Larry McVoy
Larry McVoy | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth year and age Concord, Massachusetts, United States |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin–Madison (B.S., M.S. in Computer Science) |
| Occupation(s) | Computer programmer, CEO |
| Known for | CEO of BitMover, developer of BitKeeper, creator of LMbench and TeamWare |
Larry McVoy (born 1962 in Concord, Massachusetts, United States) serves as the CEO of BitMover, the firm responsible for developing BitKeeper, a version control system that was utilized to oversee the source code of the Linux kernel from 2002 until early 2005.
He obtained both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in computer science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1985 and 1987, respectively. McVoy’s career includes positions at Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics, where his work centered on optimizing performance for Unix-based systems. During his tenure at Sun, he created the peer-to-peer Software Configuration Management tool known as TeamWare, which later served as an inspiration for BitKeeper.
Linux
McVoy’s involvement with the Linux kernel began around version 0.97 in 1992. He developed LMbench, a kernel benchmarking tool used for performance measurement, which was maintained until 2009 by Carl Staelin.
In 2002, BitKeeper was adopted within Linux development workflows; however, after McVoy implemented licensing fees, the Linux community responded by creating Git in 2005 as an alternative. This transition underscored the difficulties associated with relying on proprietary software in open-source environments. Following these events, Richard Stallman authored "Thank you, Larry McVoy," recognizing how this incident strengthened advocacy for free and open-source software.
Sourceware Operating System
During the early 1990s at Sun Microsystems, McVoy collaborated with prominent Unix community figures to propose making Sun's primary Unix offering, SunOS, open source through a partnership with Novell. The goal was to establish a copyleft version of SunOS that could rival Microsoft's emerging Windows NT operating system, preceding Linux’s release of version 1.0. McVoy foresaw that without such an initiative, Linux would eventually supplant Unix.
Bibliography
External links
- Larry McVoy’s professional resume
- Proposal for the Sourceware Operating System
- Interview with Larry McVoy from 2002 (archived)
- Discussion on BitKeeper and Linux: The conclusion? (April 2005 Newsforge interview regarding Linux controversy)