The Original Mambo
...accept no substitutes!

A round up of some of the most Frequently Asked Questions about the forks of the codebase behind the Mambo Open Source CMS.

1. Did Mambo recently change its name?

• No. Mambo is still Mambo. There was a fork of the Mambo codeset in August which caused a lot of confusion. That fork was subsequently named "Joomla!" Please note that Joomla! is NOT a re-branding of Mambo. It is merely a fork; a totally separate project based on the same original codeset. Think Nuke / PostNuke / PHPNuke. All different, but with common roots.

2. Why did some of the old Mambo team decide to go elsewhere and create a fork?

• Simple question without a simple (non-controversial) answer. As far as we are concerned, it's ancient history and not relevant to where Mambo is today. (ed - It is even less relevant now given that several of the people who left Mambo to form Joomla have now left Joomla!) The most important point is that the original Mambo is still very much alive and well. Under the Mambo open-source licensing agreement (GPL), anyone has the right to use the Mambo code to create a fork, that is, to create a special version of the software and distribute it freely. That's the beauty of open source. There’s already a third fork running around at present and will probably be more in the future. Joomla may have been the first, but it won’t be the last time somebody bases a product on our award-winning code. In a way, it’s a compliment that people want to build on the code and customize it to meet the needs they see in the market. Open Source = Forks Happen.

3. What are the differences between the organization maintaining Mambo and the one maintaining the fork called Joomla?

• The Mambo Foundation is a registered non-profit corporation dedicated to preserving and protecting Mambo as free Open Source software. Think Mozilla / GNOME / Eclipse. The Joomla organizational structure is, at the time of this writing, unknown.

4. Why create a non-profit Foundation?

• The Mambo Foundation gives its members a place to discuss and debate the roadmap for Mambo, a way to create authorized and unified communications to interested parties, and a point of reference for those who wish to interface with Mambo. Also, sad but true, Open Source is becoming a more complex landscape and things like legal threats, IP challenges, and other expensive issues can threaten the very existence of a project. The Foundation provides protection for the code and for the developers. You can learn all about how the Foundation works here: http://www.mambo-foundation.org

5. What are the technical differences between Mambo and the various forks?

• No short answer here; it is a moving target. The original Mambo and each of the subsequent forks have distinct core development teams, each pursuing the development goals they have independently set.

6. Will my modules written for Mambo and Joomla! work interchangeably?

• As the minor and major revision numbers progress for both Mambo and the Joomla fork, the codebases will begin to diverge. In fact, reports state that some third-party modules written for Mambo 4.5.3h are not compatible with Joomla 1.0.7. The problem is not widespread at the moment, but it may worsen...or may not. (ed - Recent reports indicate that the Joomla team plans to break compatibility with version 1.1.)
  

7. Are the databases going to stay compatible?

• Over time, most likely no. Since there are distinct development teams, as Mambo continues to grow and the various forks mature, they will move along separate paths.

8. Help! I'm a third-party developer for Mambo! Does that mean I have to support both Mambo and the forks?

• That's completely up to you. We know that Mambo's roadmap includes a plan to make third-party development more transparent and simpler to maintain. Our goal is to continue to embrace third-party development and further enhance the original Mambo to make it easier for third-party developers. Also let's not forget: there were more than 230,000 downloads of version 4.5.3. Do you really want to ignore that many potential users & clients?

9. Will old members of Mambo who left to join Joomla be welcomed back into the community?

• Absolutely. The Mambo community is a community of inclusion. We seek to associate with anyone who is willing to work in the best interests of the project and with the good of the community in mind.