The Torvalds Transcript (InformationWeek)

Posted Mar 25, 2007 2:34 UTC (Sun) by bronson (subscriber, #4806)
In reply to: The Torvalds Transcript (InformationWeek) by malor
Parent article: The Torvalds Transcript (InformationWeek)

First, it really wasn't as painful as you describe. Kernel development definitely did not come to a standstill. While Linus ran off and wrote Git for a bit, everyone else continued using whatever tool they liked. No big deal (unless you happen to think that only Linus can develop the kernel...?)

Because existing distributed SCMs were crap (they were), Linus had to write his own tool no matter what. It isn't like one path involved great pain and the other path involved zero pain. What scenario are you picturing where pain is somehow avoidable and there's no need to write Git?

Now, would you rather:

- Linus write his tool cold, having very little first-hand experience of distributed development.

- Linus write his tool after thoroughly using the most advanced distributed development tool available at that time.

Seems to me like either way works pretty well.

For the record, I agree that the Republican spin on Plame (and now Gonzales) are just stupefying. But they have pretty much zero in common with Linus choosing an SCM.

to post comments

BK and git: Lessons learned (or not)

Posted Mar 25, 2007 3:05 UTC (Sun) by kevinbsmith (guest, #4778) [Link]

Linus (and the world) got lucky with git, and many folks have learned the wrong lesson from the whole affair. I don't mean that Linus isn't a great programmer or that git isn't a great tool. What I mean is that the BK folks *chose* to give the kernel folks several weeks to stop using BK, rather than terminating all kernel dev licenses immediately (which they could have done). And git turned out to be relatively quick and painless for Linus to write.

If either of those (or other factors) had come out differently, the kernel could have been hurt very badly by the whole BK experience. Was BK net positive? With hindsight, I would say yes. Could it have been a disasterous net strong negative? Absolutely. The risk was high (and was known at the time BK was selected), the bet was made, and Linus got lucky and won.

Wrong lesson: Depending on closed source for a key tool is fine, because git easily replaced BK.

Right lesson: Depending on closed source for a key tool is very risky, and you really don't know how things might turn out.