Kernel programmers need to keep track of patches. That's pretty obvious, but what isn't immediately obvious to those of us who aren't kernel developers is just how onerous that task is for Linux kernels. Enter Bitkeeper , a SCM (Source Code Management) tool that dulls the pain and attends to the nasty details, leaving the developer more time to focus on development.
But wait: Bitkeeper is a commercial product. Linux isn't about commercial products, right? Well no, but technically Bitkeeper isn't part of Linux; it's just something that developers could use to track their changes. And Bitkeeper itself quietly helped out by letting those developers use the tool for free. That was the status quo up till recently. There were people like Richard Stallman who warned that this was bad practice, but nobody pays attention to GNU/Richard.
But then Bitkeeper pulled the plug. No more freebies. Shoulda listened to Richard, I think. This was a choice of convenience over principle. It's not the only place Linux flunks the Purity test, but it was a big one.
So now kernel developers have to use something else. At the moment, that may be Linus Torvald's "git". And we leave the developers to work the details out for themselves.
There's another place where I think Linux packagers are making a big mistake, and that's Cups. Not that Cups isn't good, it is. But it's was also a commercial product and right now it is owned by Apple. I'm not saying that Apple is likely to cause problems (imagine if Microsoft bought it!), but the point is that they could. I'd just rather see unencumbered code.
Have you tried Searching this site?
Unix/Linux/Mac OS X support by phone, email or on-site: Support Rates
This is a Unix/Linux resource website. It contains technical articles about Unix, Linux and general computing related subjects, opinion, news, help files, how-to's, tutorials and more. We appreciate comments and article submissions.
Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them. I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. I also may own stock in companies mentioned here. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.
Specific links that take you to pages that allow you to purchase the item I reviewed are very likely to pay me a commission. Many of the books I review were given to me by the publishers specifically for the purpose of writing a review. These gifts and referral fees do not affect my opinions; I often give bad reviews anyway.
We use Google third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.
Click here to add your comments
Don't miss responses! Subscribe to Comments by RSS or by Email
Click here to add your comments
If you want a picture to show with your comment, go get a Gravatar