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vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" title="Table of Contents" > <input type="checkbox" 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Available in 34 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-34" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">34 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%B9_%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%84_(%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%AC%D8%A9)" title="تفرع معدل (برمجة) – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="تفرع معدل (برمجة)" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BA" title="Форк – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Форк" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork" title="Fork – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Fork" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork" title="Fork – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Fork" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-da mw-list-item"><a href="https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgrening_(softwareudvikling)" title="Forgrening (softwareudvikling) – Danish" lang="da" hreflang="da" data-title="Forgrening (softwareudvikling)" data-language-autonym="Dansk" data-language-local-name="Danish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Dansk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abspaltung_(Softwareentwicklung)" title="Abspaltung (Softwareentwicklung) – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Abspaltung (Softwareentwicklung)" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A0%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%AC%CE%B4%CE%B9_(%CF%80%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE)" title="Παρακλάδι (πληροφορική) – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Παρακλάδι (πληροφορική)" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ελληνικά</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifurcaci%C3%B3n_(desarrollo_de_software)" title="Bifurcación (desarrollo de software) – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Bifurcación (desarrollo de software)" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eu mw-list-item"><a href="https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork" title="Fork – Basque" lang="eu" hreflang="eu" data-title="Fork" data-language-autonym="Euskara" data-language-local-name="Basque" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Euskara</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A8_(%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%87_%D9%86%D8%B1%D9%85%E2%80%8C%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1)" title="انشعاب (توسعه نرم‌افزار) – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="انشعاب (توسعه نرم‌افزار)" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(d%C3%A9veloppement_logiciel)" title="Fork (développement logiciel) – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Fork (développement logiciel)" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%8F%AC%ED%81%AC_(%EC%86%8C%ED%94%84%ED%8A%B8%EC%9B%A8%EC%96%B4_%EA%B0%9C%EB%B0%9C)" title="포크 (소프트웨어 개발) – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="포크 (소프트웨어 개발)" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hr mw-list-item"><a href="https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(razvitak_softvera)" title="Fork (razvitak softvera) – Croatian" lang="hr" hreflang="hr" data-title="Fork (razvitak softvera)" data-language-autonym="Hrvatski" data-language-local-name="Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Hrvatski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-id mw-list-item"><a href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(pengembangan_perangkat_lunak)" title="Fork (pengembangan perangkat lunak) – Indonesian" lang="id" hreflang="id" data-title="Fork (pengembangan perangkat lunak)" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Indonesia" data-language-local-name="Indonesian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Indonesia</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(sviluppo_software)" title="Fork (sviluppo software) – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Fork (sviluppo software)" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%9C_(%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%97_%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%94)" title="פיצול (פיתוח תוכנה) – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="פיצול (פיתוח תוכנה)" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(szoftverfejleszt%C3%A9s)" title="Fork (szoftverfejlesztés) – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Fork (szoftverfejlesztés)" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Magyar</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(ontwikkeling)" title="Fork (ontwikkeling) – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Fork (ontwikkeling)" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF_(%E3%82%BD%E3%83%95%E3%83%88%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A7%E3%82%A2%E9%96%8B%E7%99%BA)" title="フォーク (ソフトウェア開発) – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="フォーク (ソフトウェア開発)" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgrening" title="Forgrening – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="Forgrening" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk bokmål</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork" title="Fork – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Fork" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifurca%C3%A7%C3%A3o_(desenvolvimento_de_software)" title="Bifurcação (desenvolvimento de software) – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Bifurcação (desenvolvimento de software)" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(dezvoltare_software)" title="Fork (dezvoltare software) – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Fork (dezvoltare software)" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Română</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-qu mw-list-item"><a href="https://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%27allqay_(llamp%27ukaq_wi%C3%B1arichiy)" title="P'allqay (llamp'ukaq wiñarichiy) – Quechua" lang="qu" hreflang="qu" data-title="P'allqay (llamp'ukaq wiñarichiy)" data-language-autonym="Runa Simi" data-language-local-name="Quechua" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Runa Simi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BA" title="Форк – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Форк" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(software_development)" title="Fork (software development) – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Fork (software development)" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sk mw-list-item"><a href="https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork" title="Fork – Slovak" lang="sk" hreflang="sk" data-title="Fork" data-language-autonym="Slovenčina" data-language-local-name="Slovak" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenčina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sr mw-list-item"><a href="https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BA_(%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%98_%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%84%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0)" title="Форк (развој софтвера) – Serbian" lang="sr" hreflang="sr" data-title="Форк (развој софтвера)" data-language-autonym="Српски / srpski" data-language-local-name="Serbian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Српски / srpski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forkkaus" title="Forkkaus – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Forkkaus" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork" title="Fork – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Fork" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-th mw-list-item"><a href="https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%9F%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C%E0%B8%81_(%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%92%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%8B%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%9F%E0%B8%95%E0%B9%8C%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C)" title="ฟอร์ก (การพัฒนาซอฟต์แวร์) – Thai" lang="th" hreflang="th" data-title="ฟอร์ก (การพัฒนาซอฟต์แวร์)" data-language-autonym="ไทย" data-language-local-name="Thai" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ไทย</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87atal_(yaz%C4%B1l%C4%B1m_geli%C5%9Ftirme)" title="Çatal (yazılım geliştirme) – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Çatal (yazılım geliştirme)" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BA" title="Форк – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Форк" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%88%86%E5%8F%89_(%E8%BD%AF%E4%BB%B6%E5%BC%80%E5%8F%91)" title="分叉 (软件开发) – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="分叉 (软件开发)" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q332903#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" 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For the operation whereby a process creates a copy of itself, see <a href="/wiki/Fork_(system_call)" title="Fork (system call)">fork (system call)</a>.</div> <p class="mw-empty-elt"> </p> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg/170px-Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg.png" decoding="async" width="170" height="604" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg/255px-Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg/340px-Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="3520" data-file-height="12510" /></a><figcaption>A timeline chart showing the evolution of <a href="/wiki/Linux_distribution" title="Linux distribution">Linux distributions</a>, with each split in the diagram being called "a fork"</figcaption></figure> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Software_engineering" title="Software engineering">software engineering</a>, a <b>project fork</b> happens when developers take a copy of <a href="/wiki/Source_code" title="Source code">source code</a> from one <a href="/wiki/Computer_software" class="mw-redirect" title="Computer software">software package</a> and start independent development on it, creating a distinct and separate piece of software.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:AUDIENCE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:AUDIENCE"><span title="An editor has requested that an example be provided. (June 2024)">example needed</span></a></i>]</sup> The term often implies not merely a <a href="/wiki/Branching_(revision_control)" class="mw-redirect" title="Branching (revision control)">development branch</a>, but also a split in the developer community; as such, it is a form of <a href="/wiki/Schism" title="Schism">schism</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Grounds for forking are varying user preferences and stagnated or discontinued development of the original software. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software" title="Free and open-source software">Free and open-source software</a> is that which, by definition, may be forked from the original development team without prior permission, and without violating <a href="/wiki/Copyright" title="Copyright">copyright</a> law. However, licensed forks of proprietary software (<i>e.g.</i> <a href="/wiki/Unix" title="Unix">Unix</a>) also happen. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Etymology">Etymology</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Fork_(software_development)&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Etymology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The word "fork" has been used to mean "to divide in branches, go separate ways" as early as the 14th century.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In the software environment, the word evokes the <a href="/wiki/Fork_(system_call)" title="Fork (system call)">fork</a> system call, which causes a running process to split itself into two (almost) identical copies that (typically) diverge to perform different tasks.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In the context of software development, "fork" was used in the sense of creating a revision control "<a href="/wiki/Branching_(revision_control)" class="mw-redirect" title="Branching (revision control)">branch</a>" by <a href="/wiki/Eric_Allman" title="Eric Allman">Eric Allman</a> as early as 1980, in the context of <a href="/wiki/Source_Code_Control_System" title="Source Code Control System">Source Code Control System</a>:<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>Creating a branch "forks off" a version of the program.</p></blockquote> <p>The term was in use on <a href="/wiki/Usenet" title="Usenet">Usenet</a> by 1983 for the process of creating a subgroup to move topics of discussion to.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>"Fork" is not known to have been used in the sense of a community schism during the origins of Lucid Emacs (now <a href="/wiki/XEmacs" title="XEmacs">XEmacs</a>) (1991) or the <a href="/wiki/Berkeley_Software_Distribution" title="Berkeley Software Distribution">Berkeley Software Distributions</a> (BSDs) (1993–1994); <a href="/wiki/Russ_Nelson" title="Russ Nelson">Russ Nelson</a> used the term "shattering" for this sort of fork in 1993, attributing it to <a href="/wiki/John_Gilmore_(activist)" title="John Gilmore (activist)">John Gilmore</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> However, "fork" was in use in the present sense by 1995 to describe the XEmacs split,<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and was an understood usage in the <a href="/wiki/GNU" title="GNU">GNU</a> Project by 1996.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Forking_of_free_and_open-source_software">Forking of free and open-source software</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Fork_(software_development)&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Forking of free and open-source software"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Free and <a href="/wiki/Open-source_software" title="Open-source software">open-source software</a> may be legally forked without prior approval of those currently developing, managing, or distributing the software per both <a href="/wiki/The_Free_Software_Definition" title="The Free Software Definition">The Free Software Definition</a> and <a href="/wiki/The_Open_Source_Definition" title="The Open Source Definition">The Open Source Definition</a>:<sup id="cite_ref-wheeler_9-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-wheeler-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712" /><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this, you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite><a href="/wiki/The_Free_Software_Definition" title="The Free Software Definition">The Free Software Definition</a><sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite></div></blockquote> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712" /><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>3. Derived Works: The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite><a href="/wiki/The_Open_Source_Definition" title="The Open Source Definition">The Open Source Definition</a><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite></div></blockquote> <p>In free software, forks often result from a schism over different goals or personality clashes. In a fork, both parties assume nearly identical code bases, but typically only the larger group, or whoever controls the web site, will retain the full original name and the associated user community. Thus, there is a reputation penalty associated with forking.