Eric S. Raymond

Last updated

Eric S. Raymond
Eric S Raymond portrait.jpg
Raymond at Linucon in 2004
Born (1957-12-04) December 4, 1957 (age 66)
Boston, Massachusetts, US
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Pennsylvania
Occupation(s) Software developer, author
Website www.catb.org/esr/ , esr.ibiblio.org

Eric Steven Raymond (born December 4, 1957), often referred to as ESR, is an American software developer, open-source software advocate, and author of the 1997 essay and 1999 book The Cathedral and the Bazaar . He wrote a guidebook for the Roguelike game NetHack . [1] In the 1990s, he edited and updated the Jargon File, published as The New Hacker's Dictionary. [2]

Contents

Early life

Raymond was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1957, and lived in Venezuela as a child. His family moved to Pennsylvania in 1971. [3] He developed cerebral palsy at birth; his weakened physical condition motivated him to go into computing. [4]

Career

Raymond began his programming career writing proprietary software, between 1980 and 1985. [5] In 1990, noting that the Jargon File had not been maintained since about 1983, he adopted it, but not without criticism; Paul Dourish maintains an archived original version of the Jargon File, because, he says, Raymond's updates "essentially destroyed what held it together." [6]

In 1996 Raymond took over development of the open-source email software "popclient", renaming it to Fetchmail. [7] Soon after this experience, in 1997, he wrote the essay "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", detailing his thoughts on open-source software development and why it should be done as openly as possible (the "bazaar" approach). The essay was based in part on his experience in developing Fetchmail. He first presented his thesis at the annual Linux Kongress on May 27, 1997. He later expanded the essay into a book, The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary, in 1999. The essay has been widely cited. [8] The internal white paper by Frank Hecker that led to the release of the Mozilla (then Netscape) source code in 1998 cited The Cathedral and the Bazaar as "independent validation" of ideas proposed by Eric Hahn and Jamie Zawinski. [9] Hahn would later describe the 1999 book as "clearly influential". [10] : 190 

From the late 1990s onward, due in part to the popularity of his essay, Raymond became a prominent voice in the open source movement. He co-founded the Open Source Initiative (OSI) in 1998, taking on the self-appointed role of ambassador of open source to the press, business and public. He remains active in OSI, but stepped down as president of the initiative in February 2005. [11] In early March 2020, he was removed from two Open Source Initiative mailing lists due to posts that violated the OSI's Code of Conduct. [12]

In 1998 Raymond received and published a Microsoft document expressing worry about the quality of rival open-source software. [13] He named this document, together with others subsequently leaked, "The Halloween Documents ".

In 2000–2002 he created Configuration Menu Language 2 (CML2), a source code configuration system; while originally intended for the Linux operating system, it was rejected by kernel developers. [14] (Raymond attributed this rejection to "kernel list politics", [15] but Linus Torvalds said in a 2007 mailing list post that as a matter of policy, the development team preferred more incremental changes. [16] ) Raymond's 2003 book The Art of Unix Programming discusses user tools for programming and other tasks.

Some versions of NetHack still include Raymond's guide. [1] He has also contributed code and content to the free software video game The Battle for Wesnoth . [17]

Raymond is the main developer of NTPsec, a "secure, hardened replacement" for the Unix utility NTP. [18]

Views on open source

Raymond at the SouthEast LinuxFest in 2019 Eric Raymond 2019.jpg
Raymond at the SouthEast LinuxFest in 2019

Raymond coined an aphorism he dubbed Linus's law, inspired by Linus Torvalds: "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow". [19] It first appeared in his book The Cathedral and the Bazaar. [20] : 30 

Raymond has refused to speculate on whether the "bazaar" development model could be applied to works such as books and music, saying that he does not want to "weaken the winning argument for open-sourcing software by tying it to a potential loser". [21]

Raymond has had a number of public disputes with other figures in the free software movement. As head of the Open Source Initiative, he argued that advocates should focus on the potential for better products. The "very seductive" moral and ethical rhetoric of Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation fails, he said, "not because his principles are wrong, but because that kind of language ... simply does not persuade anybody". [22]

In a 2008 essay he defended programmers' right to issue work under proprietary licenses: "I think that if a programmer wants to write a program and sell it, it's neither my business nor anyone else's but his customer's what the terms of sale are." [23] In the same essay he said that the "logic of the system" puts developers into "dysfunctional roles", with bad code the result.

