> previous functioning code and applications. Changing documentation
> is one thing, changing source code and comments is a total
> different matter.
Comments, NOT source code, is what is being talked about.
You're very confused. Source code *was* changed, not just comments; in
particular, the /proc interface was changed, thus breaking compatibility
with programs which expected to be able to parse the output of /proc
files. That's what caused the flames, not the changes in the comments,
by and large.
If it were just comments, I wouldn't have had a real problem with it,
although I personally consider spelling fixes to be a waste of
everybody's time. Obviously other people have different ideas what they
consider to be important and/or fun.
Because they're perfectly free to. There is no really vertical
hierarchical development model here. Anybody is free to submit patches by
and large.
Actually, it's considered bad manners to submit patches to code which
has an active maintainer without first passing it by the maintainer.
Fortunately Linus usually takes of this step, but given how busy Linus
is, it's more considerate to pass the patches in front of the maintainer
first.
It's not legally required, obviously, but it is a courtesy that many
maintainers ask for and expect. After all, the maintainers have often
made a long-term commitment to maintain and support the code, often
putting in copious amounts of his or her time to do so. Furthermore,
people who have problems well often send hate-mail to the maintainer,
not to the person who submits a "hit-and-run" patch to the code in
question. Hence, making a patch without consulting the maintainer,
especially when the net result makes life harder for the maintainer
(i.e., introduces bugs or incompatibilities), is really a really
impolite and socially unacceptable thing to do.
- Ted
P.S. See Eric Raymond's "Homesteading the Noosphere" paper for more
comments about the sociological aspects of free software:
http://earthspace.net/~esr/writings/homesteading/
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