As in all things, there is a certain fashion in open source project names as well. For a long time, “php*” was a great name for php-based open source solutions. However, nowadays these somewhat bulky names have been replaced by “more streamlined” names.
I personally think that dropping the “php” part makes it somewhat easier to speak and write about these projects. So we decided it was right to drop “php” from “phpLogCon”. But was “LogCon” the ultimate name for a tool to search, analyze and (starting with v3) report on network event logs? A quick discussion within our group as well as with some external buddies turned out that “LogCon” is probably pretty meaningless. Even if one deciphers “Con” for “Console” – what does it mean to be a “Console” in this context? Not an easy to answer question. Bottom line: “LogCon” is pretty meaningless.
So we thought we do “the right thing” and rename the project before it becomes even more widely spread. The later you do a name change, the more painful it is. That made us think about good names. We ended up with “LogAnalyzer”, because analysis is the dominant use case for this tool (especially if you think of reports as being part of the analysis ;)). Another quick search made us aware that there are (of course) lots of “LogAnalyzers”. And, of course as well, all second level domains were taken.
Bare of an expensive legal adviser, we made the decision to boldly name the project “Adiscon LogAnalyzer“, aka. “the log analyzer (primarily) written by Adiscon”. With that approach we use our company name (which obviously legally belongs to us) together with the generic term “LogAnalyzer”. That is done in the hope that it will resolve any legal friction that otherwise may occur. For the very same reason you will see us consistently referring to “Adiscon LogAnalyzer”.
We are aware, however, that this implies some other cost: A project with a company name inside it does sound a bit like a purely commercial project. On the other hand, that seems to be no problem with the big players, like “Red Hat Linux” or “SuSe Linux”. So we hope that the company part inside the name will not have a too-bad effect on this project.
In addition to the core Adiscon LogAnalyzer, Adiscon will also provide some non-GPLed components in the future. And we hope that others will do that as well. Our sincere hope is that Adiscon LogAnalyzer will evolve to a framework where many third parties can plug in specific functionality. Consequently, we have added a plugin directory to the new site, and some third-party written message parsers already populate it.
So – phpLogCon has not only a new name and a new site, it is also more active than ever and eager to solve the log analysis and reporting needs for a growing community. Please help spread the word!
