Editing Open and Free Technology Community

{{short description|Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network}}
{{Infobox IRC network
| name             = Open and Free Technology Community
| image            = [[File:OFTC logo.svg|frameless|220px]]
| founded_on       = {{Start date and age|2001}}
| located_in       = {{Unbulleted list|[[Europe]]|[[North America]]}}
| based_in         = 
| website_url      = {{URL2|https://www.oftc.net/}}
| primary_dns      = [irc://irc.oftc.net irc.oftc.net]
| average_users    = {{IRC NQNS link|OFTC|18,100}}
| users_date       = {{nowrap|June 16, 2021}}
| average_channels = {{IRC NQNS link|OFTC|3,600}}
| channels_date    = {{nowrap|June 16, 2021}}
| average_servers  = {{IRC NQNS link|OFTC|21}}
| main_content     = Public/Unrestricted
}}
The '''Open and Free Technology Community''' ('''OFTC''') is an [[Internet Relay Chat|IRC]] [[computer network|network]] that provides collaboration services to members of the [[free software community]] in any part of the world. OFTC is an associated project of [[Software in the Public Interest]], a non-profit organization which was founded to help organizations develop and distribute open hardware and software. As of October 2019, OFTC has 31 volunteer staff members, and 16 sponsors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oftc.net/staff|title=Staff|website=OFTC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014050831/https://www.oftc.net/staff/|archive-date=2019-10-14|url-status=dead|access-date=2019-10-13}}</ref>

== History ==
OFTC was founded at the end of 2001 by a group of experienced members of the [[open source]] and [[free software]] communities aiming to provide these communities with better communication, development, and support infrastructure. OFTC is ruled by a written constitution and the staff elect the officers among each other using a voting mechanism. OFTC became a member project of [[Software in the Public Interest]] (SPI) in July 2002, and SPI became the legal owner of the project's [[Internet domain|domain names]].

The ability for all users to connect using [[Transport Layer Security]] was added in April 2016 with the use of [[Public key certificate|SSL certificates]] from the [[Let's Encrypt]] [[certificate authority]].<ref name="home">{{Cite web|url=https://www.oftc.net/|title=OFTC - Home|website=OFTC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013061513/https://www.oftc.net/|archive-date=2019-10-13|url-status=dead|access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref>

In 2016, OFTC was bridged to the [[Matrix (protocol)|Matrix]] instant messaging network.<ref>{{cite web |title=New IRC Integrations: OFTC and Snoonet |url=https://medium.com/@RiotChat/new-irc-integrations-oftc-and-snoonet-b88883a58303 |website=Medium |access-date=22 October 2020 |language=en |date=27 September 2016}}</ref>

== Projects ==
OFTC currently develops three projects for its purposes: "oftc-hybrid" (a fork of the Hybrid [[IRCd|IRC daemon]]),<ref>{{Citation|title=OFTC's branch of Hybrid IRCd|date=2019-05-11|url=https://github.com/oftc/oftc-hybrid|publisher=OFTC|access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref> "oftc-ircservices" (the IRC services suite),<ref>{{Citation|title=OFTC's IRC Services|date=2019-08-13|url=https://github.com/oftc/oftc-ircservices|publisher=OFTC|access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref> and "oftc-geodns" (a [[Geolocation|GeoIP]] DNS responder to handle user distribution across the servers).<ref>{{Citation|title=OFTC operator and user tools|date=2019-10-14|url=https://github.com/oftc/oftc-tools|publisher=OFTC|access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref> OFTC uses [[GitHub]] [[Repository (version control)|repositories]] to host its [[codebase]] and [[Bug tracking system|issue tracker]].<ref name="home" /> Prospective users of the software can find tarball releases at https://www.oftc.net/releases/, named according to [[Software versioning|semantic versioning]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite web
| url         = http://www.irc-junkie.org/2007-05-23/freenode-and-oftc-networks-start-cooperation/
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150905182217/http://www.irc-junkie.org/2007-05-23/freenode-and-oftc-networks-start-cooperation/
| archive-date = September 5, 2015
| url-status  = dead
| title       = Freenode and OFTC Networks Start Cooperation
| access-date  = October 15, 2010
| date        = May 23, 2007
| publisher   = IRC-Junkie.org
}}
* {{cite web
| url         = http://www.debian.org/News/2006/20060604
| title       = Debian IRC Network moves to OFTC
| access-date  = October 15, 2010
| date        = June 4, 2006
| publisher   = [[Debian]]
}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website}}
* {{Openhub|id=oftc-hybrid|name=oftc-hybrid}}
* {{Advogato|OFTC|OFTC}}

{{IRC networks}}
{{Software in the Public Interest}}


[[Category:IRC networks]]
[[Category:Free software culture and documents]]
[[Category:Tor onion services]]