Gna.org: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

In the beginning, GNA stood for "Gna's Not Axis". This was an association formed by Loïc Dachary for the distribution of Free Software (free as in freedom).

On the 12th of April 2001, GNA turned into the french chapter of Free Software Foundation (FSF).

At the end of 2003, the GNU Savannah server was being replace by FSF USA after a security compromise. A dispute broke out between FSF USA, who owned the new Savannah server (but was not involved in Savannah management before), and the maintainers of Savannah, including developers of the Savannah software. FSF USA threatened to switch to the GForge software, leaving frayed tempers among the developers, as result of a conflict about Savannah maintainers role.

Loic Dachary (which one also started GNU Savannah) and several formers GNU Savannah maintainers set up "Gna!" as a continuation of the Savannah project, but this would be hosted on servers owned by the Free Software Foundation France. Today, Gna! stands for "Gna's Not an Acronym". It provides CVS, download space, project monitoring facilities, etc, and is managed by a self-organized team, supported by Free Software Foundation France.