<sup id="cite_ref-wheeler_9-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-wheeler-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The relationship between the different teams can be cordial or very bitter. On the other hand, a <i>friendly fork</i> or a <i>soft fork</i> is a fork that does not intend to compete, but wants to eventually merge with the original. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond" title="Eric S. Raymond">Eric S. Raymond</a>, in his essay <i><a href="/wiki/Homesteading_the_Noosphere" title="Homesteading the Noosphere">Homesteading the Noosphere</a></i>,<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> stated that "The most important characteristic of a fork is that it spawns competing projects that cannot later exchange code, splitting the potential developer community". He notes in the <a href="/wiki/Jargon_File" title="Jargon File">Jargon File</a>:<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712" /><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>Forking is considered a Bad Thing—not merely because it implies a lot of wasted effort in the future, but because forks tend to be accompanied by a great deal of strife and acrimony between the successor groups over issues of legitimacy, succession, and design direction. There is serious social pressure against forking. As a result, major forks (such as the <a href="/wiki/GNU_Emacs" title="GNU Emacs">Gnu-Emacs</a>/<a href="/wiki/XEmacs" title="XEmacs">XEmacs</a> split, the fissioning of the <a href="/wiki/386BSD" title="386BSD">386BSD</a> group into three daughter projects, and the short-lived GCC/EGCS split) are rare enough that they are remembered individually in hacker folklore.</p></blockquote> <p>David A. Wheeler notes<sup id="cite_ref-wheeler_9-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-wheeler-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> four possible outcomes of a fork, with examples: </p> <ol><li>The death of the fork. This is by far the most common case. It is easy to declare a fork, but considerable effort to continue independent development and support.</li> <li>A re-merging of the fork (<i>e.g.</i>, <a href="/wiki/Egcs" class="mw-redirect" title="Egcs">egcs</a> becoming "blessed" as the new version of <a href="/wiki/GNU_Compiler_Collection" title="GNU Compiler Collection">GNU Compiler Collection</a>.)</li> <li>The death of the original (<i>e.g.</i> the <a href="/wiki/X.Org_Server" title="X.Org Server">X.Org Server</a> succeeding and <a href="/wiki/XFree86" title="XFree86">XFree86</a> dying.)</li> <li>Successful branching, typically with differentiation (<i>e.g.</i>, <a href="/wiki/OpenBSD" title="OpenBSD">OpenBSD</a> and <a href="/wiki/NetBSD" title="NetBSD">NetBSD</a>.)</li></ol> <p><a href="/wiki/Distributed_revision_control" class="mw-redirect" title="Distributed revision control">Distributed revision control</a> (DVCS) tools have popularised a less emotive use of the term "fork", blurring the distinction with "branch".<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> With a DVCS such as <a href="/wiki/Mercurial" title="Mercurial">Mercurial</a> or <a href="/wiki/Git" title="Git">Git</a>, the normal way to contribute to a project, is to first create a personal branch of the repository, independent of the main repository, and later seek to have your changes integrated with it. Sites such as <a href="/wiki/GitHub" title="GitHub">GitHub</a>, <a href="/wiki/Bitbucket" title="Bitbucket">Bitbucket</a> and <a href="/wiki/Launchpad_(website)" title="Launchpad (website)">Launchpad</a> provide free DVCS hosting expressly supporting independent branches, such that the technical, social and financial barriers to forking a source code repository are massively reduced, and GitHub uses "fork" as its term for this method of contribution to a project. </p><p>Forks often restart version numbering from numbers typically used for initial versions of programs like 0.0.1, 0.1, or 1.0 even if the original software was at another version such as 3.0, 4.0, or 5.0. An exception is sometimes made when the forked software is designed to be a drop-in replacement for the original project, <i>e.g.</i> <a href="/wiki/MariaDB" title="MariaDB">MariaDB</a> for <a href="/wiki/MySQL" title="MySQL">MySQL</a><sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> or <a href="/wiki/LibreOffice" title="LibreOffice">LibreOffice</a> for <a href="/wiki/OpenOffice.org" title="OpenOffice.org">OpenOffice.org</a>. </p><p>The <a href="/wiki/BSD_licenses" title="BSD licenses">BSD licenses</a> permit forks to become proprietary software, and <a href="/wiki/Copyleft" title="Copyleft">copyleft</a> proponents say that commercial incentives thus make proprietisation almost inevitable. (Copyleft licenses can, however, be circumvented via dual-licensing with a proprietary grant in the form of a <a href="/wiki/Contributor_License_Agreement" title="Contributor License Agreement">Contributor License Agreement</a>.) Examples include <a href="/wiki/MacOS" title="MacOS">macOS</a> (based on the proprietary <a href="/wiki/NeXTSTEP" title="NeXTSTEP">NeXTSTEP</a> and the open source <a href="/wiki/FreeBSD" title="FreeBSD">FreeBSD</a>), <a href="/wiki/Cedega_(software)" title="Cedega (software)">Cedega</a> and <a href="/wiki/CrossOver" class="mw-redirect" title="CrossOver">CrossOver</a> (proprietary forks of <a href="/wiki/Wine_(software)" title="Wine (software)">Wine</a>, though CrossOver tracks Wine and contributes considerably), EnterpriseDB (a fork of <a href="/wiki/PostgreSQL" title="PostgreSQL">PostgreSQL</a>, adding Oracle compatibility features<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>), Supported PostgreSQL with their proprietary ESM storage system,<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and Netezza's<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> proprietary highly scalable derivative of PostgreSQL. Some of these vendors contribute back changes to the community project, while some keep their changes as their own competitive advantages. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Forking_proprietary_software">Forking proprietary software</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Fork_(software_development)&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Forking proprietary software"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Proprietary_software" title="Proprietary software">proprietary software</a>, the copyright is usually held by the employing entity, not by the individual software developers. Proprietary code is thus more commonly forked when the owner needs to develop two or more versions, such as a <a href="/wiki/Window_(computing)" title="Window (computing)">windowed</a> version and a <a href="/wiki/Command_line" class="mw-redirect" title="Command line">command line</a> version, or versions for differing operating systems, such as a <a href="/wiki/Word_processor" title="Word processor">word processor</a> for <a href="/wiki/IBM_PC" class="mw-redirect" title="IBM PC">IBM PC</a> compatible machines and <a href="/wiki/Macintosh" class="mw-redirect" title="Macintosh">Macintosh</a> computers. Generally, such internal forks will concentrate on having the same look, feel, data format, and behavior between platforms so that a user familiar with one can also be productive or share documents generated on the other. This is almost always an economic decision to generate a greater <a href="/wiki/Market_share" title="Market share">market share</a> and thus pay back the associated extra development costs created by the fork. </p><p>A notable proprietary fork not of this kind is the many varieties of proprietary <a href="/wiki/Unix" title="Unix">Unix</a>—almost all derived from AT&T Unix under license and all called "Unix", but increasingly mutually incompatible.