Benevolent dictator for life explained

Benevolent dictator for life (BDFL) is a tongue-in-cheek title given to a small number of open-source software development leaders, typically project founders who retain the final say in disputes or arguments within the community. It was first used in 1995 for Guido van Rossum, the creator of the Python programming language.[1] [2]

History

Shortly after Van Rossum joined the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, the term appeared in a follow-up mail by Ken Manheimer to a meeting trying to create a semi-formal group that would oversee Python development and workshops; this initial use included an additional joke of naming Van Rossum the "First Interim BDFL". The title was initially coined as "Benevolent Dictator" by Ken Manheimer; later Barry Warsaw suggested it would be "Benevolent Dictator for Life".[3]

In July 2018, van Rossum announced that he would be stepping down as BDFL of Python without appointing a successor, effectively eliminating the title within the Python community structure. That remains an unusual move. In 2025, Mastodon developer Eugen Rochko stepped down, transferring ownership to a non-profit structure.[4]

Usage

BDFL should not be confused with the more common term for open-source leaders, "benevolent dictator", which was popularized by Eric S. Raymond's essay "Homesteading the Noosphere" (1999).[5]

Among other topics related to hacker culture, Raymond elaborates on how the nature of open source forces the "dictatorship" to keep itself benevolent, since a strong disagreement can lead to the forking of the project under the rule of new leaders. Most open source software development projects utilize distributed version control systems, in which contributors submit pull requests to the project's maintainer, who may merge or reject the submission. Other distributed copies of the software are then based on that maintainer's repo. The position of BDFL is a consequence of network effect; they become stewards of the overall project on account of being the repo that the rest of the community is subscribed to and submits changes to.

Referent candidates

Key
Deceased
NameProjectType
Sylvain BennerSpacemacsCommunity-driven Emacs distribution[6]
Vitalik ButerinEthereumBlockchain-based cryptocurrency[7]
Dries BuytaertDrupalContent management framework[8]
François CholletKerasDeep learning framework[9]
Evan CzaplickiElmFront-end web programming language[10]
Laurent DestailleurDolibarr ERP CRMSoftware suite for enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management[11]
David Heinemeier HanssonRuby on RailsWeb framework[12]
Rich HickeyClojureProgramming language[13]
Adrian Holovaty
and Jacob Kaplan-Moss		DjangoWeb framework[14]
Andrew KelleyZigProgramming language[15] [16]
Xavier LeroyOCamlProgramming language[17] [18]
Haoyuan LiAlluxioData Orchestration System[19]
Miles LubinJuMPMathematical optimization modeling language in Julia[20]
Yukihiro Matsumoto (Matz)RubyProgramming language[21]
Wes McKinneyPandasPython data analysis library[22]
Gavin Mendel-GleasonTerminusDBOpen-source graph database for knowledge graph representation[23] [24]
Bram MoolenaarVimText editor[25]
Matt MullenwegWordPressContent management framework[26]
Martin OderskyScalaProgramming language[27]
Taylor OtwellLaravelWeb framework[28] [29]
Theo de RaadtOpenBSDA Unix-like operating system
Arnold RobbinsAwk, GawkProgramming language[30]
Ton RoosendaalBlender3D computer graphics software[31]
Sébastien RosOrchard ProjectContent management system[32]
Mark ShuttleworthUbuntuLinux distribution[33]
Jeremy SollerRedoxOperating system[34]
Don SymeF#Programming language[35]
Linus TorvaldsLinuxOperating system kernel[36]
José ValimElixirProgramming language[37]
Pauli VirtanenSciPyPython library used for scientific and technical computing[38] [39]
Patrick VolkerdingSlackwareGNU/Linux distribution[40]
Nathan VoxlandLiquibaseDatabase schema management[41]
Jimmy WalesWikimedia FoundationCollaborative knowledge project[42]
Jeremy WalkerExercismOpen-source programming education platform[43]
Shaun WalkerDotNetNukeWeb application framework[44]
Larry WallPerlProgramming language[45]
Evan YouVue.jsJavaScript MVVM framework for building user interfaces and single-page applications.
Soumith ChintalaPyTorchDeep learning framework[46]
Martin Traverso, Dain Sundstrom, David PhillipsTrinoSQL query engine[47]
Kohsuke KawaguchiJenkinsAutomation server[48]
Gabor de MooijRedBeanPHPDatabase object relational mapper[49]
Bram CohenBitTorrentPeer-to-peer file sharing protocol[50]
Walter BrightD (programming language)Programming language
Ritchie VinkPolarsData analysis framework[51]
William FalconPyTorch LightningDeep learning framework[52]
Lars HvamabapGitGit client for ABAP[53]
Sebastián RamírezFastAPIWeb framework for building APIs with Python[54]
Bill Hall (gingerBill)OdinProgramming language[55]
Damien Elmes (dae)AnkiSpaced repetition system[56] [57]
Ryan CramerProcessWireFree content management system (CMS) and framework (CMF)[58]
Salvatore SanfilippoRedisIn memory key-value database[59]

