A to Z of XWiki recommended open-source tools

30 Jun 2020 5 min read

Article was updated on February 19, 2024. 

The ones we use, the ones we like & the ones we know.

A

Arduino is an open-source hardware and software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Many of us have used their hardware for cool DIY or school projects. It's easy to use for beginners and it can be customized to create innovation in many aspects of your life. 

Audacity is an easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. We're considering it for creating some tutorials and editing podcasts - a review is on its way.

B

Blender is a free and open-source 3D creation suite. It supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline—modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, video editing, and 2D animation pipeline. The marketing team is following this for further projects - review is on its way.

BigBlueButton is an open-source virtual classroom platform, and it supports real-time sharing of audio, video, slides (with whiteboard annotations), chat, and the screen. It is one of our favorite platforms that we use in XWiki consistently. We highly recommend it!

C

CryptPad is a private-by-design alternative to popular office tools and cloud services. All the content stored on CryptPad is encrypted before being sent, which means nobody can access your data unless you give them the keys. It's the tool we use most, after XWiki. Sharing sensitive information, doing quick presentations, polls, and code sharing has never been so easy. Not to mention that at times it makes us feel like we're secret agents emoticon_wink

Collabora Online is a powerful collaborative office suite that supports all major document, spreadsheet, and presentation file formats, and it provides data security and sovereignty. Our XWiki Pro Apps team worked on integrating Collabora online into XWiki through the Collabora Connector App, which allows you to view, edit and collaborate in real-time on office attachments, via WOPI protocol — a review is on its way. We have also partnered with Collabora Online and other open-source providers we'll highlight in this article to participate in the openDesk project (previously Sovereign Workplace). This is an initiative for which we work closely to provide a full suite of open-source office applications for the German public administration, in order to reduce its dependency on proprietary software vendors, while supporting transparency and interoperability.

D

Docker is a tool designed to make it easier to create, deploy, and run applications by using containers. Containers allow a developer to package up an application with all of the parts it needs, such as libraries and other dependencies, and deploy it as one package. We published the first version of a production-ready XWiki system running in Docker in 2017. User adoption has been increasing steadily, and now more than 26% of all XWiki active installs are represented by Docker installs.

Drawio is a free, open-source, JavaScript, client-side editor for general diagramming and whiteboarding that our XWiki Pro Apps team has integrated into our Diagram App (Pro) and our teams are using and loving it. It's an intuitive tool, versatile, and with a vast array of options to get the result you need. Big like! đŸ‘

E

Elasticsearch is a distributed, open-source search and analytics engine for all types of data, including textual, numerical, geospatial, structured, and unstructured. XWiki has an Elasticsearch macro allowing to run Elasticsearch queries and display the results in XWiki pages using XWiki’s scripting language.

F

Franz is your open-source messaging app for WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack, HipChat, Telegram, and many many more. Some XWikiers use it to centralize internal communication apps such as Riot, email, and others. It's a great tool when you want to pause all notifications and focus on only one thing. 

FreeCodeCamp is a non-profit organization that consists of an interactive learning web platform, an online community forum, chat rooms, online publications, and local organizations that intend to make learning web development accessible to anyone. This is a project that we love for its mission, the implementation, and the work put in by the community. Chapeau bas ! 

Firefox is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, Mozilla Corporation. One of the browsers most used at XWiki, and a favorite of the QA team.

G

GIMP is a free and open-source raster graphics editor used for image retouching and editing, free-form drawing, converting between different image formats, and more specialized tasks. Used by our designers (and not only), it's a very solicited tool whenever we need beautiful imagery. 

Gitlab is a web-based DevOps lifecycle tool that provides a Git-repository manager providing wiki, issue-tracking, and continuous integration/continuous deployment pipeline features, using an open-source license. We've created an XWiki GitLab Application allowing to commit XWiki code to a GitLab repository. It allows you to check the differences between the content of your XWiki instance and the content of your repository, and to commit them/to update from the repository.

Google Summer of Code is a global program focused on bringing more student developers into open-source software development. Students work with an open-source organization on a 3-month programming project during their break from school. XWiki has been a mentor at GSoC 13 out of the 15 editions since our existence. We're always excited to work with new students and see them have their "Eureka!" moments. 