<sup id="cite_ref-moen_19-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-moen-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <i>See</i> <a href="/wiki/Unix_wars" title="Unix wars">Unix wars</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Fork_(software_development)&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_software_forks" title="List of software forks">List of software forks</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Source_port" title="Source port">Source port</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Downstream_(software_development)" title="Downstream (software development)">Downstream (software development)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Group_decision-making" title="Group decision-making">Group decision-making</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modular_programming" title="Modular programming">Modular programming</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Modding" title="Modding">Modding</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Custom_software" title="Custom software">Custom software</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Personalization" title="Personalization">Personalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Team_effectiveness" title="Team effectiveness">Team effectiveness</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Duplicate_code" title="Duplicate code">Duplicate code</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/ROM_hacking" title="ROM hacking">ROM Hacking</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Fork_(software_development)&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"Schism", with its connotations, is a common usage, <i>e.g.</i> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jwz.org/doc/lemacs.html">"the Lemacs/FSFmacs schism"</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091130093142/http://www.jwz.org/doc/lemacs.html">Archived</a> 30 November 2009 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> (<a href="/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski" title="Jamie Zawinski">Jamie Zawinski</a>, 2000)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://lwn.net/Articles/419822/">"Behind the KOffice split"</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130706094238/http://lwn.net/Articles/419822/">Archived</a> 6 July 2013 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> (Joe Brockmeier, <i>Linux Weekly News</i>, 2010-12-14)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.h-online.com/open/features/Copyright-assignment-Once-bitten-twice-shy-1049631.html">"Copyright assignment – once bitten, twice shy"</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120330153250/http://www.h-online.com/open/features/Copyright-assignment-Once-bitten-twice-shy-1049631.html">Archived</a> 30 March 2012 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> (Richard Hillesley, <i>H-Online</i>, 2010-08-06)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dashes.com/anil/2010/09/forking-is-a-feature.html">"Forking is a feature"</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120229032536/http://dashes.com/anil/2010/09/forking-is-a-feature.html">Archived</a> 29 February 2012 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> (<a href="/wiki/Anil_Dash" title="Anil Dash">Anil Dash</a>, 2010-09-10)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000101">"The Great Software Schism"</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120106065841/http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000101">Archived</a> 6 January 2012 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> (<a href="/wiki/Glyn_Moody" title="Glyn Moody">Glyn Moody</a>, <i>Linux Journal</i>, 2006-09-28)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://mako.cc/writing/to_fork_or_not_to_fork.html">"To Fork Or Not To Fork: Lessons From Ubuntu and Debian"</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120226160810/http://mako.cc/writing/to_fork_or_not_to_fork.html">Archived</a> 26 February 2012 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> (<a href="/wiki/Benjamin_Mako_Hill" title="Benjamin Mako Hill">Benjamin Mako Hill</a>, 2005).</li></ul> </span></li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fork">Entry 'fork' in Online Etymology Dictionary</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120525165727/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fork">Archived</a> 25 May 2012 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"The term fork is derived from the POSIX standard for operating systems: the system call used so that a process generates a copy of itself is called fork()." <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFRoblesGonzález-Barahona2012" class="citation conference cs1">Robles, Gregorio; González-Barahona, Jesús M. (2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/paper_0.pdf"><i>A Comprehensive Study of Software Forks: Dates, Reasons and Outcomes</i></a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. OSS 2012 The Eighth International Conference on Open Source Systems. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-3-642-33442-9_1">10.1007/978-3-642-33442-9_1</a></span>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131202221721/http://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/paper_0.pdf">Archived</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> from the original on 2 December 2013<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 October</span> 2012</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=conference&rft.btitle=A+Comprehensive+Study+of+Software+Forks%3A+Dates%2C+Reasons+and+Outcomes&rft.date=2012&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1007%2F978-3-642-33442-9_1&rft.aulast=Robles&rft.aufirst=Gregorio&rft.au=Gonz%C3%A1lez-Barahona%2C+Jes%C3%BAs+M.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fflosshub.org%2Fsites%2Fflosshub.org%2Ffiles%2Fpaper_0.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFork+%28software+development%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Allman, Eric. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://sccs.sourceforge.net/man/sccs.me.html">"An Introduction to the Source Code Control System."</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20141106144859/http://sccs.sourceforge.net/man/sccs.me.html">Archived</a> 6 November 2014 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> Project Ingres, University of California at Berkeley, 1980.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://groups.google.com/group/net.misc/browse_thread/thread/b0e9f8531558b7e9/1cc726d9e9e05ebd?q=fork#1cc726d9e9e05ebd">Can somebody fork off a "net.philosophy"?</a> (<a href="/wiki/John_Gilmore_(activist)" title="John Gilmore (activist)">John Gilmore</a>, net.misc, 18 January 1983)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://groups.google.com/group/gnu.misc.discuss/browse_thread/thread/1bba70b8f8676c43/309504a5a51dd0f0">Shattering — good or bad?</a> (Russell Nelson, gnu.misc.discuss, 1 October 1993)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://groups.google.com/group/cu.cs.macl.info/browse_thread/thread/ed9e5ff9cb21c359/4ce930d2fd1271eb?q=%22fork+of%22+xemacs#4ce930d2fd1271eb">Re: Hey Franz: 32K Windows SUCK!!!!!</a> (Bill Dubuque, cu.cs.macl.info, 21 September 1995)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://groups.google.com/group/gnu.misc.discuss/browse_thread/thread/5d7529d865d4d9ca/69ebc4771f32bc45?q=fork+xemacs&utoken=jCqifzMAAABlYGNE0Z8-NzB8d_a6gkmMuNtzuV4zLfLK8bEgnt4z8g27cB9GA0FI9e6hHUM__C_J8dUPGZeQNP0WkVA49NN0">Lignux?