GNU social
Other namesStatusNet
Laconica
Original author(s)Evan Prodromou et al.
Developer(s)Diogo Cordeiro and GNU social Developers
Final release
1.20.9[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 22 June 2019
Preview release
2.0.0beta0[2] Edit this on Wikidata / 18 July 2021
Repository
Written inPHP
Operating systemCross-platform
Available inMore than 25 languages.[3]
TypeWeb application framework
LicenseAGPL-3.0-or-later[4]
Websitegnusocial.network

GNU social (previously known as StatusNet and Laconica) is a free and open source microblogging server written in PHP that implemented the OStatus and ActivityPub standard for interoperability between installations. While offering functionality similar to Twitter, GNU social seeks to provide the potential for open and distributed communications between microblogging communities. Enterprises and individuals can install and control their own services and data.[5][6]

At its peak, GNU social had been deployed on hundreds of interoperating servers,[7] however has since fallen into disuse as competing platforms like Mastodon have taken its position as the most popular federated microblogging server.

Later on in its lifespan, the project split into two separate branches, v2 and v3. As of August 15, 2022, there had been no new commits to the repository for the v2 branch,[8] while the v3 branch stopped receiving commits not long after, in November 25, 2022,[9] making the project essentially defunct.

History

[edit]

GNU social began as a fork of StatusNet, a rebranding of software originally called Laconica. The software was first developed for a service called Identi.ca, which offered free accounts to the public, and quickly became one of the first popular examples of a decentralized social network, using free software.

The designers of Laconica created it to work with an open federation protocol they designed, called OpenMicroBlogging[10]. With version 0.8.1, the name of the software was changed to StatusNet[11]. Then in version 0.9.0, released soon after in March 3, 2010, the developers added support for a new protocol they called OStatus. This was the also first federation protocol used in Mastodon.social, to connect to the existing network of GNU social servers.

With the StatusNet name change, the company developing the software and OStatus, and hosting Identi.ca, also rebranded from Control Yourself to StatusNet Inc. In August 2010, the company raised a fresh round of venture capital to set up the status.net hosting service, from First Mark Capital, BOLDstart Ventures, iNovia Capital and Montreal Start Up, bringing its total investment to $2.3 million[12].

Registration on Identi.ca was closed in December 2012 in preparation for the switch to pump.io software. The conversion was completed on 12 July 2013 [13][14]. In June 8, 2013, it was announced along with another StatusNet community fork, Free Social, control of StatusNet software development would be merged into the GNU social project.

GNU social began as a side project of GNU FM, with the goal of delivering federated messages from their Last.fm service[15], and other servers hosting GNU FM. The founder was Matt Lee and the early developers were fellow Free Software Foundation employees, Donald Robertson and Deborah Nicholson.

Previous Names

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The first name of the project, Laconica, was a reference to the Laconic phrase, a particularly concise or terse statement of a kind attributed to the leaders of Sparta (Laconia being the Greek region containing Sparta). In microblogging, all messages are forced to be very short due to the traditional ~140-character limit on message size.

Beginning with version 0.8.1, the name was changed to StatusNet.[11] The developers said that the new name "simply reflects what our software does: send status updates into your social network."[16]

The final name of the project, GNU social, refers to the GNU project.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Diogo Cordeiro 518431ad72 [CORE]". 22 June 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Diogo Peralta Cordeiro 5a856a728d [VersionBump] 2.0.0beta0". 18 July 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  3. ^ "Translating:GNU social localization". Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  4. ^ "README file". Archived from the original on 2014-11-03. Retrieved 2015-02-09. ...under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
  5. ^ Terdiman, Daniel (2008-10-6) Taking on Twitter with open-source software Archived 2012-08-26 at the Wayback Machine, CNet. Retrieved 2009-1-3.
  6. ^ Bastien, Malcolm (2008-8-28) Why Laconica Means Big Things For Corporate Micro Blogging Archived 2009-01-25 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-1-3.
  7. ^ "List of Independent GNU social Instances - I ask questions". 2017-02-20. Archived from the original on 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2024-04-04.((cite web)): CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ diogo. "diogo/gnu-social". notabug.org. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  9. ^ GNUsocial. "gnu-social". Codeberg.org. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  10. ^ "GNU social". 2013-06-08. Archived from the original on 2013-08-22. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  11. ^ a b StatusNet 0.8.1 (2009-8-28) "StatusNet 0.8.1 - StatusNet". Archived from the original on 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2013-01-12., StatusNet Wiki Retrieved 2009-8-29.
  12. ^ https://readwrite.com/statusnet-raises-23-million/ [bare URL]
  13. ^ Nathan Willis (March 27, 2013). "StatusNet, Identi.ca, and transitioning to pump.io". LWN.net. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  14. ^ Bryan Behrenshausen (July 15, 2013). "pump.io: the decentralized social network that's really fun". opensource.com. Retrieved 2013-07-15.
  15. ^ "Microblogging with ActivityPub [LWN.net]". lwn.net. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  16. ^ Laconica is now StatusNet "Laconica is now StatusNet « StatusNet – Open Source microblogging service". Archived from the original on 2009-08-31. Retrieved 2009-08-31., retrieved 2009-10-04
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