Bonum Certa Men Certa

Forking is Easy, But the Hard Part is Finding a Strong Rationale for It (Essential for Momentum)

Forks are meant for particular purposes

Bart pretends to put a fork into an electric socket.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence



Summary: In centralised Git repositories with a Web GUI, "forking" is just one mouse click away (although the fork is still controlled by the same masters); so forking is not hard, but making the fork supersede or overtake the original is the hard part

THERE were lousy attempts over the years to fork Linux (by the very same people who viciously attacked Linus Torvalds and defamed Richard Stallman). On what basis? Fabrications and lies? Of course such forks didn't stand a chance; those involved have since then vanished and now work for proprietary software companies... because being a professional troll can pay a 6-figure salary or more than $600,000 a year.



In any case, the existence of forking as an option is highly important; it keeps projects and developers beholden to some degree to those who depend on them. The very risk (or mere threat) of forking has already caused Audacity's new owner to try some diplomacy, walking back on some plans and apologising (which would likely be insufficient). This matters to us because we've used Audacity for over a decade in TechBytes. If we can find a resolution other than forking, it'll be simpler for everybody. Similarly for IRC networks, but at this stage Freenode is just shooting its very own foot and last night it posted anti-vaccination nonsense in its very front page!

On Apple, Trojan Horses and Truth
Screenshot taken in case they change the text later; this was composed and signed by "His Imperial Highness" ("HIH Andrew Lee, Joseon" and "[o]n behalf of the free world")



There's a chance the text will change, so screenshots help. This is the top of the very front page of freenode.net at the moment.

 Bobby MossWe're already mentioned the Glimpse/GIMP situation because a few months ago Glimpse basically died. GIMP isn't an offensive word but a meaningful, descriptive acronym that goes decades back. Bobby Moss (on the right) knows what it stands for, but it seems like a convenient excuse for making a splash. Did GIMP developers flock over to his 'cause'? Of course not. So Glimpse could not keep up and therefore died, just like many other GIMP forks/branches, including those trying to 'reinvent' Photoshop. There needs to be a very good reason for forking. Apparently some people had to audacity to say that the very founder of Mastodon should step down (from his own project). Why not fork Mastodon instead? Because those calling for resignation/ousting very well knew they wouldn't stand a chance. The arguments for leadership change (or forking) is just too weak. So Mastodon stays Mastodon, just like GIMP stays in tact and moves on.

Then there's the whole LibreOffice/OpenOffice situation. It was profoundly different when it was Novell's Go-OO (Microsoft-connected disruption and thus indebted to OOXML) versus Sun. We wrote many articles back then and we welcomed LibreOffice because it tackled a real problem (the whole situation was very different by 2010; prior to that, even IBM was participating in development, unlike Oracle which never cared about office suites).

"That's just copyleft at work! It helps ensure forks do come about when they need to and forks perish when there's no real need for them."Forking is a good thing provided a fork has a good reason for it. Without compelling motivations, especially when the forked project is very large, the fork does not stand a chance. That's just copyleft at work! It helps ensure forks do come about when they need to and forks perish when there's no real need for them.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft's Nat Friedman Became Unemployed the Same Time the SLAPPs Against Techrights Started Coming From His Friends (Weeks After We Had Exposed Scandals About Him and the Serial Strangler, His Best Friend, Who Got Arrested a Few Days Later)
Nat Friedman is not "Investor, entrepreneur"
Weeding Out Extremism in Our Community
To me it seems like Microsoft Lunduke is rapidly becoming like a "hate preacher" who operates online, breeding an extremist ideology or trying to soften its image
Censorship Versus Fact-Checking and Quality Control
It's not censorship but a matter of quality control
Gemini Links 07/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and TUI Rant
Links for the day
Two Risks to Companies: The Microsoft Culture and the Microsoft Tools
Novell was killed by a form of "social engineering" by Microsoft
It's Hard to Trust People Who Worked - Not Only Those Who Still Work - at Microsoft
Bryan Lunduke is just what people would call an "arsehole of a person"
 