</a> (Marcus G. Daniels, gnu.misc.discuss, 7 June 1996)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-wheeler-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-wheeler_9-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-wheeler_9-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-wheeler_9-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html#forking">Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS, FLOSS, or FOSS)? Look at the Numbers!: Forking</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060405112628/http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html">Archived</a> 5 April 2006 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> (David A. Wheeler)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFStallman" class="citation web cs1">Stallman, Richard. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">"The Free Software Definition"</a>. Free Software Foundation. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131014132149/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">Archived</a> from the original on 14 October 2013<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 October</span> 2013</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=The+Free+Software+Definition&rft.pub=Free+Software+Foundation&rft.aulast=Stallman&rft.aufirst=Richard&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnu.org%2Fphilosophy%2Ffree-sw.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFork+%28software+development%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://opensource.org/docs/osd">"The Open Source Definition"</a>. The Open Source Initiative. 7 July 2006. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131015144021/http://opensource.org/docs/osd">Archived</a> from the original on 15 October 2013<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 October</span> 2013</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=The+Open+Source+Definition&rft.pub=The+Open+Source+Initiative&rft.date=2006-07-07&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fopensource.org%2Fdocs%2Fosd&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFork+%28software+development%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFRaymond2002" class="citation web cs1"><a href="/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond" title="Eric S. Raymond">Raymond, Eric S.</a> (15 August 2002). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/homesteading/ar01s03.html">"Promiscuous Theory, Puritan Practice"</a>. <i>catb.org</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061006010031/http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/homesteading/ar01s03.html">Archived</a> from the original on 6 October 2006.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=catb.org&rft.atitle=Promiscuous+Theory%2C+Puritan+Practice&rft.date=2002-08-15&rft.aulast=Raymond&rft.aufirst=Eric+S.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.catb.org%2F~esr%2Fwritings%2Fcathedral-bazaar%2Fhomesteading%2Far01s03.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFork+%28software+development%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://catb.org/jargon/html/F/forked.html">Forked</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111108171515/http://catb.org/jargon/html/F/forked.html">Archived</a> 8 November 2011 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> (<a href="/wiki/Jargon_File" title="Jargon File">Jargon File</a>), first added to <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://magic-cookie.co.uk/jargon/jarg422/">v4.2.2</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120114192615/http://magic-cookie.co.uk/jargon/jarg422/">Archived</a> 14 January 2012 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>, 20 August 2000)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>e.g.</i> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFWillis2015" class="citation web cs1">Willis, Nathan (15 January 2015). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://lwn.net/Articles/628527/">"An "open governance" fork of Node.js"</a>. <i>LWN.net</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150421055059/http://lwn.net/Articles/628527/">Archived</a> from the original on 21 April 2015<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 January</span> 2015</span>. <q>Forks are a natural part of the open development model—so much so that GitHub famously plasters a "fork your own copy" button on almost every page.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=LWN.net&rft.atitle=An+%22open+governance%22+fork+of+Node.js&rft.date=2015-01-15&rft.aulast=Willis&rft.aufirst=Nathan&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Flwn.net%2FArticles%2F628527%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFork+%28software+development%29" class="Z3988"></span> See also <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFNyman2015" class="citation thesis cs1">Nyman, Linus (2015). <i>Understanding Code Forking in Open Source Software</i> (PhD). Hanken School of Economics. p. 57. <a href="/wiki/Hdl_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Hdl (identifier)">hdl</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://hdl.handle.net/10138%2F153135">10138/153135</a>. <q>Where practitioners have previously had rather narrow definitions of a fork, [...] the term now appears to be used much more broadly. Actions that would traditionally have been called a branch, a new distribution, code fragmentation, a pseudo-fork, etc. may all now be called forks by some developers. This appears to be in no insignificant part due to the broad definition and use of the term fork by GitHub.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adissertation&rft.title=Understanding+Code+Forking+in+Open+Source+Software&rft.inst=Hanken+School+of+Economics&rft.date=2015&rft_id=info%3Ahdl%2F10138%2F153135&rft.aulast=Nyman&rft.aufirst=Linus&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFork+%28software+development%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/31551/forked-a-project-where-do-my-version-numbers-start">Forked a project, where do my version numbers start?</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110826152252/http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/31551/forked-a-project-where-do-my-version-numbers-start">Archived</a> 26 August 2011 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.enterprisedb.com">EnterpriseDB</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061113052033/http://www.enterprisedb.com/">Archived</a> 13 November 2006 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.fastware.com.au/docs/FujitsuSupportedPostreSQLWhitePaperV1_02.pdf">Fujitsu Supported PostgreSQL</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060820144738/http://fastware.com.au/docs/FujitsuSupportedPostreSQLWhitePaperV1_02.pdf">Archived</a> 20 August 2006 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.netezza.com/media/2004/Weblog.htm">Netezza</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061113210650/http://www.netezza.com/media/2004/Weblog.htm">Archived</a> 13 November 2006 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-moen-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-moen_19-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Licensing_and_Law/forking.html">Fear of forking</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121217044712/http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Licensing_and_Law/forking.html">Archived</a> 17 December 2012 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> – An essay about forking in <a href="/wiki/Free_software" title="Free software">free software</a> projects, by Rick Moen</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Fork_(software_development)&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://meatballwiki.org/wiki/RightToFork">Right to Fork</a> at <a href="/wiki/Meatball_Wiki" class="mw-redirect" title="Meatball Wiki">Meatball Wiki</a></li> <li>A PhD examining forking: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/153135">(Nyman, 