Fossil (software)

Original author(s)	D. Richard Hipp
Initial release	2006; 18 years ago
Stable release	2.24 / 24 April 2024; 6 months ago
Repository	fossil-scm.org/home ;
Written in	C, SQL
Operating system	Cross-platform
Type	Software configuration management, bug tracking system, wiki software
License	2010: BSD-2-Clause; 2007: GPL-2.0-only
Website	www.fossil-scm.org

Fossil is a software configuration management, bug tracking system and wiki software server for use in software development created by D. Richard Hipp.

Features

Fossil is a cross-platform DVCS that runs on Linux, BSD derivatives, Mac and Windows. It is capable of performing distributed version control, bug tracking, wiki services, and blogging. The software has a built-in web interface, which reduces project tracking complexity and promotes situational awareness. A user may simply type "fossil ui" from within any check-out and Fossil automatically opens the user's web browser to display a page giving detailed history and status information on that project. The fossil executable may be run as a standalone HTTP server, as a CGI application, accessed via SSH, or run interactively from the CLI.

Being distributed, Fossil requires no central server, although collaboration is made easier by using one.

Content is stored using a SQLite database so that transactions are atomic even if interrupted by a power loss or system crash.^[3]

Fossil is free software released under a BSD license^[4] (relicensed from previously GPL).

Adoption

Fossil is used for version control by the SQLite project, which is itself a component of Fossil. SQLite transitioned to using Fossil for version control over CVS on 2009-08-12.^[5]^[6]

Some examples of other projects using Fossil are:

Tcl/Tk Project
Pikchr
MySQL++, a C++ wrapper for the MySQL and MariaDB C APIs
LuaSQLite3
libfossil
fnc, the ncurses-based Fossil UI experience in the terminal
Androwish, the Tcl implementation for Android
ObjFW, a cross-platform Objective-C runtime and framework

Source code hosting

The following websites provide free source code hosting for Fossil repositories:

Chisel. Original site owner James Turner announced that the site would cease operation on May 1, 2013.^[7] After domain ownership was transferred on May 1, 2013, it continued operation.^[8]
SourceForge (unofficially through webpages hosting service^[9])

Notes

^ BSD-2-Clause since 2010-05-16.
^ GPL-2.0-only from 2007-07-21 until 2010-05-16.

References

^ https://fossil-scm.org/home/doc/trunk/www/changes.wiki#v2_24. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ Fossil Copyright
^ "Integrated version control with Fossil SCM". 5 November 2009., DLR Tech Talk presentation by Arne Bachmann, 2009-12-01
^ "Fossil DSCM Relicensed with BSD License". 2010-05-16.
^ "Fossil: Fossil Performance". Fossil-scm.org. 2009-08-23. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
^ "SQLite: Timeline". sqlite.org.
^ "Chiselapp.com shutting down". James Turner. 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2013-04-10.
^ "ChiselApp ChangeOver Complete". Andreas Kupries. 2013-04-30. Retrieved 2013-05-01.
^ "Example: Free Fossil-SCM Repository Hosting". Retrieved 2015-11-21.

External links

Official website

[2] BSD-2-Clause since 2010-05-16.

[4] GPL-2.0-only from 2007-07-21 until 2010-05-16.

[wikidata-fec5598de6fe93cb9130f5b4ca8230c01ee83414-v18-1] ttps://fossil-scm.org/home/doc/trunk/www/changes.wiki#v2_24. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[3] Fossil Copyright

[5] "Integrated version control with Fossil SCM". 5 November 2009., DLR Tech Talk presentation by Arne Bachmann, 2009-12-01

[6] "Fossil DSCM Relicensed with BSD License". 2010-05-16.

[7] "Fossil: Fossil Performance". Fossil-scm.org. 2009-08-23. Retrieved 2009-09-12.

[8] "SQLite: Timeline". sqlite.org.

[9] "Chiselapp.com shutting down". James Turner. 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2013-04-10.

[10] "ChiselApp ChangeOver Complete". Andreas Kupries. 2013-04-30. Retrieved 2013-05-01.

[11] "Example: Free Fossil-SCM Repository Hosting". Retrieved 2015-11-21.

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