The 'Corporate Neckbeard' is Not the "Good Guy"
Works for IBM
The Nasty Smear (and Stereotype) of "Neckbeard" or "Greybeard" is Ageism
This is the sort of stuff they might try to volley at critics of Wayland
Why Many of Us Use X Server and Will Continue to Use It For Many Years to Come
Don't make this about politics
Brett Wilson LLP Uses Threats to Demand Changes to Pages or Removal of Pages Without Even Revealing Which Staff Member Does That (Sometimes People From Another Firm!)
This has been in the public for years
Dan Neidle Said "It Really Then Became a Job of Tormenting" Lawyers Like Brett Wilson LLP (Who Threatened Him for Exposing Crimes, Just Like They Threatened My Wife a Few Months Later)
he and his wife decided to take on the evil people and their evil lawyers
Large Language Models (LLMs) Externalise Their Cost to the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
"The forty-sixth Free Software Bulletin is now available online!"
Reinforcing the Allegations Some More, Bryan Lunduke Digs His Own Grave
In his latest episodes he merely repeats his own lies, which I debunked using evidence right from his own mouth
Global Warming and Free Software as a Force of Mitigation
we'll need to think about Software Freedom, not just brands like "Linux"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 06, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 06, 2025
[Video] "Copyleft Isn't a Bug."
"Copyleft isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. GNU GPL forced the world to treat code like a public good."
Being in Social Control Media Means Exposing Oneself to Heckling
Richard Stallman does not (either himself or directly) post to any social control media
Links 06/07/2025: Airlines Perils, Scams, and Breaches
Links for the day
For the Second Time, Bryan Lunduke From Microsoft is Siccing Racist Trolls and Vandals at Me
You're only reinforcing the point we made yesterday
Links 06/07/2025: End to End Encryption at Risk, Reuters Twitter ("X") Account Withheld in India
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/07/2025: Tinylog and Certification Rotation
Links for the day
Links 06/07/2025: Climate Change and "The Right to Criticise"
Links for the day
PCLinuxOS Sites Coming Back, Gradually
let's just be patient
Social Control Media, Even If Based on Free Software, Still Has Many Problems
a distraction from what actually mattered and still matters
IBM is Not Your Master
IBM makes friends with people who exclude the majority of the population: women
Help Fund the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
If you have some dollars to spare, go support the FSF
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 05, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 05, 2025
A Short History of Attacks on Techrights (and Boycott Novell Before That)
good opportunity to tell again the story of several (not all) attempts to silence us
The Mainstream Media Took 4 Days to Realise Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan and Fired Everybody
We estimate that Microsoft has had about 29,000 layoffs since January
Leadership in Free Software
Don't let IBM lead. It's a terrible flag bearer.
“Twibel” Actions Against Comedians (and Why It's a Truly Low Blow)
they try to make up in quantities for a lack of merit or quality
Linux Foundation Apparently Flirting With Slop (Marketing by LLM-Generated SPAM)
The Web is in a really bad state!
COVID-19 Sped Up Site Improvements in Techrights
A few months later we created our very own IRC network
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: Negative Questions and 'Touching Grass' (Going Outside)
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Dalai Lama Succession as 90th Birthday Approaches, 40 deg C in China
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Hungary and US Defecting to Russia, "Google's Hotseat Hypocrisy"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: 4th of July 2025 and "Zig Roadmap 2026"
Links for the day
How to Combat the Exploitation and Abuse by Microsoft GitHub
Not to mention corruption and crimes against women
Bryan Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People
"[Lunduke] is actually sending his audience to attack people."
Even The Right Wing is Rejecting Bryan Lunduke
no wonder he became so irrelevant and marginal
Microsoft's MSN Helps Microsoft Spread Lies About the Layoffs' Scale (Well Over 25,000 People Laid Off This Year)
There seem to be monopolies on lies and on truth
The Death of X Has Been Greatly Exaggerated (by Compromised Media)
X.Org Server is alive and well
Rewriting Things in Rust
How far would you go?
In 2025 Everything is "AI". Remember Blockchains?
Talk about what companies and things (services, products, software) actually do, not the labels they use
Julian Assange Has Been Free for a Year
Julian Assange and I disagreed on some things
Monopolies and Scalping
Monopolies gravitate towards price hikes
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 04, 2025
Microsoft's August Layoffs Wave: "August is Confirmed for Additional Performance Based Cuts"
"August is confirmed for additional performance based cuts from the recent connects along with additional organizational cuts."
What Microsoft Reputation Laundering (With a Weaponised Law Degree) Looks Like in a Foreign Continent
You would expect this in uncivilised and primitive countries
Slopwatch: LLMs 'Write' Fake or Distorted 'News' About "Linux"
LLM slop disguised as news