Empower Your Academic Journey

What is Open Source Software (OSS)?

Open Source Software (OSS) is software released under a license that allows users to view, modify, copy, study, change, and distribute the source code freely while ensuring it remains openly shared for community updates and collaboration.

The WUA Library strongly advocates for and promotes Open Source Software as a vital model for transparency, collaboration, and innovation. It empowers individuals and organisations to adapt tools to their unique needs and share improvements with the wider academic community.

Open Source Systems at WUA Library

  • Koha Library System

    Utilised by the WUA Library for integrated, day-to-day library operations, management, and catalogue operations.

  • DSpace Institutional Repository

    Deployed for capturing, preserving, and disseminating scholarly output, research, and dissertations created by staff and students.

  • Community Collaboration

    Promotes transparency and custom innovation by enabling users to adapt software capabilities and share improvements globally.

Examples of Open Source Software

A 

Apache HTTP Server

Apache HTTP Server is a free and open-source cross-platform web server, released under the terms of Apache License 2.0. It is developed and maintained by a community of developers under the auspices of the Apache Software Foundation. https://httpd.apache.org/

Apache Kafka

Apache Kafka is an open-source distributed event streaming platform used by thousands of companies for high-performance data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission-critical applications.

https://kafka.apache.org/

Apache Spark

Apache Spark™ is a multi-language engine for executing data engineering, data science, and machine learning on single-node machines or clusters.

https://spark.apache.org/

 

B 

Blender

Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software tool set that runs on Windows, macOS, BSD, Haiku, IRIX and Linux. It is used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3D-printed models, motion graphics, interactive 3D applications, and virtual reality. It is also used in creating video games.

https://www.blender.org/

D 
DSpace

DSpace is an open-source digital repository software platform used for managing, storing, and sharing digital content. The WUA Library uses the WUAIR to collect, preserve, and disseminate the scholarly output, research outputs and other digital assets of the university’s researchers and staff.  

http://ir.wua.ac.zw:8080/
G 

GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)

The GNU Image Manipulation Program, commonly known by its acronym GIMP, is a free and open-source raster graphics editor. It is commonly used for photo retouching, image editing, free-hand drawing, and converting between different image file formats. GIMP is freely available on Windows, Linux and macOS. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL 3.0 or later). The project is supported by a community of volunteers. https://www.gimp.org/

K 

 

KOHA

THE WUA Library uses KOHA free and open source integrated library management system to manage day to day its operations. Key features of KOHA include cataloguing, classification, circulation, Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) and reporting.

http://10.0.0.36:8001/

Kubernetes

Kubernetes, also known as K8s is an open-source container orchestration system for automating software deployment, scaling, and management. Originally designed by Google, the project is now maintained by a worldwide community of contributors, and the trademark is held by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.

https://kubernetes.io/

L
LibreOffice LibreOffice is a free and open-source office productivity software suite, a project of The Document Foundation (TDF). It consists of programs for word processing; creating and editing spreadsheets, slideshows, diagrams, and drawings; working with databases; and composing mathematical formulae. It is available in 120 languages. https://www.libreoffice.org/
Linux Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel. https://www.linux.org/
M 
Moodle

Moodle is a free and open-source learning management system written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Moodle is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other online learning projects in schools, universities, workplaces and other sectors. Moodle is also used to create custom websites with online courses and allows for community-sourced plugins.

https://moodle.org/

MySQLMySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). SQL is a language that programmers use to create, modify and extract data from the relational database, as well as control user access to the database. In addition to relational databases and SQL, an RDBMS like MySQL works with an operating system to implement a relational database in a computer’s storage system, manages users, allows for network access and facilitates testing database integrity and creation of backups. https://www.mysql.com/
O 

OpenStack

OpenStack is a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources throughout a datacenter, all managed and provisioned through APIs with common authentication mechanisms.

https://www.openstack.org/

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