Benevolent dictator for life
Benevolent dictator for life (BDFL) is a title given to a small number of open-source software development leaders, typically project founders who retain the final say in disputes or arguments within the community. The phrase originated in 1995 with reference to Guido van Rossum, creator of the Python programming language,[1][2] while in 2018, Van Rossum stepped down as the leader in the language community after 30 years.
Shortly after Van Rossum joined the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, the term appeared in a follow-up mail by Ken Manheimer to a meeting trying to create a semi-formal group that would oversee Python development and workshops; this initial use included the additional joke of naming Van Rossum the "First Interim BDFL".[1] Van Rossum announced on July 12, 2018, that he would be stepping down from BDFL of Python.[3]
BDFL should not be confused with the more common term for open-source leaders, "benevolent dictator", which was popularized by Eric S. Raymond's essay "Homesteading the Noosphere" (1999).[4] 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.
Referrant candidates
Name | Project | Type | Reference |
---|---|---|---|
Juan Benet | InterPlanetary File System | Decentralized internet | [5] |
Sylvain Benner | Spacemacs | Community-driven Emacs distribution | [6] |
Vitalik Buterin | Ethereum | Blockchain-based cryptocurrency | [7] |
Dries Buytaert | Drupal | Content management framework | [8] |
Evan Czaplicki | Elm | Front-end web programming language | [9][10] |
David Heinemeier Hansson | Ruby on Rails | Web framework | [11] |
Rich Hickey | Clojure | Programming language | [12] |
Adrian Holovaty and Jacob Kaplan-Moss |
Django | Web framework | [13] |
Chris Lattner | Swift | Programming language | [14] |
Xavier Leroy | OCaml | Programming language | [15][16] |
Yukihiro Matsumoto (Matz) | Ruby | Programming language | [17] |
Wes McKinney | Pandas | Python data analysis library | [18] |
Anthony Minessale II | FreeSWITCH | Realtime communications framework | [19] |
Bram Moolenaar | Vim | Text editor | [20] |
Matt Mullenweg | WordPress | Content management framework | [21] |
Martin Odersky | Scala | Programming language | [22] |
Taylor Otwell | Laravel | Web framework | [23][24] |
Theo de Raadt | OpenBSD | Unix-like operating system | [25] |
Daniel Robbins | Funtoo Linux | Linux distribution | [26] |
Ton Roosendaal | Blender | 3D computer graphics software | [27] |
Sébastien Ros | Orchard Project | Content management system | [28] |
Guido van Rossum | Python | Programming language | [11][29][3] |
Mark Shuttleworth | Ubuntu Linux | Linux distribution | [30] |
Don Syme | F# | Programming language | [31] |
Linus Torvalds | Linux | Operating system kernel | [11][32] |
José Valim | Elixir | Programming language | [33] |
Pauli Virtanen | SciPy | Python library used for scientific and technical computing | [34][35] |
Patrick Volkerding | Slackware | Linux distribution | [36] |
Nathan Voxland | Liquibase | Database schema management | [37] |
Shaun Walker | DotNetNuke | Web application framework | [38] |
Larry Wall | Perl | Programming language | [39] |
Jim Deridder | ROAD | Programming language | [40] |
Jemery Soller[41] | Redox | Operating system | [42] |
References
- 1 2 Guido van Rossum (July 31, 2008). "Origin of BDFL". Artima.com. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
- ↑ "Python Creator Scripts Inside Google". eWeek. March 6, 2006. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
- 1 2 Van Rossum, Guido (July 12, 2018). "Transfer of power". python-committers mailing list. Archived from the original on July 12, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ↑ Eric S. Raymond (2000). "Homesteading the Noosphere § Project Structures and Ownership". Eric S. Raymond's Home Page. Archived from the original on July 1, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
- ↑ "Understanding the IPFS White Paper part 2". Retrieved 2017-08-21.
- ↑ "Spacemacs COMMUNITY.org". Retrieved 2017-08-24.
- ↑ "Ethereum's Boy King Is Thinking About Giving Up the Mantle"
- ↑ Randy Fay, "How Do Open Source Communities Govern Themselves?"
- ↑ "56: Ember vs. Elm: The Showdown with Philip Poots | The Frontside Podcast". The Frontside Podcast. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
- ↑ elm-conf (2016-09-19), "Code is the Easy Part" by Evan Czaplicki, retrieved 2017-08-14
- 1 2 3 Constine, Josh (December 7, 2012). "Dropbox Hires Away Google's Guido Van Rossum, The Father Of Python". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ↑ "Clojure JIRA Workflow". Retrieved 3 October 2015.
- ↑ "Adrian and Jacob retiring as Django BDFLs". Adrian Holovaty. January 12, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
- ↑ "Apple Launches Swift, A New Programming Language For Writing iOS And OS X Apps". Retrieved 2018-04-10.
- ↑ "A History of OCaml | OCaml.org". Retrieved 2015-09-18.
- ↑ "OCaml Infrastructure mailing list". Retrieved 2015-09-18.
- ↑ "A Ruby Design Process". Retrieved 2016-04-17.
- ↑ "pandas 0.20.3 documentation: Tutorials". Retrieved 2017-07-24. "Wes McKinney's (pandas BDFL) blog"
- ↑ "FreeSWITCH 1.6 Cookbook". Retrieved 2018-07-14.
- ↑ "Why Neovim is Better than Vim". Retrieved 30 September 2015.
- ↑ "Thesis, Automattic, and WordPress | Post Status". Retrieved 2015-07-24.
- ↑ "Programming in Scala Leaps onto the World Stage!". Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ↑ "Taylor Otwell, Twitter". Taylor Otwell. October 9, 2014. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
- ↑ "Taylor Otwell, Creator of the Laravel PHP Framework". August 5, 2014. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
- ↑ Hildebrand, Matthew (July 5, 2005). "Interview: Theo de Raadt on Industry and Free Software". The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times. Archived from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Welcome to Funtoo Linux".
- ↑ "Developer Intro/Overview". Retrieved 20 July 2018.
- ↑ "Orchard Project Steering Committee". Archived from the original on August 12, 2015.
- ↑ "The Four Hundred—Next Up on the System i: Python". www.itjungle.com. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
- ↑ "Ubuntu carves niche in Linux landscape". CNET. Archived from the original on 6 November 2015.
- ↑ "Contributing to the F# Language and Compiler". Retrieved 29 September 2015.
- ↑ Dee-Ann LeBlanc (31 July 2006). Linux For Dummies (7th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-470-04793-4.
- ↑ "Elixir Companies". Retrieved 2017-11-01.
- ↑ "SciPy 1.0.0". Retrieved 2017-10-27.
- ↑ "SciPy project governance". Retrieved 2017-10-27.
- ↑ "Stories of Linux: A Look at Slackware Linux". linux.com.
- ↑ "User and Developer Community | Post Status". Retrieved 2015-08-13.
- ↑ Book: Building Websites with DotNetNuke 5, Michael Washington and Ian Lackey, Packt Publishing. Page 14 "The core team comprises individuals invited to join the team by Shaun Walker, whom they affectionately call the "Benevolent Dictator"."
- ↑ "The Art of Ballistic Programming". Archived from the original on June 17, 2013.
- ↑ "The Art of Ballistic Programming". Archived from the original on June 17, 2013.
- ↑ https://gitlab.redox-os.org/jackpot51
- ↑ "CONTRIBUTING.md · master · redox-os / redox".