Japanization

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Jonathan" == Jonathan Shore <jshore@example.com> writes:

    >> In open source, having a private workspace doesn't mean a
    >> source fork.

[specifics elided]

    Jonathan> In the later case you had a temporary branch

Yes.  It may not even be temporary.  For example, it is likely that
the GTK branch of XEmacs will continue to be a branch for some time,
but changes to the mainline are being merged to it, and (currently
rarely) new features from the GTK version merged to the mainline.  But
it is certainly not a fork; both branches are publically available
from the same repository.

    Jonathan> (or a fork).

Not at all the same thing.  Intent to merge (with approval of the
maintainer) decides.  If the maintainer refuses to merge and you
continue with the private branch, that branch becomes a fork.  This
kind of branching is often technically necessary (cf GTK XEmacs), and
even good for future development (cf XEmacs vs. the mainline GNU
Emacs), although keeping it "in the family" would be better yet.

You can refuse to submit your changes.  This is also a fork, but never
technically necessary (political or economic motivations rule), and I
find it hard to imagine when it is good for the project.

Branches are technical, forks are political.

-- 
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What are those straight lines for?  "XEmacs rules."