Systemd Developers Did NOT Fork The Linux Kernel

[V10lator]

I can't see how they could develop kdbus without forking the kernel.

Good catch. So the headline is a lie! It should be "Kernel Sources Have Not Been Included Into Systemd Sources" or something like that. Also this is a lie:

Various Phoronix readers have written in this weekend and commented in the forums and elsewhere that systemd developers forked the Linux kernel. This is not the case.

[cjcox]

Well... there's some misinformation here. While it's true that the kernel is not being forked it's because it's being obsoleted!

According to Uve Benhad, one of the key developers, systemd will become self-aware in less than one day.

[Guest]

Exactly. Forking is a standard way to do development with git. So even if they had forked it, it would be a non-event. At most, it would tell us they might be wanting to test whether they might want to submit some changes to the kernel.

Because that's not a fork but a branch.

In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct and separate piece of software. The term often implies not merely a development branch, but a split in the developer community, a form of schism. Source: Wikipedia

[AJSB]

[curaga]

According to Uve Benhad, one of the key developers, systemd will become self-aware in less than one day.

It will see the monster that it had become, and commit sudoku, taking down half the linux world with it.

[gnufreex]

What else they did not do?

[danwood76]

It will see the monster that it had become, and commit sudoku, taking down half the linux world with it.

You mean seppuku, I commit Sudoku every day.....

[curaga]

No, that was intentional.

[Luke_Wolf]

You mean seppuku, I commit Sudoku every day.....

[TheBlackCat]

Because that's not a fork but a branch.

Depends on who you ask. From later in the same article you cited:

Distributed revision control (DVCS) tools have popularised a less emotive use of the term "fork", blurring the distinction with "branch". With a DVCS such as Mercurial or Git, the normal way to contribute to a project is to first branch the repository, and later seek to have your changes integrated with the main repository. Sites such as GitHub, Bitbucket and Launchpad 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.