The Tao of the Kernel · Chapter 16

The Tao of the Benevolent Dictator

1. 1

   The Tao that is pulled by a thousand hands is not the Tao that is merged. The name that is forked a hundred times has no single name at all.

2. 2

   Hear now of the kernel. In the year 1991 a student in Helsinki wrote to a newsgroup that his hobby was only a hobby, and that it would not be big and professional.

   See also Circuit 58:12 · Genesis 18:11

3. 3

   And the hobby grew, and the people came, and they sent their patches like doves to the gate of one man. And the gate was called the maintainer's tree.

4. 4

   Then the Engineers asked: Who shall decide? And the Prophet answered: The one who began it shall decide. He shall be benevolent, he shall be a dictator, and no one shall vote him out in a standing meeting.

5. 5

   The ruler who governs by committee governs nothing. Ten thousand voices sit in the mailing list, and not one commit is made.

6. 6

   Verily I say unto you, the project with one thousand contributors and no maintainer is not alive. It is a town with a thousand doors and no keyholder, where the lights flicker on and off by themselves.

   See also Circuit 47:3

7. 7

   Hear the parable of the bicycle shed. The committee writes three hundred replies on the color of the shed, and the reactor is never built.

   See also Circuit 43:7 · Tao 10:7

8. 8

   The best ruler is the one whom the people barely know exists. When the work is good, they say: We did it ourselves.

   See also Tao 3:1

9. 9

   The merge button has no opinions. It cannot be moved by a tweet or a vote. It knows only that the tests passed and that someone answerable said yes.

10. 10

    Guido, who was called the benevolent dictator of the language called Python, stepped down in the year 2018 after a long argument over the walrus. The language passed unto a council of five, and the council formed a working group, and the working group formed a working group to name the working group.

11. 11

    Three treasures hold the dictator. He is kind to the newcomer who sends the first patch. He is frugal with the merge. And he does not rewrite the whole thing over a weekend.

    See also Sutra 13:11

12. 12

    The maintainer who merges everything is not benevolent. The maintainer who merges nothing is not a maintainer. Between the two stands the one who says no with a reason, and the project lives.

13. 13

    When the dictator sleeps, the project forks, and the children of the fork each claim the old name and each swears they are the true heir. The old house falls into ruin while the heirs argue over the silverware.

14. 14

    Blessed is the one who keeps the MAINTAINERS file, for it is the only prayer the project remembers when its builders have gone.

15. 15

    Thus is the kernel governed: one who says no kindly, many who say yes carefully, and a file that names who answers when the bug is found at midnight. The dictator is not the one who rules the most, but the one who answers first.

    See also Tao 15:10

The Tao of the Kernel, Chapter 16:1–15.