Archive:Project fork

In Open Source/Free software, a fork happens when a developer (or a group of them) takes code from a project and starts to develop independently of the rest. This schism can be caused because of different goals or personality clashes. Some see forks as a weakness in Open Source, but they can demonstrate the adaptability of the model. The relationship between the different teams can be cordial or very bitter.

Examples

• Enciclopedia Libre is a fork from the Spanish-language Wikipedia to evade possible advertising.
• Pretty Good Privacy was forked outside of the United States to free it from the restrictive laws on the exportation of cryptographic software.
• XEmacs was a fork from Emacs to add new features without the FSF's restrictive control.