FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the Forge.mil Program?
Forge.mil is a DISA-led activity designed to improve the ability of the DOD to rapidly deliver dependable software, services, and systems in support of net-centric operations and warfare.
What is SoftwareForge?
SoftwareForge enables the collaborative development and distribution of open source software and DOD community source software. For open source and community source development projects within the DOD, SoftwareForge provides software development tools such as software version control, bug tracking, requirements management, and release packaging along with collaboration tools such as wikis, discussion forums, and document repositories to enable collaborative development amongst distributed developers.
SoftwareForge is currently built on the open source Subversion version control system and CollabNet TeamForge application life cycle management tool.
What is ProjectForge?
ProjectForge provides the same application life cycle management tools for DOD projects and programs as SoftwareForge, but for projects and programs that are not doing DOD community source development and/or need to restrict access to specific project members. While SoftwareForge comes free to valid users, ProjectForge is a fee for service capability.
ProjectForge is hosted as a multi-tenant application, meaning that the application infrastructure (servers and mass storage) are shared by multiple projects and users. Although the infrastructure is shared, visibility and access to the information contained in each project is protected and controlled strictly by the project owner.
Read the ProjectForge Information Data Sheet.
What is difference between SoftwareForge and ProjectForge?
SoftwareForge and ProjectForge use the exact same tool suite (CollabNet TeamForge). The main difference lies in the mission of each site, and how the default project permissions are configured. SoftwareForge is functionally equivalent to http://sourceforge.net (the Open Source software sharing site), except that it is within the DOD firewall, and only accessible to authorized DOD users with a CAC or ECA certificate. The default project permissions are locked to 'open' for view access – any authorized site user can view any project on the site. Write permission to each project is controlled via roles that project administrators can assign.
SoftwareForge is intended to promote cross-team and cross-service collaboration, and projects that can operate within these parameters are welcome to host projects free of charge on the site.
ProjectForge, by contrast, is designed for those teams who want to utilize the TeamForge tools with more restrictive view and write permissions. The default permissions on this site are set to private, and project admins have the ability to customize the access controls for their projects based on their needs. ProjectForge is a completely separate instance of the tool suite, and is a fee-for-service offering.
The decision on whether to host a project on SoftwareForge vs. ProjectForge comes down to whether you are willing/able to operate in a 'DOD-internal/public' environment where your project is viewable by authorized DOD CAC and ECA certificate holders (SoftwareForge), or you require 'closed' collaboration with tighter view/write access (ProjectForge).
Where do I go for more information and to join the Forge.mil Community?
Visit http://www.forge.mil for more information, the latest Forge.mil news, additional FAQs, and instructions on how to get access and join the community.