SRO: Fork You! SJVN's top five reasons why Linux isn't forking.

Mar 25, 2000, 22:06 (5 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols)

"Of course Linux is forking. It's always forking. But--important lesson ahead--it doesn't matter. Why? Because Linux is a Gnu Public License open-source OS. And that means that everyone gets to see and use your changes."

"In Linux, good changes are incorporated into the one true, Linus Torvalds blessed Linux kernel, and other changes aren't. If a change doesn't make the canonical code, it withers on the vine. In other open-source projects, like Apache and Samba, there's no Linus, but it works the same way. The good get in, the bad are tossed on the junk pile."

"Number One: Linux Vendors Are Sane.
United they stand, divided they fall. I know that. They know that. And, that's the end of the story."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• osOpinion: The Forking Bugaboo Rears its Ugly Head(Mar 22, 2000)
• TechRepublic: No "forking" in the road ahead(Feb 17, 2000)
• LinuxWorld: To fork or not to fork?(Feb 09, 2000)
• Linuxcare: Fear of Forking, How the GPL Keeps Linux Unified and Strong(Nov 19, 1999)
• The Register: TurboLinux clustering and the code-forking scare(Oct 28, 1999)
• CMP Net: Developers Try To Keep Linux From Forking(Mar 04, 1999)