PALNI and Open Source

Since its inception in 1992, PALNI has been committed to implementing and utilizing Open Source Software (OSS) and supports the principles and practices of the open source community. 

OSS is software that is free to use, but more importantly, the source code of the application is made available for further local development and redistribution.  The genesis of the Internet began as a “call for comments” from ARPANET in the 1960’s.  Later landmarks would include the code release of the now iconic Linux operating system in 1987 and Netscape’s Navigator internet browser in 1998.  The OSS movement has received a lot of attention in the library community in recent years as individual libraries have begun to develop their own Content Management Systems and Integrated Library Systems.

Vince Lucas, the PALNI Project Director, states “Open Source is about choice; not just the access to the source code and software, but the choice of which tools work best for your needs.” Vince also points out that libraries and the open source movement share similar goals and philosophies – free and open access to information and content, sharing, collaboration, and community. 

 Over the years, Central Staff have utilized a wide variety of OSS for numerous functions within the organization’s infrastructure.  The PALNI website, helpdesk, listservs, and server environment all rely heavily on OSS.  The staff continues to research and evaluate a broad range of OSS for possible application.  Test installations are used to determine if these programs might have relevance for PALNI operations.  Central Staff have also customized source code for local use.

 The PALNI Project is happy to utilize and support the following open source applications and protocols.  This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but merely representative of the range of OSS functionality within the PALNI systems. The full list literally includes hundreds of applications, protocols, and add-ons. 

 

Solaris	MySQL	phpMyAdmin	Drupal	Apache
OpenSSL	OpenSSH	ProFTPd	Wordpress	SquirrelMail
Mpage	Sendmail	Squid	Samba	ELM
Pine	Mailman	ISC BIND	Top	LimeSurvey