At Digg we use a lot of open source software. A short list includes PHP, Memcached, MogileFS, Gearman, Debian GNU/Linux, Python, Perl, MySQL, Apache, APC and PEAR. Something that may not be quite as well known is that Digg developers have been busy giving back to the community as well.
- Digg’s Google Code project holds a few interesting products and PEAR packages that we’re using in production.
- Digg employs at least six active PEAR developers who, together, maintain over 20 packages. I also serve on the PEAR Group helping to set direction for the community and project.
- Digg recently hired it’s first Open Source Fellow, Andrei Zmievski, where he’ll be working full time on PHP6 and PECL.
- Our Firefox toolbar is open source.
The best part, in my opinion, about all of this is that we release our code under the most liberal license possible given the circumstances – the New BSD License (We use New BSD to protect Digg’s trademarks).
Of course there are other companies that contribute significantly to FOSS. Flickr, Facebook, Yahoo!, IBM and Google are just a few and I’m more than happy to say that Digg is giving back as well.