Re: [tlug] List of Japanese Open Source Projects?

[Jesse Casman <jesse@example.com>]

Gen,

Thanks very much for the response about open source development in
Japan. Super helpful. Couple comments and follow-on questions.

Great point about contributions to the Linux kernel from Japan.
Interesting, I'm not questioning Morton's numbers, but the The Linux
Foundation's report on kernel contributions last year doesn't make
Japan contributions quite as obvious.
https://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications/linuxkerneldevelopment.php

Also good point about BSD. I've heard it's more popular in Japan than
in the US. Is that accurate?

Thanks for the link to OSSipedia, too. Good list!

For more listings, would you consider SourceForge.jp a decent source
of Japanese open source? I know the standard idea is that most
Japanese users will just use the main SourceForge. But still, there's
231,684 registered projects, 4093 hosted projects, 33,731 registered
users. Even if only a tiny fraction are active, seems like there might
be some interesting ones?

What about the Information-Technology Promotion Agency (IPA)? 独立行政法人情報処理推進機構
It looks dead. (Well, Japanese side more active than English side.
http://www.ipa.go.jp/software/open/ossc/index.html
http://www.ipa.go.jp/software/open/ossc/english/index.html)  And while
we're at it, The Linux Foundation in Japan...?  Open Source Group
Japan...?  (List of board members, looking pretty old, here:
http://opensource.jp/osg/members.html) There must be others.

Do you know of any companies commercial open source companies in
Japan? I know at least a handful that use it fully, even as a part of
their marketing. Plat'Home, a company that I've worked with in the
past, comes to mind. They roll their own version of Linux and install
it on their custom small, eco-friendly servers. But I'm not sure I'd
call that contributing to open source directly. SugarCRM has a
presence in Japan, but my understanding is that it's a distributor and
they do localization and sales.

Thanks much,
Jesse



Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2009 12:29:21 +0900
From: Gen Kanai <gkanai@example.com>
Subject: Re: [tlug] List of Japanese Open Source Projects?
To: Tokyo Linux Users Group <tlug@example.com>
Message-ID: <22E2D3B1-9E28-48B8-9184-28B6F67C8FB1@example.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

Hi Jesse,

This is a great question without a clear answer.

Ruby is probably the clearest example of OSS from Japan.

A separate example:

Andrew Morton said back in May '08 that 15% of the Linux kernel was
coming from Japanese contributors (mainly developers from "NEC,
Hitachi, Fujitsu, NTT, Sony, Toshiba, Canon and Red Hat and from
universities including Tokyo University and Waseda University.")

http://blog.mozilla.com/gen/2008/07/16/significant-linux-contributors-from-japan/

That's pretty significant in my book.

Another key piece of OSS is the work on the networking stack of BSD,
as well as the IPV6 implementation for BSD which Junichiro "itojun"
Hagino was a key contributor.

http://blog.icann.org/2007/11/rest-in-peace-itojun-ipv6-pioneer/

http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac123/ac147/archived_issues/ipj_10-4/104_remembering.html

http://kerneltrap.org/OpenBSD/Jun-ichiro_itojun_Hagino

While not OSS in the traditional sense, the work that WIDE project did
to set up the Internet in Japan, including running the M Root Server
(Aug. '97), which I think was the first root server in Asia, is
clearly significant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_nameserver

http://www.wide.ad.jp/

I'd love to hear other examples of OSS from Japan.

Gen


Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2009 14:24:51 +0900
From: Gen Kanai <gkanai@example.com>
Subject: Re: [tlug] List of Japanese Open Source Projects?
To: Tokyo Linux Users Group <tlug@example.com>
Message-ID: <231F051B-2465-48E5-82BB-A314A39413FF@example.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

Answering my own question again but here's a better list:

http://ossipedia.ipa.go.jp/kb/Q%EF%BC%9A%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E7%99%BA%E3%81%AE%E3%82%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%97%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BD%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BD%E3%83%95%E3%83%88%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A7%E3%82%A2%E3%81%AF%E3%81%82%E3%82%8A%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99%E3%81%8B%EF%BC%9F

or

http://bit.ly/1dLgMw

Which lists:

Canna (IME)
FreeWnn (IME)
kinput2 (IME)
KAME (IPV6)
Usagi (IPV6)
Ruby (language)
Namazu(search)
Sylpheed (email)
Wanderlust (email)




On Oct 6, 2009, at 5:14 AM, Jesse Casman wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> I'm a TLUG fan and lurker from San Francisco. Quick question for the
> group: Are there any good online resources covering Japanese open
> source projects? Ruby, of course, is famous. I'm interested in finding
> out more projects that either started in Japan or still only really
> exist in Japan. Any suggestions of individual projects or sites that I
> can look at (either English or Japanese) would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Cheers from Fog City,
> Jesse
>
> --
> Jesse Casman, Page One PR
> tel 415-321-2347
> cell 415-730-2793
> jcasman (Skype, YIM, gtalk, twitter)
>