Fork (software development): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:01, 12 May 2025

Latest revision as of 19:49, 9 August 2025

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The word ''fork'' has been used to mean "to divide in branches, go separate ways" as early as the 14th century.<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fork Entry 'fork' in Online Etymology Dictionary] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525165727/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fork |date=25 May 2012 }}</ref>

In the context of software development, ''fork'' was used in the sense of creating a revision control '''branch''' by [[Eric Allman]] as early as 1980, in the context of [[Source Code Control System]]:<ref>Allman, Eric. [httphttps://sccs.sourceforge.net/man/sccs.me.html "An Introduction to the Source Code Control System."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106144859/http://sccs.sourceforge.net/man/sccs.me.html |date=6 November 2014 }} Project Ingres, University of California at Berkeley, 1980.</ref>

{{quotation|Creating a branch "forks off" a version of the program.}}