
Who Backs Linux, Some Numbers in Perspective - davidw
http://robertogaloppini.net/2010/12/02/who-backs-linux-some-numbers-in-perspective/
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hubb
i didn't find the blog all that readable, but the report itself is
interesting:
[http://www.linuxfoundation.org/docs/lf_linux_kernel_developm...](http://www.linuxfoundation.org/docs/lf_linux_kernel_development_2010.pdf)

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chrisaycock
Yeah, I wanted to see the "market share" rather than the rate of change.

From page 13 of the PDF, individuals (18.9%), RedHat (12.4%), Novell (7.0%),
and IBM (6.9%) are biggest contributors.

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naner
I got into the habit of doing "Yoda Conditions" in C to prevent accidental
assignment from typos. To be honest, though, I can't remember the last time I
typed = instead of ==.

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there
at what point does it change from "backing" to "having influence over" or
"affecting design decisions"?

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SwellJoe
He that writes the code has an extreme amount of influence, and can effect
design decisions.

Linus is the benevolent dictator, but if the code is clean and doesn't stomp
on other stuff, it goes in. It's always been that way...and is as it should be
in most large-scale Open Source projects. If you want to see examples of
conflicts and how they were resolved, or not resolved, look at the ZFS in
Linux discussion or the history of ReiserFS (somehow filesystems bring out the
fight in people), though there have been other points of contention where
developers wanted to push a little too far into the core design in ways that
Linus didn't like.

With companies and individuals that do it well, like Red Hat and IBM
(individuals end up becoming Linus' "lieutinents", like Alan Cox for a famous
example), it is almost invisible...they produce code that Linus likes, they
take his advice on changes without making it a fight, and so he trusts them
more and more over time, to the point that now it's pretty rare to see a Red
Hat sponsored contribution lead to significant conflict.

Do you have concerns about someone like Red Hat or IBM having influence over
the kernel? I'd be curious what those concerns are based on.