H

H5P makes it easy to create, share, and reuse HTML5 content and applications. H5P empowers everyone to create rich and interactive web experiences more efficiently. Not a project that we use, but one that we like for the common purpose of sharing knowledge.

I

Inkscape is a free and open-source vector graphics editor used to create vector images, primarily in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. Other formats can be imported and exported. Our colleague, David Benqué, recommends it to create icons and graphics - he has used it to update CryptPad's UX.

J

Jenkins is an open-source automation server that enables developers around the world to reliably build, test, and deploy their software. Our CTO, Vincent Massol, loves the Jenkins Pipeline plugin that includes a very nice feature: the "GitHub Organization" job type. This job type will scan a given GitHub organization repositories for Jenkinsfile files and when found will automatically create a pipeline job for them. It's been used at XWiki for quite a while.

Jitsi is a collection of free and open-source multiplatform voice (VoIP), videoconferencing and instant messaging applications for the web platform, Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android. We've decided to move most of our calls and meetings to Jitsi since the beginning of the year & we couldn't be happier. It's intuitive, user-friendly, and has all the features we need.

K

Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. A star in most DevOps communities, Kubernetes will soon be an official distribution option for XWiki. Stay tuned!

L

LimeSurvey is an open-source tool that helps users quickly create intuitive, powerful online forms and surveys that can work for anyone from small businesses to large businesses. We love to use this tool for the XWiki Product and User Satisfaction surveys and also as post-webinar feedback forms.

Linphone is an open-source SIP client for HD voice/video calls, 1-to-1 and group instant messaging, conference calls, etc. Not only do we like the project, but we're also working with Belledonne Communications, the company behind it.

Linux is the best-known and most-used open-source operating system. As an operating system, Linux is software that sits underneath all of the other software on a computer, receiving requests from those programs and relaying these requests to the computer’s hardware. 

M

Matomo is an open-source alternative to Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager that protects your data and your customers' privacy. We're considering it as a long-term option instead of Google Analytics - a review is on its way.

Matrix is an open-source project that publishes the Matrix open standard for secure, decentralized, real-time communication and its Apache-licensed reference implementations. A great team that also develops Riot, the messaging tool we use for internal communication. 

Mastodon is a large social media network built as a decentralized federation of independently operated servers. It has a strong focus on privacy and anti-abuse features. Finally, a social media platform that we enjoy using! Follow XWiki and CryptPad and enjoy toot-ing away. 

Mautic, the world's largest Open-Source marketing automation project, via Webmecanik. Webmecanik is the biggest contributor to the project, after the developers of Mautic themselves, and they contributed the code to create the new email and landing page builder. Our Marketing Squad is using the tool to share news and onboarding emails to people interested in the XWiki product and the services offered by XWiki SAS.

N

Nginx is a web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy, and HTTP cache. We see it used frequently, in our Cloud and on the clients' side, and appreciate how scalable it is and the time it saves.

Nextcloud is a suite of client-server software for creating and using file hosting services. Friends of XWiki for quite a while, we've been partners for the "Collaborative information and content management applications" devroom at FOSDEM and have partnered in integrating the OnlyOffice Connector Application in XWiki. We are also working closely in implementing the openDesk project.

O

OnlyOffice is a free software office suite featuring online document editors, a platform for document management, corporate communication, mail, and project management tools. We have developed and integrated the OnlyOffice Connector Application that allows you to create and edit docx, xlsx, pptx attachments using an OnlyOffice server.

 

Open Broadcaster Software is a free and open-source software solution for video recording and live streaming. It was used by our team for recording videos and live streaming with the HubOpenSource, from Systematic Paris région.

OpenProject is a free and open-source software solution for project management. Our partners in several events and initiatives, including presentations in our FOSDEM Collab and development devroom, we are also working together in delivering the openDesk project.

Open Source Guides is a collection of resources for individuals, communities, and companies who want to learn how to run and contribute to an open-source project. A great place to start if you're only just discovering the world of Open Source.

Open-Xchange is an open-source email platform used worldwide. This is yet another one of our collaborators for the openDesk initiative. 

