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{{redirect|Fork (software)|the operation whereby a process creates a copy of itself|fork (system call)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
[[File:Linux Distribution Timeline.svg|thumb|upright|A timeline chart showing the evolution of [[Linux distribution]]s, with each
In [[software
* [http://www.jwz.org/doc/lemacs.html "the Lemacs/FSFmacs schism"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130093142/http://www.jwz.org/doc/lemacs.html|date=30 November 2009}} ([[Jamie Zawinski]], 2000)
* [https://lwn.net/Articles/419822/ "Behind the KOffice split"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130706094238/http://lwn.net/Articles/419822/|date=6 July 2013}} (Joe Brockmeier, ''Linux Weekly News'', 2010-12-14)
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* [http://dashes.com/anil/2010/09/forking-is-a-feature.html "Forking is a feature"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229032536/http://dashes.com/anil/2010/09/forking-is-a-feature.html|date=29 February 2012}} ([[Anil Dash]], 2010-09-10)
* [http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000101 "The Great Software Schism"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106065841/http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000101|date=6 January 2012}} ([[Glyn Moody]], ''Linux Journal'', 2006-09-28)
* [http://mako.cc/writing/to_fork_or_not_to_fork.html "To Fork Or Not To Fork: Lessons From Ubuntu and Debian"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226160810/http://mako.cc/writing/to_fork_or_not_to_fork.html|date=26 February 2012}} ([[Benjamin Mako Hill]], 2005).</ref>
== Etymology ==
The word
In the context of software development,
{{quotation|Creating a branch "forks off" a version of the program.}}
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The term was in use on [[Usenet]] by 1983 for the process of creating a subgroup to move topics of discussion to.<ref>[https://groups.google.com/group/net.misc/browse_thread/thread/b0e9f8531558b7e9/1cc726d9e9e05ebd?q=fork#1cc726d9e9e05ebd Can somebody fork off a "net.philosophy"?] ([[John Gilmore (activist)|John Gilmore]], net.misc, 18 January 1983)</ref>
The word is used similarly for the [[Fork (system call)|fork() system call]] which causes a running [[Process (computing)|process]] to split in two {{endash}} typically, to allow them to perform different tasks in parallel.<ref>"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()." {{cite conference|url=http://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/paper_0.pdf|title=A Comprehensive Study of Software Forks: Dates, Reasons and Outcomes|first1=Gregorio|last1=Robles|first2=Jesús M.|last2=González-Barahona|conference=OSS 2012 The Eighth International Conference on Open Source Systems|year=2012|access-date=20 October 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202221721/http://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/paper_0.pdf|archive-date=2 December 2013|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-33442-9_1|doi-access=free}}</ref>
==Forking of free and open-source software==
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[[Distributed revision control]] (DVCS) tools have popularised a less emotive use of the term "fork", blurring the distinction with "branch".<ref>''e.g.'' {{cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/628527/|title=An "open governance" fork of Node.js|first=Nathan|last=Willis|work=LWN.net|date=15 January 2015|access-date=15 January 2015|quote=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.|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421055059/http://lwn.net/Articles/628527/|archive-date=21 April 2015}} See also {{cite thesis|type=PhD|page=57|first=Linus|last=Nyman|title=Understanding Code Forking in Open Source Software|publisher=Hanken School of Economics|year=2015|quote=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.|hdl=10138/153135}}</ref> With a DVCS such as [[Mercurial]] or [[Git]], 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 [[GitHub]], [[Bitbucket]] and [[Launchpad (website)|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.
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, ''e.g.'' [[MariaDB]] for [[MySQL]]<ref>[http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/31551/forked-a-project-where-do-my-version-numbers-start Forked a project, where do my version numbers start?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826152252/http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/31551/forked-a-project-where-do-my-version-numbers-start |date=26 August 2011 }}</ref> or [[LibreOffice]] for [[OpenOffice.org]].
The [[BSD licenses]] permit forks to become proprietary software, and [[copyleft]] 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 [[Contributor License Agreement]].) Examples include [[macOS]] (based on the proprietary [[NeXTSTEP]] and the open source [[FreeBSD]]), [[Cedega (software)|Cedega]] and [[CrossOver]] (proprietary forks of [[Wine (software)|Wine]], though CrossOver tracks Wine and contributes considerably), EnterpriseDB (a fork of [[PostgreSQL]], adding Oracle compatibility features<ref>[http://www.enterprisedb.com EnterpriseDB] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061113052033/http://www.enterprisedb.com/ |date=13 November 2006 }}</ref>), Supported PostgreSQL with their proprietary ESM storage system,<ref>[http://www.fastware.com.au/docs/FujitsuSupportedPostreSQLWhitePaperV1_02.pdf Fujitsu Supported PostgreSQL] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820144738/http://fastware.com.au/docs/FujitsuSupportedPostreSQLWhitePaperV1_02.pdf |date=20 August 2006 }}</ref> and Netezza's<ref>[http://www.netezza.com/media/2004/Weblog.htm Netezza] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061113210650/http://www.netezza.com/media/2004/Weblog.htm |date=13 November 2006 }}</ref> 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.
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==See also==
*
* [[Source port]]▼
▲* [[Downstream (software development)]]
* {{Annotated link|Group decision-making}}
* {{Annotated link|List of software forks}}
* [[Modular programming]]▼
*
* [[Team effectiveness]]▼
▲** [[Duplicate code]]
▲* [[ROM hacking|ROM Hacking]]
==References==
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==External links==
* [http://meatballwiki.org/wiki/RightToFork Right to Fork] at [[Meatball Wiki]]
* A PhD examining forking: [http://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/153135 (Nyman, 2015)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230716095029/http://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/153135 |date=16 July 2023 }} "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"
{{FOSS}}
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