Linux not only paved the way for open source success, but has shaped how open source communities operate

I’m not sure we talk about Linux enough. For those of us who have grown up in open source, as well as those new to open source, we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to the pioneering work by the Linux community. Linux, after all, was the early poster child for what open source meant, and what it could mean for individuals, businesses, and governments.

But the Linux community, including its gravitational center, Linus Torvalds, has also shaped the way open source works today. From Git to organizational structure (maintainers, committers, etc.), Linux has either directly established or indirectly influenced how open source communities operate. It’s therefore worth reviewing some of the ways Linux paved the way for open source, generally, as detailed in The Linux Foundation’s 2020 Linux Kernel History Report.

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