Political beliefs and activism

Raymond is a member of the Libertarian Party and a gun rights advocate. [24] He has endorsed the open source firearms organization Defense Distributed, calling them "friends of freedom" and writing "I approve of any development that makes it more difficult for governments and criminals to monopolize the use of force. As 3D printers become less expensive and more ubiquitous, this could be a major step in the right direction." [25] [26]

In 2015 Raymond accused the Ada Initiative and other women in tech groups of attempting to entrap male open source leaders and accuse them of rape, saying "Try to avoid even being alone, ever, because there is a chance that a 'women in tech' advocacy group is going to try to collect your scalp." [27] [28]

Raymond has claimed that "Gays experimented with unfettered promiscuity in the 1970s and got AIDS as a consequence", and that "Police who react to a random black male behaving suspiciously who might be in the critical age range as though he is an near-imminent lethal threat, are being rational, not racist." [29] [30] A progressive campaign, "The Great Slate", was successful in raising funds for candidates in part by asking for contributions from tech workers in return for not posting similar quotes by Raymond. Matasano Security employee and Great Slate fundraiser Thomas Ptacek said, "I've been torturing Twitter with lurid Eric S. Raymond quotes for years. Every time I do, 20 people beg me to stop." It is estimated that, as of March 2018, over $30,000 has been raised in this way. [31]

Religious beliefs

Raymond describes himself as neo-pagan. [4]

Bibliography

By Eric Raymond

Books

Writings posted or archived on his website

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GNU</span> Free software collection

GNU is an extensive collection of free software, which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. The use of the completed GNU tools led to the family of operating systems popularly known as Linux. Most of GNU is licensed under the GNU Project's own General Public License (GPL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linus Torvalds</span> Creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel (born 1969)

Linus Benedict Torvalds is a Finnish-American software engineer who is the creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel, used by Operating Systems such as Chrome OS, Android, and GNU/Linux distributions like Debian and Arch. He also created the distributed version control system Git.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minix</span> Unix-like operating system

MINIX is a Unix-like operating system based on a microkernel architecture. Since version 2.0, it has been Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) compliant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open-source license</span> Software license allowing source code to be used, modified, and shared

Open-source licenses are software licenses that allow content to be used, modified, and shared. They facilitate free and open-source software (FOSS) development. Intellectual property (IP) laws restrict the modification and sharing of creative works. Free and open-source licenses use these existing legal structures for an inverse purpose. They grant the recipient the rights to use the software, examine the source code, modify it, and distribute the modifications. These criteria are outlined in the Open Source Definition.

<i>The Cathedral and the Bazaar</i> Book by Eric S. Raymond

The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary is an essay, and later a book, by Eric S. Raymond on software engineering methods, based on his observations of the Linux kernel development process and his experiences managing an open source project, fetchmail. It examines the struggle between top-down and bottom-up design. The essay was first presented by Raymond at the Linux Kongress on May 27, 1997 in Würzburg (Germany) and was published as the second chapter of the same‑titled book in 1999.

In software development, Linus's law is the assertion that "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow". The law was formulated by Eric S. Raymond in his essay and book The Cathedral and the Bazaar (1999), and was named in honor of Linus Torvalds.

The hacker culture is a subculture of individuals who enjoy—often in collective effort—the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming the limitations of software systems or electronic hardware, to achieve novel and clever outcomes. The act of engaging in activities in a spirit of playfulness and exploration is termed hacking. However, the defining characteristic of a hacker is not the activities performed themselves, but how it is done and whether it is exciting and meaningful. Activities of playful cleverness can be said to have "hack value" and therefore the term "hacks" came about, with early examples including pranks at MIT done by students to demonstrate their technical aptitude and cleverness. The hacker culture originally emerged in academia in the 1960s around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Hacking originally involved entering restricted areas in a clever way without causing any major damage. Some famous hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were placing of a campus police cruiser on the roof of the Great Dome and converting the Great Dome into R2-D2.

<i>Revolution OS</i> 2001 documentary film

Revolution OS is a 2001 documentary film that traces the twenty-year history of GNU, Linux, open source, and the free software movement.

