<s>
CFEngine	B-Protocol
is	O
a	O
configuration	B-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
system	O
,	O
written	O
by	O
Mark	O
Burgess	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
primary	O
function	O
is	O
to	O
provide	O
automated	O
configuration	O
and	O
maintenance	O
of	O
large-scale	O
computer	O
systems	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
unified	O
management	O
of	O
servers	B-Application
,	O
desktops	B-Device
,	O
consumer	O
and	O
industrial	O
devices	O
,	O
embedded	O
networked	O
devices	O
,	O
mobile	O
smartphones	B-Application
,	O
and	O
tablet	B-Device
computers	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Released	O
under	O
the	O
terms	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-License
General	I-License
Public	I-License
License	I-License
,	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
is	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
project	O
began	O
in	O
1993	O
as	O
a	O
way	O
for	O
author	O
Mark	O
Burgess	O
(	O
then	O
a	O
post-doctoral	O
fellow	O
of	O
the	O
Royal	O
Society	O
at	O
Oslo	O
University	O
,	O
Norway	O
)	O
to	O
get	O
his	O
work	O
done	O
by	O
automating	O
the	O
management	O
of	O
a	O
small	O
group	O
of	O
workstations	O
in	O
the	O
Department	O
of	O
Theoretical	O
Physics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Scripting	O
took	O
too	O
much	O
time	O
,	O
the	O
flavours	O
of	O
Unix	O
were	O
significantly	O
different	O
,	O
and	O
scripts	O
had	O
to	O
be	O
maintained	O
for	O
multiple	B-Operating_System
platforms	I-Operating_System
,	O
drowning	O
in	O
exception	O
logic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
discussing	O
the	O
problems	O
with	O
a	O
colleague	O
,	O
Burgess	O
wrote	O
the	O
first	O
version	O
of	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
(	O
the	O
configuration	O
engine	O
)	O
which	O
was	O
published	O
as	O
an	O
internal	O
report	O
and	O
presented	O
at	O
the	O
CERN	O
computing	O
conference	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Here	O
he	O
realized	O
that	O
there	O
was	O
little	O
or	O
no	O
research	O
being	O
done	O
into	O
configuration	B-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
he	O
set	O
about	O
applying	O
the	O
principles	O
of	O
scientific	O
modelling	O
to	O
understanding	O
computer	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
a	O
short	O
space	O
of	O
time	O
,	O
he	O
developed	O
the	O
notion	O
of	O
convergent	O
operators	O
,	O
which	O
remains	O
a	O
core	O
of	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1998	O
Burgess	O
wrote	O
"	O
Computer	O
Immunology	O
"	O
,	O
a	O
paper	O
at	O
the	O
USENIX/LISA98	O
conference	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
laid	O
out	O
a	O
manifesto	O
for	O
creating	O
self-healing	O
systems	O
,	O
reiterated	O
a	O
few	O
years	O
later	O
by	O
IBM	O
in	O
their	O
form	O
of	O
Autonomic	B-Architecture
Computing	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
started	O
a	O
research	O
effort	O
which	O
led	O
to	O
a	O
major	O
re-write	O
,	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
2	O
,	O
which	O
added	O
features	O
for	O
machine	O
learning	O
,	O
anomaly	O
detection	O
and	O
secure	O
communications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Between	O
1998	O
and	O
2004	O
,	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
grew	O
in	O
adoption	O
along	O
with	O
the	O
popularity	O
of	O
Linux	B-Application
as	O
a	O
computing	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2008	O
,	O
after	O
more	O
than	O
five	O
years	O
of	O
research	O
,	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
3	O
was	O
introduced	O
,	O
which	O
incorporated	O
promise	O
theory	O
as	O
"	O
a	O
way	O
to	O
make	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
both	O
simpler	O
and	O
more	O
powerful	O
at	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
"	O
,	O
according	O
to	O
Burgess	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
most	O
significant	O
re-write	O
of	O
the	O
project	O
to	O
date	O
,	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
3	O
also	O
integrated	O
knowledge	O
management	O
and	O
discovery	O
mechanisms	O
—	O
allowing	O
configuration	B-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
to	O
scale	O
to	O
automate	O
enterprise-class	O
infrastructure	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
June	O
2008	O
the	O
company	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
AS	O
was	O
formed	O
as	O
a	O
collaboration	O
between	O
author	O
Mark	O
Burgess	O
,	O
