I had always been under the impression that Apache (the web server) got its name because they patched the NCSA web server and affectionately called it “A PAtCHy” server. I recently told some friends about the etymology and they didn’t believe me, so I went to the FAQ to show them and was surprised to find that the FAQ denied what I had heard. The FAQ said it was named in honor of the American Indian tribe and that the story I had heard was incorrect. This confused me because I thought I had read the other explanation on the very same FAQ.

I went back in time with the wayback machine and sure enough, the August 31, 2002 version of the FAQ told the version I knew, but somewhere between then and January 24, 2003 it was changed.

It seems like they’re now denying what they once claimed as fact. Did they come across some evidence to disprove the former claim or do they just not like the original story?

I looked it up in a few other sources, including WikiPedia, Brain encyclopedia, free dictionary, and the fact index and all of them cite the original story of the patchy server.

I wonder if Apache is up to something.