08-02). "接続不調が続く「OSDN」、米「SourceForge」がプロジェクトの勧誘に乗り出す" (in Japanese). Impress. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  19. ^ SourceForge Community Team (2023-07-31). "Welcoming OSDN Projects to SourceForge". Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  20. ^ Christian Brabandt (2023-09-21). "Moving the Vim Homepage (vim-announce mailing list)". Google Groups. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  21. ^ ITmedia NEWS (2024-01-22). "スラド終了 「スラッシュドットジャパン」から23年の歴史に幕" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  22. ^ headless (2024-01-31). "スラドとOSDN、閉鎖せず受け入れ先募集へ" (in Japanese). Surado. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
  23. ^ ITmedia NEWS (2024-02-01). "「スラド」閉鎖を撤回 受け入れ先を募集中" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  24. ^ "Cabos Project Tickets". Retrieved 2016-10-28.
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