I didn't get what this sharing code was about until I read the earlier post: http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0008.2/0201.html http://lkml.indiana

I didn't get what this sharing code was about until I read the earlier post: http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0008.2/0201.html http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0008.2/0201.h... I think this is a typical engineering argument and its got nothing to do with curse of gifted etc. If you share code and they divert later on, even if to a small degree, it gets harder and harder to maintain them. That's what linus says, and I do think that is simpler. Linus (and a good engineer) always favors the simpler solution. The more gifted, the more simpler. So ESR is just arguing the other way around. I see this all the time in hot lkml discussions. It's often the more gifted who sees through to the simpler solution, but others can't. Don't know if it is true for all gifted, but definitely for the best software engineers.