Organizational positions

See also

References

  1. Web site: Guido van Rossum . Origin of BDFL . 2008-07-31 . Artima.com . 2008-08-01 . https://archive.today/20120721081049/http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=235725 . 2012-07-21 . live.
  2. . Python Creator Scripts Inside Google . 2006-03-06 . . 2008-05-13 . https://archive.today/20180809122951/http://www.eweek.com/development/python-creator-scripts-inside-google . 2018-08-09 . live.
  3. Python: The Documentary An origin story . 2025-08-28 . CultRepo (formerly Honeypot) . 2025-08-31 . YouTube.
  4. Web site: Perez . Sarah . 2025-11-18 . Mastodon CEO steps down as the social network restructures . 2025-12-12 . TechCrunch . en-US.
  5. Web site: Eric S. . Raymond . Homesteading the Noosphere § Project Structures and Ownership . 2000 . Eric S. Raymond's Home Page . 2008-08-01 . https://archive.today/20120701093544/http://catb.org/~esr/writings/homesteading/homesteading/ar01s16.html . 2012-07-01 . live.
  6. Web site: Spacemacs COMMUNITY.org . . 2017-08-24.
  7. News: Pearson . Jordan . Ethereum's Boy King Is Thinking About Giving Up the Mantle . 5 September 2023 . Vice . 24 April 2017 . en . One participant called him a benevolent dictator..
  8. Web site: Fay . Randy . Randy Fay . How Do Open Source Communities Govern Themselves? RandyFay.comties Govern Themselves? . randyfay.com . 27 November 2020.
  9. Web site: Keras API Special Interest Group, Leadership. GitHub. December 21, 2021.
  10. Web site: 56: Ember vs. Elm: The Showdown with Philip Poots The Frontside Podcast. The Frontside Podcast. 2017-08-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20181116081508/https://frontsidethepodcast.simplecast.fm/56. November 16, 2018. dead.
  11. Web site: Dolibarr project organization, different roles of actors.
  12. Web site: Constine . Josh . Dropbox Hires Away Google's Guido Van Rossum, The Father Of Python . TechCrunch . December 7, 2012 . June 1, 2015.
  13. Web site: Clojure JIRA Workflow . 3 October 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151113021323/http://dev.clojure.org/display/community/JIRA+workflow . November 13, 2015 . dead.
  14. Web site: Adrian and Jacob retiring as Django BDFLs . Adrian Holovaty . January 12, 2014 . June 14, 2015.
  15. Web site: Proposal: Create a standard process for proposals. . .
  16. Web site: December 10, 2021 . Interfacing with Zig, a BDFL-run Project . April 14, 2024 . Loris Cro's Blog.
  17. Web site: A History of OCaml OCaml.org. 2015-09-18.
  18. Web site: OCaml Infrastructure mailing list . 2015-09-18.
  19. Introducing Alluxio Open Source Project Governance "https://www.alluxio.io/blog/introducing-alluxio-open-source-project-governance/"
  20. Web site: Governance Structure: JuMP . 2023-09-13.
  21. Web site: A Ruby Design Process . 2016-04-17.
  22. Web site: pandas 0.20.3 documentation: Tutorials . 2017-07-24. "Wes McKinney's (pandas BDFL) blog"
  23. Web site: TerminusDB, Twitter . May 6, 2020 . May 6, 2020.
  24. Web site: TerminusDB — what's in a name? . TerminusDB . August 21, 2019 . May 8, 2020.
  25. Web site: Why Neovim is Better than Vim . January 15, 2015 . 30 September 2015.
  26. Web site: Thesis, Automattic, and WordPress Post Status. July 24, 2015. 2015-07-24.
  27. Web site: Programming in Scala Leaps onto the World Stage! . 2015-11-25.
  28. Web site: Taylor Otwell, Twitter . Taylor Otwell . October 9, 2014 . October 9, 2014.
  29. Web site: Taylor Otwell, Creator of the Laravel PHP Framework . . August 5, 2014 . August 5, 2014.