2015)</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230716095029/http://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/153135">Archived</a> 16 July 2023 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> "Understanding Code Forking in Open Source Software – An examination of code forking, its effect on open source software, and how it is viewed and practiced by developers"</li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline 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href="/wiki/Template:FOSS" title="Template:FOSS"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:FOSS" title="Template talk:FOSS"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:FOSS" title="Special:EditPage/Template:FOSS"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Free_and_open-source_software510" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software" title="Free and open-source software">Free and open-source software</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">General</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Alternative_terms_for_free_software" title="Alternative terms for free software">Alternative terms for free software</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_and_closed-source_software" title="Comparison of open-source and closed-source software">Comparison of open-source and closed-source software</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comparison_of_source-code-hosting_facilities" title="Comparison of source-code-hosting facilities">Comparison of source-code-hosting facilities</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Free_software" title="Free software">Free software</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_free_software_project_directories" title="List of free software project directories">Free software project directories</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gratis_versus_libre" title="Gratis versus libre">Gratis versus libre</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Long-term_support" title="Long-term support">Long-term support</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Open-source_software" title="Open-source software">Open-source software</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Open-source_software_development" title="Open-source software development">Open-source software development</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Outline_of_free_software" title="Outline of free software">Outline</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Timeline_of_free_and_open-source_software" title="Timeline of free and open-source software">Timeline</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_software_packages" title="List of free and open-source software packages">Software<br />packages</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Comparison_of_free_software_for_audio" title="Comparison of free software for audio">Audio</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_open-source_bioinformatics_software" title="List of open-source bioinformatics software">Bioinformatics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_open-source_codecs" title="List of open-source codecs">Codecs</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_configuration_management_software" title="Comparison of open-source configuration management software">Configuration management</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Device_driver" title="Device driver">Drivers</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Free_and_open-source_graphics_device_driver" title="Free and open-source graphics device driver">Graphics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_wireless_drivers" title="Comparison of open-source wireless drivers">Wireless</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_open-source_health_software" title="List of open-source health software">Health</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_open-source_software_for_mathematics" title="List of open-source software for mathematics">Mathematics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_office_suites" title="List of office suites">Office suites</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_operating_systems" title="Comparison of open-source operating systems">Operating systems</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_open-source_routing_platforms" title="List of open-source routing platforms">Routing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_free_television_software" title="List of free television software">Television</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_open-source_video_games" title="List of open-source video games">Video games</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_web_applications" title="List of free and open-source web applications">Web applications</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Comparison_of_shopping_cart_software" title="Comparison of shopping cart software">E-commerce</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_Android_applications" title="List of free and open-source Android applications">Android apps</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_iOS_applications" title="List of free and open-source iOS applications">iOS apps</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_commercial_open-source_applications_and_services" title="List of commercial open-source applications and services">Commercial</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_formerly_proprietary_software" title="List of formerly proprietary software">Formerly proprietary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_formerly_free_and_open-source_software" class="mw-redirect" title="List of formerly free and open-source software">Formerly open-source</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Community_of_practice" title="Community of practice">Community</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Free_software_movement" title="Free software movement">Free software movement</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_free_and_open-source_software" title="History of free and open-source software">History</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Open-source-software_movement" class="mw-redirect" title="Open-source-software movement">Open-source-software movement</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_free-software_events" title="List of free-software events">Events</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Open-source_software_advocacy" title="Open-source software advocacy">Advocacy</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_software_organizations" title="List of free and open-source software organizations">Organisations</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Free_Software_Movement_of_India" title="Free Software Movement of India">Free Software Movement of India</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Free_Software_Foundation" title="Free Software Foundation">Free Software Foundation</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Free-software_license" title="Free-software license">Licenses</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Academic_Free_License" title="Academic Free License">AFL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Apache_License" title="Apache License">Apache</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Apple_Public_Source_License" title="Apple Public Source License">APSL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Artistic_License" title="Artistic License">Artistic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Beerware" title="Beerware">Beerware</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/BSD_licenses" title="BSD licenses">BSD</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Creative_Commons_license" title="Creative