faif-2.0

164 CHAPTER 11. OPEN SOURCE
by Torvalds with the “Cathedral” style generally used by everyone
else.
Raymond says the response was enthusiastic, but not nearly as
enthusiastic as the one he received during the 1997 Linux Kongress, a
gathering of GNU/Linux users in Germany the next spring.
“At the Kongress, they gave me a standing ovation at the end of the
speech,” Raymond recalls. “I took that as significant for two reasons.
For one thing, it meant they were excited by what they were hearing.
For another thing, it meant they were excited even after hearing the
speech delivered through a language barrier.”
Eventually, Raymond would convert the speech into a paper, also
titled “The Cathedral and the Bazaar.” The paper drew its name
from Raymond’s central analogy. Previously, programs were “cathedrals,”
impressive, centrally planned monuments built to stand the test
of time. Linux, on the other hand, was more like “a great babbling
bazaar,” a software program developed through the loose decentralizing
dynamics of the Internet.
Raymond’s paper associated the Cathedral style, which he and
Stallman and many others had used, specifically with the GNU Project
and Stallman, thus casting the contrast between development models
as a comparison between Stallman and Torvalds. Where Stallman
was his chosen example of the classic cathedral architect – i.e., a programming
“wizard” who could disappear for 18 months and return
with something like the GNU C Compiler – Torvalds was more like
a genial dinner-party host. In letting others lead the Linux design
discussion and stepping in only when the entire table needed a referee,
Torvalds had created a development model very much reflective
of his own laid-back personality. From Torvalds’ perspective, the most
important managerial task was not imposing control but keeping the
ideas flowing.
Summarized Raymond, “I think Linus’s cleverest and most consequential
hack was not the construction of the Linux kernel itself, but
rather his invention of the Linux development model.” 4
If the paper’s description of these two styles of development was
perceptive, its association of the Cathedral model specifically with
Stallman (rather than all the others who had used it, including Raymond
himself) was sheer calumny. In fact, the developers of some
GNU packages including the GNU Hurd had read about and adopted