Benevolent dictator for life
Benevolent Dictator For Life or BDFL is a title given to a small number of open source software development leaders. The term originally referred only to Guido van Rossum, creator of the Python programming language. It should not be confused with the more common term for open source leaders, "benevolent dictator", which was popularized by Eric Raymond's essay Homesteading the Noosphere.[1] .
The term "benevolent dictator for life" was coined in 1995 to refer to Guido van Rossum.[2] [3] The title originated shortly after van Rossum joined the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI). It first appeared on a follow-up mail by Ken Manheimer to a meeting trying to create a semi-formal group overseeing Python development and workshops.[2]
The term "benevolent dictator" (minus "for life") was described in Eric Raymond's Homesteading the Noosphere essay. Among other topics related to hacker culture, Raymond elaborates on how the nature of open source forces the "dictatorship" to keep itself benevolent, since a strong disagreement can lead to the forking of the project under the rule of new leaders.
Examples of people sometimes referred to as Benevolent Dictator For Life
- Guido van Rossum [4] [5] , creator of Python
- Patrick Volkerding, the creator of Slackware [6]
- Mark Shuttleworth calls himself the Self-Appointed Benevolent Dictator For Life, or SABDFL, and the Ubuntu community often uses this name to refer to him[7] [8]
- Adrian Holovaty and Jacob Kaplan-Moss, for Django [9] [10]
- Dries Buytaert founder and leader of the Drupal project [11] [12]
References
- ^ Eric S. Raymond. "Homesteading the Noosphere" . Retrieved 2008年08月01日.
- ^ a b Guido van Rossum (July 31, 2008). "Origin of BDFL" . Retrieved 2008年08月01日.
- ^ "Python Creator Scripts Inside Google". www.eweek.com. Retrieved 2008年05月13日.
- ^ "The Four Hundred--Next Up on the System i: Python". www.itjungle.com. Retrieved 2008年05月13日.
- ^ Guido van Rossum "Benevolent dictator for life". Linux Format. 2005年02月01日. Retrieved 2007年11月01日.
- ^ http://www.slackware.com/about/
- ^ http://www.ubuntu.com/community/processes/governance
- ^ "Ubuntu founder defuses rumors of impending Microsoft deal". arstechnica.com. Retrieved 2008年05月13日.
- ^ "Django committers".
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "DjangoCon Article" . Retrieved 2008年09月09日.
- ^ "Dries set to be married!".
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "Urban Dictionary: BDFL".
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