Linus pretty much set the culture for Linux development, it is strongly guided by the taste of a handful maintainers. You could never take something from the tw

Linus pretty much set the culture for Linux development, it is strongly guided by the taste of a handful maintainers. You could never take something from the two week sprint people and get it merged, it would be scrutinized in minute detail by maintainers that have an opinion on exactly how the whole is put together and understand every part under their watch. So you could argue that Linux in reality is developed by only a handful. The orbiting thousands of developers is the force multiplier. Once in a while someone drenched in the culture slowly dissipates to the inner circle. That's how it survives. By way of a strong culture. The downside is that it can also be a bit unforgiving. Linus style of project leadership is quite well known, but the guy has very good taste and is in it for the long run. That's the secret to making it all work. That, and the luck of being at the right place at the right time.