  30. Web site: The GNU Project and Me: 27 Years with GNU AWK . skeeve.com . Arnold . Robbins . March 2014 . August 11, 2023 . October 6, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141006081656/http://www.skeeve.com/gnu-awk-and-me-2014.pdf . live .
  31. Web site: Developer Intro/Overview . 20 July 2018.
  32. Web site: Orchard Project Steering Committee . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150812041934/http://www.orchardproject.net/about . August 12, 2015 . mdy-all.
  33. News: Ubuntu carves niche in Linux landscape . . https://web.archive.org/web/20151106191945/http://www.cnet.com/news/ubuntu-carves-niche-in-linux-landscape/ . 6 November 2015.
  34. Web site: CONTRIBUTING.md · master · redox-os / redox . July 8, 2023 . mdy-all.
  35. Web site: Contributing to the F# Language and Compiler . 29 September 2015 . 21 December 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191221053355/http://fsharp.github.io/2014/06/18/fsharp-contributions.html . dead .
  36. Book: Dee-Ann LeBlanc . Linux For Dummies . 31 July 2006 . John Wiley & Sons . 978-0-470-04793-4 . 15 . 7th.
  37. Web site: Elixir Companies . . 2017-11-01.
  38. Web site: SciPy 1.0.0 . . 2017-10-27.
  39. Web site: SciPy project governance . . 2017-10-27.
  40. Web site: Stories of Linux: A Look at Slackware Linux . . September 21, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141030093841/http://www.linux.com/component/content/article/197-stories-of-linux/441699-the-story-of-linux-a-look-at-slackware-linux . October 30, 2014 . dead.
  41. Web site: User and Developer Community Post Status. 2015-08-13.
  42. News: Jimmy Wales is Not an Internet Billionaire. The New York Times. June 27, 2013. Chozick. Amy.
  43. Web site: Jeremy Walker on Being the BDFL of Exercism by Humans of Open Source • A podcast on Anchor. 2021-03-26. Anchor. en.
  44. Book: Building Websites with DotNetNuke 5, Michael Washington and Ian Lackey, Packt Publishing. Page 14 "The core team comprises individuals invited to join the team by Shaun Walker, whom they affectionately call the "Benevolent Dictator".
  45. Web site: The Art of Ballistic Programming . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130617235411/http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/node/154 . June 17, 2013 . mdy-all.
  46. Web site: PyTorch Governance Maintainers — PyTorch 2.0 documentation . 2023-03-21 . pytorch.org.
  47. Trino and the BDFL model https://trino.io/blog/2023/04/06/trino-bdfl-focus.html
  48. Jenkins Enhancement Proposal #1: BDFL https://github.com/jenkinsci/jep/blob/master/jep/1/README.adoc#bdfl
  49. RedBeanPHP index page https://redbeanphp.com/index.php?p=/welcome#sponsor
  50. BitTorrent Enhancement Proposal #1: The BEP Process https://www.bittorrent.org/beps/bep_0001.html
  51. Web site: 2024-04-07 . Polars - About us . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240324183246/https://pola.rs/about-us/ . 2024-03-24.
  52. Web site: Lightning Governance — PyTorch Lightning 2.3.0dev documentation . 2024-04-10 . lightning.ai.
  53. Web site: 2024-06-06 . Addressing the Future of ABAP: The Power of Open Source .
  54. Web site: 2024-07-30 . GitHub FastAPI .
  55. Web site: 2019-03-31 . Proposal Process .
  56. Web site: ankitects Github organization . . 2024-09-14.
  57. Web site: Anki development discussion . . 2024-09-14.
  58. ProcessWire index page https://www.processwire.com/
  59. Antirez Redis repository https://github.com/antirez/redis

[60]

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Benevolent dictator for life".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2026, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.