Commons license">Creative Commons</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Common_Development_and_Distribution_License" title="Common Development and Distribution License">CDDL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eclipse_Public_License" title="Eclipse Public License">EPL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Free_Software_Foundation" title="Free Software Foundation">Free Software Foundation</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License" title="GNU General Public License">GNU GPL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/GNU_Affero_General_Public_License" title="GNU Affero General Public License">GNU AGPL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/GNU_Lesser_General_Public_License" title="GNU Lesser General Public License">GNU LGPL</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/ISC_license" title="ISC license">ISC</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_License" title="MIT License">MIT</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mozilla_Public_License" title="Mozilla Public License">MPL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Python_License" title="Python License">Python</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Python_Software_Foundation_License" title="Python Software Foundation License">Python Software Foundation License</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Shared_Source_Initiative" title="Shared Source Initiative">Shared Source Initiative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sleepycat_License" class="mw-redirect" title="Sleepycat License">Sleepycat</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Unlicense" title="Unlicense">Unlicense</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/WTFPL" title="WTFPL">WTFPL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Zlib_License" title="Zlib License">zlib</a></li></ul> </div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th id="Types_and_standards23" scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Types and<br /> standards</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Comparison_of_free_and_open-source_software_licenses" title="Comparison of free and open-source software licenses">Comparison of licenses</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Contributor_License_Agreement" title="Contributor License Agreement">Contributor License Agreement</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Copyleft" title="Copyleft">Copyleft</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Debian_Free_Software_Guidelines" class="mw-redirect" title="Debian Free Software Guidelines">Debian Free Software Guidelines</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Definition_of_Free_Cultural_Works" title="Definition of Free Cultural Works">Definition of Free Cultural Works</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Free_license" title="Free license">Free license</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/The_Free_Software_Definition" title="The Free Software Definition">The Free Software Definition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/The_Open_Source_Definition" title="The Open Source Definition">The Open Source Definition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Open-source_license" title="Open-source license">Open-source license</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Permissive_software_license" title="Permissive software license">Permissive software license</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Public_domain" title="Public domain">Public domain</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Challenges</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Digital_rights_management" title="Digital rights management">Digital rights management</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/License_proliferation" title="License proliferation">License proliferation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mozilla_software_rebranded_by_Debian" class="mw-redirect" title="Mozilla software rebranded by Debian">Mozilla software rebranding</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proprietary_device_driver" class="mw-redirect" title="Proprietary device driver">Proprietary device drivers</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proprietary_firmware" title="Proprietary firmware">Proprietary firmware</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proprietary_software" title="Proprietary software">Proprietary software</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/SCO%E2%80%93Linux_disputes" title="SCO–Linux disputes">SCO/Linux controversies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Software_patents_and_free_software" title="Software patents and free software">Software patents</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Open-source_software_security" title="Open-source software security">Software security</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tivoization" title="Tivoization">Tivoization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Trusted_Computing" title="Trusted Computing">Trusted Computing</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related <br />topics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Forking</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/GNU_Manifesto" title="GNU Manifesto">GNU Manifesto</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Microsoft_Open_Specification_Promise" title="Microsoft Open Specification Promise">Microsoft Open Specification Promise</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Open-core_model" title="Open-core model">Open-core model</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Open-source_hardware" title="Open-source hardware">Open-source hardware</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Shared_Source_Initiative" title="Shared Source Initiative">Shared Source Initiative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Source-available_software" title="Source-available software">Source-available software</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Cathedral_and_the_Bazaar" title="The Cathedral and the Bazaar">The Cathedral and the Bazaar</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Revolution_OS" title="Revolution OS">Revolution OS</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2" style="font-weight:bold"><div> <ul><li><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Symbol_portal_class.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Portal"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Symbol_portal_class.svg/16px-Symbol_portal_class.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" 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href="/wiki/Category:Free_software" title="Category:Free software">Category</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235" /></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Version_control_software443" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="3"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231" /><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Version_control_software" title="Template:Version control software"><abbr title="View this 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Systems with names <i>in italics</i> are no longer maintained or have planned end-of-life dates.