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When I read Cathedral and the bazaar I was genuinely surprised that it is not entitled "the cathedral _with_ a bazaar". Both have a role, e.g. the Linux kernel
by patkai 9y ago
When I read Cathedral and the bazaar I was genuinely surprised that it is not entitled "the cathedral _with_ a bazaar". Both have a role, e.g. the Linux kernel is a cathedral while GNU software is the bazaar - neither of them would make much sense without the other.
- chubot 9y agoLinux isn't accurately described as a cathedral. It really is the best example of a single project that's a bazaar. It has an incredible number of contributors, sometimes with differing agendas, and with local knowledge. And it shows. The API design of Linux is atrocious. It works well and supports a fantastic number of use cases, but it has no global coherence. cgroups is a good example: https://lwn.net/Articles/574317/ https://lwn.net/Articles/574317/ Because they had no precedent to work with for cgroups, the initial design was botched. Linux still relies on the "bones" of Unix, and whenever they have to do something new, they struggle with the API design.
- patkai 9y agoYou are probably right, but I couldn't find a better example of a benevolent dictator - like Linus - more or less _sourcing_ the building of the cathedral from the bazaar with a strong grip on the process. But I know that analogies shouldn't be stretched too far :)
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]