In terms of code, do you know if he has contributed substantially to any open-source projects? I just about the fetchmail/CML2 from wikipedia.
I guess ncurses sort of, but..
Re:The Cathedral and the Bazaar (1999)
by temporal828 on Tuesday May 16, 2023 @07:10PM
(#35968998)
reposurgeon. It was what was ultimately used to transition gcc to git.
Just to be clear, ESR is still a tool: https://np.reddit.com/r/lisp/comments/1b1wbl/clos_is_an_ugly... http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8730
He's also mostly an ineffective, unlikable idiot, which we should all be thankful for because he could actually be somewhat dangerous if he weren't.
His software work is unremarkable (fetchmail is trivial and buggy, and CML2 was rejected by the Linux kernel developers), and he's made his career not by writing software but by attacking real hackers like Richard Stallman and trying to bring down their work, not by actually constructively developing any useful software himself. Attacking real hackers and trying to discourage people from using "free software" isn't "hacking".
He used to call himself "Eric the Flute", and he would go on and on ad nauseum about his beloved "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle NetNews Reader" and how it was so much better than every other netnews reader. But he never collaborated with anyone, and he never released it under any license. Much more Bizarre than Cathedral.