</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Local only</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software" title="Free and open-source software">Free/open-source</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Revision_Control_System" title="Revision Control System">RCS</a> (1982)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Source_Code_Control_System" title="Source Code Control System">SCCS</a> (1973)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Proprietary_software" title="Proprietary software">Proprietary</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/The_Librarian_(version_control_system)" title="The Librarian (version control system)">The Librarian</a> (1969)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Panvalet" title="Panvalet">Panvalet</a> (1970s)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/PVCS" title="PVCS">PVCS</a> (1985)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/QVCS" title="QVCS">QVCS</a></i> (1991)</li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td><td class="noviewer navbox-image" rowspan="4" style="width:1px;padding:0 0 0 2px"><div><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Revision_controlled_project_visualization-2010-24-02.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Revision_controlled_project_visualization-2010-24-02.svg/80px-Revision_controlled_project_visualization-2010-24-02.svg.png" decoding="async" width="80" height="196" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Revision_controlled_project_visualization-2010-24-02.svg/120px-Revision_controlled_project_visualization-2010-24-02.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Revision_controlled_project_visualization-2010-24-02.svg/160px-Revision_controlled_project_visualization-2010-24-02.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="220" data-file-height="540" /></a></span></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Client–server</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Free/open-source</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Concurrent_Versions_System" title="Concurrent Versions System">CVS</a> (1986, 1990 in C)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/CVSNT" title="CVSNT">CVSNT</a> (1998)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/QVCS" title="QVCS">QVCS Enterprise</a> (1998)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Apache_Subversion" title="Apache Subversion">Subversion</a> (2000)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Proprietary</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/AccuRev_SCM" title="AccuRev SCM">AccuRev SCM</a> (2002)</li> <li>Azure DevOps <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Azure_DevOps_Server" title="Azure DevOps Server">Server</a> (via <a href="/wiki/Azure_DevOps_Server#TFVC" title="Azure DevOps Server">TFVC</a>) (2005)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Microsoft_Visual_Studio#Azure_DevOps_Services" class="mw-redirect" title="Microsoft Visual Studio">Services</a> (via <a href="/wiki/Azure_DevOps_Server#TFVC" title="Azure DevOps Server">TFVC</a>) (2014)</li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rational_ClearCase" class="mw-redirect" title="Rational ClearCase">ClearCase</a> (1992)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/IBM_Configuration_Management_Version_Control_(CMVC)" class="mw-redirect" title="IBM Configuration Management Version Control (CMVC)">CMVC</a></i> (1994)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dimensions_CM" title="Dimensions CM">Dimensions CM</a> (1980s)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Apollo_Computer#History" title="Apollo Computer">DSEE</a></i> (1984)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/PTC_Integrity" title="PTC Integrity">Integrity</a> (2001)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Perforce_Helix" class="mw-redirect" title="Perforce Helix">Perforce Helix</a> (1995)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/IBM_Software_Configuration_and_Library_Manager" title="IBM Software Configuration and Library Manager">SCLM</a> (1980s?)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/CA_Harvest_Software_Change_Manager" title="CA Harvest Software Change Manager">Software Change Manager</a> (1970s)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/StarTeam" title="StarTeam">StarTeam</a> (1995)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Surround_SCM" title="Surround SCM">Surround SCM</a> (2002)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rational_Synergy" title="Rational Synergy">Synergy</a> (1990)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rational_Team_Concert" class="mw-redirect" title="Rational Team Concert">Team Concert</a> (2008)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vault_(version_control_system)" title="Vault (version control system)">Vault</a> (2003)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Microsoft_Visual_SourceSafe" title="Microsoft Visual SourceSafe">Visual SourceSafe</a></i> (1994)</li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Distributed_version_control" title="Distributed version control">Distributed</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Free/open-source</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/BitKeeper" title="BitKeeper">BitKeeper</a></i> (2000)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Breezy_(software)" title="Breezy (software)">Breezy</a> (2017)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Code_Co-op" title="Code Co-op">Code Co-op</a></i> (1997)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Darcs" title="Darcs">Darcs</a> (2002)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Distributed_Concurrent_Versions_System" title="Distributed Concurrent Versions System">DCVS</a></i> (2002)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fossil_(software)" title="Fossil (software)">Fossil</a> (2007)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Git" title="Git">Git</a> (2005)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/GNU_arch" title="GNU arch">GNU arch</a></i> (2001)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/GNU_Bazaar" title="GNU Bazaar">GNU Bazaar</a> (2005)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mercurial" title="Mercurial">Mercurial</a> (2005)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Monotone_(software)" title="Monotone (software)">Monotone</a> (2003)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Proprietary</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li>Azure DevOps <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Azure_DevOps_Server" title="Azure DevOps Server">Server</a> (via Git) (2013)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Microsoft_Visual_Studio#Azure_DevOps_Services" class="mw-redirect" title="Microsoft Visual Studio">Services</a> (via Git) (2014)</li></ul></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Sun_WorkShop_TeamWare" title="Sun WorkShop TeamWare">TeamWare</a></i> (1992)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plastic_SCM" class="mw-redirect" title="Plastic SCM">Plastic SCM</a> (2006)</li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Concepts</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Baseline_(configuration_management)" title="Baseline (configuration management)">Baseline</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Branching_(version_control)" title="Branching (version control)">Branch</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Branching_(version_control)#Development_branch" title="Branching (version control)">Trunk</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Changeset" title="Changeset">Changeset</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Commit_(version_control)" title="Commit (version control)">Commit</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Gated_commit" title="Gated commit">Gated</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Delta_encoding" title="Delta encoding">Delta compression</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Interleaved_deltas" title="Interleaved deltas">Interleaved</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/File_comparison" title="File comparison">File comparison</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Fork</a></li> <li><a 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