<i>SCO Group, Inc. v. International Business Machines Corp.</i>

SCO Group, Inc. v. International Business Machines Corp., commonly abbreviated as SCO v. IBM, is a civil lawsuit in the United States District Court of Utah. The SCO Group asserted that there are legal uncertainties regarding the use of the Linux operating system due to alleged violations of IBM's Unix licenses in the development of Linux code at IBM. The lawsuit was filed in 2003, it has lingered on through the bankruptcy of SCO Group and the adverse result in SCO v. Novell, and was reopened for continued litigation by order of a new judge on June 14, 2013. Pursuant to the court order reopening the case, an IBM Motion for Summary Judgment was filed based upon the results of the Novell decision. On December 15, 2014, the judge granted most of IBM's motion, thereby narrowing the scope of the case, which remained open. On March 1, 2016, following a ruling against the last remaining claims, the judge dismissed SCO's suit against IBM with prejudice. SCO filed an appeal later that month. In February 2018, as a result of the appeal and the case being partially remanded to the circuit court, the parties restated their remaining claims and provided a plan to move toward final judgement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open-source software</span> Software licensed to ensure source code usage rights

Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative, public manner. Open-source software is a prominent example of open collaboration, meaning any capable user is able to participate online in development, making the number of possible contributors indefinite. The ability to examine the code facilitates public trust in the software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GNU/Linux naming controversy</span> Issues of what to call a system with the GNU toolchain and the Linux kernel

Within the free software and the open-source software communities there is controversy over whether to refer to computer operating systems that use a combination of GNU software and the Linux kernel as "GNU/Linux" or "Linux" systems.

The Linux kernel mailing list (LKML) is the main electronic mailing list for Linux kernel development, where the majority of the announcements, discussions, debates, and flame wars over the kernel take place. Many other mailing lists exist to discuss the different subsystems and ports of the Linux kernel, but LKML is the principal communication channel among Linux kernel developers. It is a very high-volume list, usually receiving about 1,000 messages each day, most of which are kernel code patches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free and open-source software</span> Software whose source code is available and which is permissively licensed

Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software, where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source code is publicly available so that people are encouraged to improve the design of the software. This is in contrast to proprietary software, where the software is under restrictive copyright or licensing and the source code is hidden from the users.

Alternative terms for free software, such as open source, FOSS, and FLOSS, have been a controversial issue among free and open-source software users from the late 1990s onwards. These terms share almost identical licence criteria and development practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanenbaum–Torvalds debate</span> 1990s debate regarding the Linux kernel

The Tanenbaum–Torvalds debate was a written debate between Andrew S. Tanenbaum and Linus Torvalds, regarding the Linux kernel and kernel architecture in general. Tanenbaum, the creator of Minix, began the debate in 1992 on the Usenet discussion group comp.os.minix, arguing that microkernels are superior to monolithic kernels and therefore Linux was, even in 1992, obsolete. The debate has sometimes been considered a flame war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linux</span> Family of Unix-like operating systems

Linux is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution (distro), which includes the kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses and recommends the name "GNU/Linux" to emphasize the use and importance of GNU software in many distributions, causing some controversy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of free and open-source software</span> Aspect of history

In the 1950s and 1960s, computer operating software and compilers were delivered as a part of hardware purchases without separate fees. At the time, source code, the human-readable form of software, was generally distributed with the software providing the ability to fix bugs or add new functions. Universities were early adopters of computing technology. Many of the modifications developed by universities were openly shared, in keeping with the academic principles of sharing knowledge, and organizations sprung up to facilitate sharing. As large-scale operating systems matured, fewer organizations allowed modifications to the operating software, and eventually such operating systems were closed to modification. However, utilities and other added-function applications are still shared and new organizations have been formed to promote the sharing of software.

Linux began in 1991 as a personal project by Finnish student Linus Torvalds to create a new free operating system kernel. The resulting Linux kernel has been marked by constant growth throughout its history. Since the initial release of its source code in 1991, it has grown from a small number of C files under a license prohibiting commercial distribution to the 4.15 version in 2018 with more than 23.3 million lines of source code, not counting comments, under the GNU General Public License v2 with a syscall exception meaning anything that uses the kernel via system calls are not subject to the GNU GPL.

"The Magic Cauldron" is an essay by Eric S. Raymond on the open-source economic model. It can be read freely online and was published in his 1999 book, The Cathedral and the Bazaar.