P

Passbolt is an open-source password manager for teams. It allows your team to securely share and store credentials. It's the password manager that we, here at XWiki SAS, use. We recommend it as it's intuitive, easy to use, and great for maintaining security compliance. Our DPO, Cristina DeLisle, recommends it.

Percona provides single-source expertise in multi-vendor environments that eliminates lock-in, increases agility, and enables business growth. Another recommendation from Cristina, but this time for the team behind the project, specifically the ones organizing Percona Live Conference, where she's been a speaker.

Penpot is an open-source design and prototyping platform for product teams. It's a tool that our designers, David from CryptPad and Adina from XWiki, have been using and recommending it.

PeerTube is a free, open-source, and decentralized alternative to Big Tech's video platforms (such as YouTube). It's a space where we publish presentations, webinars, conferences interviewers, and whatnot. It's simple and intuitive to use, with all the features you would need from a video platform. It also allows you to have your own video hosting website, with complete independence and it doesn't track you.

Q

We haven't found our Q. Do you have any recommendations?

R

RasperryPi is a low-cost, credit card-sized computer that enables users of all ages to explore a wide range of practical computer programming skills. Recommended by Ludovic, our CEO, it's great open-source hardware that can be used to build free software-based synchronized speakers - which he did.

Riot.im is a free and open-source software instant messaging client based on the Matrix protocol and is distributed under the Apache License 2.0. Dubbed the open-source Slack, Riot is our choice as an internal instant messaging app. It's based on the Matrix protocol and known for being a universal secure chat app entirely under your control. 

S

Solr is the popular, blazing-fast, open-source enterprise search platform built on Apache Lucene. It enables you to easily create a search engine that searches websites, databases, and files. The default search engine of XWiki is based on Solr (starting with XWiki 5.1).

Snapcast is an open-source software to synchronize sound across multiple devices. Ludovic Dubost, our CEO, thinks this is a very interesting replacement for Sonos.

ShareX is a free and open-source capture & record software, with plenty of features, an active community, and constant improvements. Our Marketing team enjoys using it for showcasing XWiki features. One of the greatest features is the keyboard shortcut actions that let you start and stop recording easily.

T

Tuleap is an open-source suite to improve the management of software developments and collaboration. With a single web-based solution, project managers, developers & quality managers can easily build, deploy software projects. This is a subjective recommendation as we've been across from their stand at Paris Open Source 2019 - discovered a nice project and very nice people behind it.

U

Ubuntu is an open-source software operating system that runs from the desktop to the cloud, to all your internet-connected things. A great operating system, that XWikiers use and Paul Panțiru, our Software Engineer recommends for its extended community and support.

Univention Corporate Server (also known as UCS) is an open-source enterprise server and IT management software and platform for enterprise applications and serves as an alternative to Microsoft Active Directory. Starting with January 2022 XWiki has also joined UCS as part of our mission to advance the open-source movement and offering. We develop and use open-source software, including Univention's UCS, that has become a key component in our IT infrastructure. Additionally, we are also partners in the openDesk project.

V

Visualization Toolkit (VTK) is an open-source software system for 3D computer graphics, image processing, and visualization. Another tool that our marketing team is planning to test — review on its way. 

W

We haven't found our W. Do you have any recommendations?

X

XWiki is a free enterprise wiki software platform written in Java with a design emphasis on extensibility. It's a light and powerful development platform that allows you to customize the wiki to your specific needs. It's recommended by our team through Vincent, our CTO, who says: “I like it because it's the best software in the universe… and also because I helped build it emoticon_wink”. You might say we're biased, but you'll get to the same conclusion after using it.

Y

We haven't found our Y. Do you have any recommendations?

Z

We haven't found our Z. Do you have any recommendations?

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News

Enhancing digital sovereignty: XWiki and Nextcloud forge closer ties

XWiki SAS has long upheld its commitment to independence, with shareholders exclusively comprising current and former employees. However, recognizing the importance of strong collaboration among major open-source projects in the EU, the company is embracing a strategic shift through a symbolic investment in XWiki SAS from Frank Karlitschek, Founder and CEO of Nextcloud. Moreover, Nextcloud GmbH and XWiki SAS have signed a mutual resellers' agreement to provide their customers an easy way to purchase a complete solution from either vendor. Read the full article to learn about the why, how, and what.