BitKeeper
Original author(s) | BitMover Inc. |
---|---|
Initial release | May 4, 2000 |
Final release | 7.3.3
/ December 29, 2018[1] |
Repository | |
Written in | Distributed revision control |
License | 2016: Apache-2.0[a] 2000: Proprietary[b] |
Website | www |
BitKeeper is a discontinued
History
BitKeeper was originally developed by BitMover Inc., a privately held company from
BitKeeper and the Linux Kernel
BitKeeper was first mentioned as a solution to some of the growing pains that Linux was having in September 1998.[7] Early access betas were available in May 1999[8] and on May 4, 2000, the first public release of BitKeeper was made available.[9][10] BitMover used to provide access to the system for certain
The decision made in 2002 to use BitKeeper for Linux kernel development was a controversial one. Some, including GNU Project founder Richard Stallman, expressed concern about proprietary tools being used on a flagship free project. While project leader Linus Torvalds and other core developers adopted BitKeeper, several key developers (including Linux veteran Alan Cox) refused to do so, citing the BitMover license, and voicing concern that the project was ceding some control to a proprietary developer. To mitigate these concerns, BitMover added gateways which allowed limited interoperation between the Linux BitKeeper servers (maintained by BitMover) and developers using CVS and Subversion. Even after this addition, flamewars occasionally broke out on the Linux kernel mailing list, often involving key kernel developers and BitMover's CEO Larry McVoy, who was also a Linux contributor.[11][original research?]
In April 2005, BitMover announced that it would stop providing a version of BitKeeper free of charge to the community, giving as the reason the efforts of
End of support for the "Free Use" version of BitKeeper was officially July 1, 2005, and users were required to switch to the commercial version or change version control system by then. Commercial users were also required not to produce any competing tools: In October 2005, McVoy contacted a customer using commercially licensed BitKeeper, demanding that an employee of the customer stop contributing to the
Move to open-source
During the release of version 7.2ce at May 9, 2016, BitKeeper announced that it is starting to move from proprietary to open-source license,[13] eventually releasing the software under the Apache License version 2.
See also
Notes
References
- ^ "BitKeeper version 7.3.3 released Dec 29 2018".
- ^ "Company information". BitMover. Archived from the original on 2016-08-01. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
- ^ "BitKeeper". Archived from the original on 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
- ^ "BitKeeper community forum". BitMover. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
- ^ "Contributors to bitkeeper". GitHub. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
- ^ "Company information". BitMover. Archived from the original on 2016-08-01. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
- ^ McVoy, Larry (30 Sep 1998). "A solution for growing pains". linux-kernel (Mailing list).
- ^ "Current status". BitMover. 1999. Archived from the original on 1999-05-08.
- ^ "Current status". BitMover. 4 May 2000. Archived from the original on 2000-06-17.
- ^ "Development projects". LWN.net. 11 May 2000.
- ^ Stallman, Richard (13 October 2002). "Bitkeeper outragem, old and new". linux-kernel (Mailing list). Retrieved 23 August 2019 – via MARC.
- ^ O'Sullivan, Bryan (30 September 2005). "Why I am no longer working on Mercurial". mercurial-devel (Mailing list). Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
- ^ "BitKeeper announces opensource license ahead". BitKeeper.org. 9 May 2016.
External links
- Official website
- BitKeeper's note about the Nov 2003 security breach
- "Not quite Open Source" Article on Linux Weekly News, circa 1999, discussing features, licensing, Larry McVoy, and OSI.
- "No More Free BitKeeper" Discusses BitMover's decision to phase out the free version of BitKeeper
- Barr, Joe (2005), BitKeeper and Linux: The end of the road?, NewsForge (published April 11, 2005), archived from the original on April 17, 2005 discusses the BitKeeper fiasco from three viewpoints: Linus Torvalds, Larry McVoy, Andrew "Tridge" Tridgell(the alleged reverse-engineer who offers a short explanation of the situation)
- How Tridge reverse-engineered Bitkeeper and Torvalds knifes Tridgell, two articles describing Tridgell's 2005 linux.conf.au keynote and comparing what he did to statements by Torvalds and McVoy
- SourcePuller is the result of Tridgell's efforts
- RMS: BitKeeper bon-voyage is a happy ending – Richard Stallman on the Linux/BitKeeper fallout (formerly on NewsForge, currently on Linux.com)
- The Age Crunch time for Linus
- BitKeeper at the "Better SCM" Site – a collection of articles and essays about BitKeeper and its history.