2.1. Two Ways of Managing a Project
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Raymond distinguishes between two ways of managing a software project: the
traditional "Cathedral" way, and the novell "Bazaar" way.
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In the Cathedral way, the software is developed by a limited number of
developers, released only when being very stable, and maintained without
too much help from the outside.
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In the Bazaar way, the software is released very often (often in a buggy
state), tasks are delegated and contributions from the outside are welcome
and often.
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ESR attributes the "invention" of the Bazaar way to Linus Torvalds who used
it to develop the Linux kernel, a core component of a critical system - the
GNU/Linux operating system. (albeit acknowledges that it was used before for
other projects)
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In "the Cathedral and the Bazaar" he documents his experiences in developing
and maintaining his own project Bazaar-style: the
fetchmail
POP-retrieval system.