D. Richard Hipp, creator of SQLite, in sqlite-users mailing list:
Some of the code in SQLite (such as the Lemon parser generator and the printf implementation) dates back to the late 1980s. But the core of SQLite was not started until 10 years ago. Ten years is not that long ago, though it has been long enough to amass 7114 check-ins - an average of 2.1 check-ins per day. If you are overseeing such a project, 10 years seems like forever. It has hard for me to remember a time when I wasn't working on SQLite.
SQLite is my favorite software project and a role model. It is lightweight, efficient, self-contained, and vastly powerful. Not many software projects can be said of the all four, especially in terms of self-containedness. SQLite now states it status as public domain in a more official manner (out of institutional use considerations), but I believe all of us can learn a lot from the blessing in its source code:
May you do good and not evil
May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others
May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
I also had the opportunity to work on a client project that used SQLite's both paid versions—SEE and CEROD—and SQLite never disappointed.
I wish the best for the project, and look forward to its 20th and 30th birthdays.