RE: A modest proposal -- We need a patch penguin

George Bonser
2002-01-29T08:39:59Z

I dunno. I tend to agree with Linus from a management standpoint.
You delegate responsibility to those you trust and accept their
judgment. You also must try to ensure that the thing is built so
that decisions made by Bill can't step on Bob's work. Delegation
is one thing ... but it is the architecture that makes sure that
delegation is possible. I am not a kernel hacker but don't feel
that I have to be in this case to comment. What Linus is saying
has nothing at all to do with Linux but is more along the lines
of how to get work done in any kind of project that is larger than
any single person.

While all kinds of software might get written for project management
and revision control, projects boil down to how the thing is built,
the style of the person in charge, and the people around that person.

Finding people that are willing to take responsibility for portions
of the code base and develop a relationship of trust over time while
being able to work with the individuals submitting patches for their
bug fixes/ideas is a big task. If you could gather all of
those people together, I will bet you they will be a successful team
in just about ANYTHING they choose to work on. I think what Linus is
striving toward is what any good manager wants and when such a team
comes together, watch out, things are gonna happen fast.

Don't think of it as a star or a tree, think of it as a star of trees.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org
> [mailto:linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org]On Behalf Of
> Daniel Phillips
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 11:39 PM
> To: Rob Landley; linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
> Subject: Re: A modest proposal -- We need a patch penguin
>
>
> Apropos of nothing in particular:
>
> > (It's not a star topology, it's a tree.)
>
> There is no difference between a star and a tree, except
> how you draw the
> picture.
>
> --
> Daniel
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe
> Linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/