Release early, release often is a software development philosophy that emphasizes the importance of early and frequent releases in creating a tight feedback loop between developers and testers or users, contrary to a feature-based release strategy. Advocates argue that this allows the software development to progress faster, enables the user to help define what the software will become, better conforms to the users' requirements for the software, and ultimately results in higher quality software. The development philosophy attempts to eliminate the risk of creating software that no one will use.

References

  1. 1 2 Raymond, Eric S. (December 8, 2003). "A Guide to the Mazes of Menace (Guidebook of Nethack)". NetHack.org. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  2. ↑ Raymond, Eric S. (1996). The New Hacker's Dictionary. ISBN   0-262-68092-0.
  3. ↑ "Man Against the FUD". Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved July 7, 2008.
  4. 1 2 Leonard, Andrew (April 1998). "Let my software go!". Salon.com . San Francisco: Salon Media Group . Retrieved November 23, 2009.
  5. ↑ Raymond, Eric S. (January 29, 2003). "Resume of Eric Steven Raymond" . Retrieved November 23, 2009.
  6. ↑ "The Original Hacker's Dictionary". dourish.com. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Fetchmail". www.fetchmail.info.
  8. ↑ Citations for "The Cathedral and the Bazaar". ACM Digital Library. 1999. ISBN   9781565927247 . Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  9. ↑ Suarez-Potts, Louis (2001). "Interview: Frank Hecker" . Retrieved November 5, 2011.
  10. ↑ Moody, Glyn (2002). Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution. Basic Books. ISBN   0-7382-0670-9.
  11. ↑ Raymond, Eric S. (January 31, 2005). "Open Source Initiative (OSI) Announces expanded programs, counsel, and board" . Retrieved January 14, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Co-founder of OSI Banned From Mailing Lists" . Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  13. ↑ Harmon, Amy (November 3, 1998). "Internal Memo Shows Microsoft Executives' Concern Over Free Software". The New York Times . Retrieved November 5, 2011.
  14. ↑ "CML2, ESR, & The LKML". KernelTrap. February 17, 2002. Archived from the original on August 7, 2007.
  15. ↑ McMillan, Rob. "Interview: Eric Raymond goes back to basics". IBM developerWorks. Archived from the original on June 4, 2003.
  16. ↑ "LKML: Linus Torvalds: Re: [ck] Re: Linus 2.6.23-rc1".
  17. ↑ "People at Gna!: Eric S. Raymond Profile". Gna.org . Archived from the original on March 1, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  18. ↑ "NTPsec Project Blog" . Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  19. ↑ Greenstein, Shane (January 2012). "The Range of Linus' Law". IEEE Micro. Vol. 32, no. 1. IEEE Computer Society.
  20. ↑ Raymond, Eric S. (1999). The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary. O'Reilly Media. ISBN   1-56592-724-9.
  21. ↑ Raymond, Eric S. (2000). "Afterword: Beyond Software?" . Retrieved July 24, 2007.
  22. ↑ Raymond, Eric S. (July 28, 1999). "Shut Up And Show Them The Code". Linux Today. Archived from the original on June 30, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  23. ↑ Raymond, Eric S. (October 1, 2008). "Why I Hate Proprietary Software" . Retrieved November 5, 2011.
  24. ↑ Richard Stallman, Free Software, and Copyleft Archived June 24, 2017, at the Wayback Machine 2011
  25. ↑ Raymond, Eric (August 23, 2012). "Defense Distributed". Armed and Dangerous. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  26. ↑ Kopfstein, Janus (April 12, 2013). "Guns want to be free: what happens when 3D printing and crypto-anarchy collide?". The Verge .
  27. ↑ "Linus Torvalds targeted by honeytraps, claims Eric S. Raymond" . Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Is This Crazy Anti-Feminist Rumor the Platonic Ideal of the Men's-Rights Internet?". Select All. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  29. ↑ Raymond, Eric (June 16, 2002). "The Elephant in the Bath-House" . Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  30. ↑ Raymond, Eric (September 24, 2016). "Dilemmatizing the NRA" . Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  31. ↑ Jeong, Sarah (March 8, 2018). "Meet the campaign connecting affluent techies with progressive candidates around the country". The Verge. Retrieved March 8, 2018.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.