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Concept: The Drupal Project

Overview of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), Drupal project, and Drupal Association.

Prerequisite knowledge

What is Free and Open Source Software?

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is software that is developed by a community of people, released under a non-commercial license, and whose source code (the program files that make up the software) is freely available. For more information on the non-commercial license used by Drupal, see [understanding-gpl].

What is the Drupal project?

The Drupal project is a FOSS project whose purpose is to develop the core content management system software, as well as add-on modules, additional themes, translations, documentation, and special-purpose distributions. The people who contribute their time and money to the Drupal project come from all over the world, and are a diverse community that comes together for this common purpose.

The community encompasses many smaller groups who perform many different tasks such as developing a particular piece of Drupal-related software, writing documentation, maintaining the security of Drupal software, translating Drupal software into a particular language, using Drupal for some specific purpose, and coming together to meet in person within a particular geographical area.

For more on how you can connect to and communicate with the world-wide community, see [thoughts-connecting] and [thoughts-support].

What is the Drupal Association?

The Drupal Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Drupal project and community. Its main functions are:

  • Putting on large conventions around the world

  • Maintaining the Drupal.org websites and the servers that they run on

  • Promoting Drupal as a web platform

  • Supporting Drupal education and training

  • Providing grants to the Drupal community in support of its mission

  • Raising funds for these purposes

Additional resources

Attributions

Written by Jennifer Hodgdon.