Thank you. I was looking all over the project's site to see who was behind it. Not a peep, but I guess they're good at that!

When people participate in Apache projects, it is emphasized that they do so as individuals. Affiliations are downplayed. If a contributor takes a new job at a different company, their participation within the project is completely unaffected.

Furthermore, as a 501(c)(3), the ASF is limited in what it can do with do with donations and very, very rarely accepts targeted donations aimed at a specific project -- it's just not worth the hassle or risk. So while outside entities might contribute by sponsoring people to work on the project, no project at the ASF has someone "behind" it in the sense of direct funding.

This is all part of maintaining project independence.

Hope this helps to explain why it is not always easy to discover "who is behind" an Apache project. :)

More info: https://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#hats

Sure I understand that. And you're right, it is important for project independence.

But it is usual to be able to deduce at least something about contributors from email address, github accounts, other contact info. But in this case there was absolutely nothing. It was almost as if they were experts in covering their tracks! I just thought it was quite funny.

There was a Forbes article too:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adrianbridgwater/2015/07/21/nsa-...