Oslo	O
University	O
College	O
and	O
the	O
Oslo	O
Innovation	O
Centre	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
support	O
users	O
of	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
April	O
2009	O
,	O
the	O
company	O
launched	O
the	O
first	O
commercial	O
version	O
of	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
-	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
Enterprise	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2017	O
,	O
the	O
company	O
changed	O
its	O
name	O
to	O
,	O
to	O
reflect	O
that	O
it	O
is	O
working	O
on	O
multiple	O
software	O
products	O
,	O
not	O
only	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
main	O
ideas	O
in	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
is	O
that	O
changes	O
in	O
computer	O
configuration	O
should	O
be	O
carried	O
out	O
in	O
a	O
convergent	O
manner	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Rather	O
than	O
describing	O
the	O
steps	O
needed	O
to	O
make	O
a	O
change	O
,	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
language	O
describes	O
the	O
final	O
state	O
in	O
which	O
one	O
wants	O
to	O
end	O
up	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
,	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
can	O
be	O
run	O
again	O
and	O
again	O
,	O
whatever	O
the	O
initial	O
state	O
of	O
a	O
system	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
will	O
end	O
up	O
with	O
a	O
predictable	O
result	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CFEngine	B-Protocol
supports	O
the	O
item	O
of	O
statistical	O
compliance	O
with	O
policy	O
,	O
meaning	O
that	O
a	O
system	O
can	O
never	O
guarantee	O
to	O
be	O
exactly	O
in	O
an	O
ideal	O
or	O
desired	O
state	O
,	O
rather	O
one	O
approaches	O
(	O
converges	O
)	O
towards	O
the	O
desired	O
state	O
by	O
best-effort	O
,	O
at	O
a	O
rate	O
that	O
is	O
determined	O
by	O
the	O
ratio	O
of	O
the	O
frequency	O
of	O
environmental	O
change	O
to	O
the	O
rate	O
of	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
execution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CFEngine	B-Protocol
provides	O
an	O
operating	O
system-independent	O
interface	O
to	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
host	O
configuration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
requires	O
some	O
expert	O
knowledge	O
to	O
deal	O
with	O
peculiarities	O
of	O
different	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
but	O
has	O
the	O
power	O
to	O
perform	O
maintenance	O
actions	O
across	O
multiple	O
hosts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CFEngine	B-Protocol
can	O
be	O
used	O
on	O
Windows	O
hosts	O
as	O
well	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
widely	O
used	O
for	O
managing	O
large	O
numbers	O
of	O
Unix	O
hosts	O
that	O
run	O
heterogeneous	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Solaris	B-Application
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
AIX	B-Application
,	O
Tru64	B-Operating_System
and	O
HP-UX	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
CFEngine	B-Protocol
is	O
used	O
in	O
both	O
large	O
and	O
small	O
companies	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
in	O
many	O
universities	O
and	O
governmental	O
institutions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
largest	O
reported	O
datacenter	O
under	O
management	O
of	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
is	O
above	O
a	O
million	O
servers	B-Application
,	O
while	O
sites	O
as	O
large	O
as	O
40,000	O
machines	O
are	O
publicly	O
reported	O
(	O
LinkedIn	B-Application
)	O
,	O
while	O
sites	O
of	O
several	O
thousand	O
hosts	O
running	O
under	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
are	O
common	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
statistics	O
from	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
AS	O
,	O
probably	O
several	O
million	O
computers	O
run	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
around	O
the	O
world	O
,	O
and	O
users	O
from	O
more	O
than	O
100	O
countries	O
have	O
been	O
registered	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Shortly	O
after	O
its	O
inception	O
,	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
inspired	O
a	O
field	O
of	O
research	O
into	O
automated	O
configuration	B-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
CFEngine	B-Protocol
project	O
claims	O
to	O
attempt	O
to	O
place	O
the	O
problem	O
of	O
configuration	B-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
in	O
a	O
scientific	O
framework	O
.	O
</s>
