When we first started talking about LAMP [1], it stood for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl, Python... and other M and P projects, such as mod_perl, mod_python, PostgreSQL and so on. The letters were arranged horizontally, but many IT builders began talking about them vertically: as a "stack": Linux on the bottom, and a pile of other stuff on top.

So here's a simple question: how high (or wide) is that stack now? Put another way, how many open source projects sit on Linux today?

I just asked Ethan Zuckerman [2], who said the question was "interesting", and that one approach would be to subtract out the non-Linux projects from SourceForge [3]. Right now there are 154,092 projects on SourceForge. I don't know how many run on Linux, though I'm sure it's a huge percentage. But SourceForge isn't the only place where open source development projects live.

You can go looking with directories such as Linux.org's [4], collections such as Freshmeat [5]'s or Tucows' [6], or code search engines such as Google's [7], Koders [8]' or Krugle [9]'s. But so far I haven't been able to find a number. But that's just me. I'm sure one or more of the rest of ya'll have the answer. Or many answers. What are they?

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Doc Searls is Senior Editor of Linux Journal