Launchpad (website)

infobox website
name = Launchpad



caption = Launchpad homepage on 2008-04-25.
url = [https://launchpad.net/ launchpad.net]
commercial = No
type = Project Management
language = English
registration = optional
owner = Canonical Ltd.
author = Canonical Ltd.
alexa = 21922 [cite web
url=http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/launchpad.net
title=launchpad.net - Traffic Details from Alexa
publisher=www.alexa.com
accessdate=2008-05-13
launch date =
current status = Active
revenue =
slogan = ] Infobox Software
name = Launchpad Suite



caption =
collapsible =
author =
developer = [https://launchpad.net/~launchpad Launchpad Developers]
released =
latest release version = 2.1.9
latest release date = 2008-09-26
latest preview version = 2.1.9 (r7110)
latest preview date =
frequently updated =
programming language = Python
operating system =
platform =
size =
language = English
status =
genre = Project Hosting Server
license = Closed License
website = https://launchpad.net/launchpad-project

Launchpad is a web application and web site supporting software development, particularly that of free software. Launchpad is developed and maintained by Canonical Ltd.

Components

It has several parts:
* Code: source code hosting using the Bazaar version control system.
* Bugs: a bug tracker that allows bugs to be tracked in multiple contexts (e.g. in an Ubuntu package, as an upstream, or in remote bug trackers).
* Blueprints: a system for tracking Specifications and new features.
* Translations: a site for localising applications into different human languages.
* Answers: a community support site and knowledge base. A significant but less visible component is Soyuz, "the distribution management portion of Launchpad." Launchpad is currently primarily used in the development of Ubuntu, an operating system. Launchpad uses the free/open source Zope 3 application server.

Users

Several of Canonical Ltd's own projects use Launchpad for development including Ubuntu and Bazaar and the development of Launchpad is itself managed in Launchpad.

Other prominent projects using Launchpad for various aspects of managing their development include:
* MySQL (code hosting) [cite web
last=Arnö
first=Kaj
url=http://blogs.mysql.com/kaj/2008/06/19/version-control-thanks-bitkeeper-welcome-bazaar/
title=Verson Control: Thanks, BitKeeper - Welcome, Bazaar
date=2008-06-19
accessdate=2008-06-19]
* Zope 3 (bug tracking) [cite pressrelease
author=Canonical Ltd
title=Launchpad 1.0 Beta Released
url=http://www.ubuntu.com/news/LaunchpadRelease
date=2007-04-02
accessdate=2008-06-20]
* Inkscape (bug tracking) [cite web
url=http://news.launchpad.net/general/inkscape-moving-to-launchpad
title=Inkscape moving to Launchpad!
date=2007-11-21
accessdate=2008-09-09]
* Bazaar
* GNOME Do

Criticism

Launchpad has been criticized by the Jem Report and other members of the free software community for not being available under a free license, such as the GNU GPL, despite its aims. The developers have stated that they aim to eventually release it under a free software license, but that it could potentially take years. cite news
url=https://launchpad.net/faq
publisher=Canonical
title=Launchpad Frequently Asked Questions
date=August 5, 2006] On July 9, 2007, Canonical Ltd. released with the Launchpad component "Storm" the first component under a free software license.cite web
url=http://www.ubuntu.com/news/storm-python-orm-open-sourced
title=Canonical Releases Storm as Open Source
date=July 10, 2007]

Founder Mark Shuttleworth responded to this criticism that Launchpad needs paid-programmers to continue the development of the Launchpad platform and that there would be no point in developing multiple versions of Launchpad due to the probable incompatibility of the forks cite web
url=https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/50699/comments/10
title=Launchpad should be free software (free as in freedom)
date=April 18, 2007] . However, this has still left some members of the open-source movement dissatisfied.cite web
url=http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/325
title=Ubuntu is built with proprietary software
date=July 10, 2007] On July 22, 2008 Mark Shuttleworth announced, at OSCON, that the complete source code is expected to be released within the next 12 months.cite web
url=http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NjYwOA
title=Launchpad Source-Code Within 12 Months
date=July 22, 2008]

An open API is currently in Beta testing, which will allow programs to interact with the website. Calls for an open API to be released were aided by projects like Leonov that resorted to screenscraping to get data from Launchpad.

Sources

External links

* [https://launchpad.net Launchpad]
* [http://news.launchpad.net Launchpad News Blog]
* [irc://irc.freenode.net/launchpad #launchpad] on freenode