Eric S. Raymond
Born 1957 · Age 68
American software developer, author, and open-source advocate; author of the essay/book The Cathedral and the Bazaar; co-founder of the Open Source Initiative; longtime maintainer of open-source tools and documentation.
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Life & Career Timeline
Developed cerebral palsy at birth
Raymond developed cerebral palsy at birth; his physical condition influenced his turn to computing.
Family moved to Pennsylvania
Raymond's family moved from Venezuela/other locations to Pennsylvania.
Worked at Wharton School Computer Center (timeline source)
Timeline source lists Raymond holding work at Wharton School Computer Center (consulting with APL/Pascal/LISP); date from user-provided timeline.
Estimated University education completed (University of Pennsylvania)
Listed alma mater is University of Pennsylvania; graduation year not specified in text — year estimated for timeline purposes.
Began programming career (proprietary software)
Raymond began his programming career writing proprietary software (period described as 1980–1985).
Employment: Burroughs Federal & Special Systems Group (timeline source)
Timeline source lists Raymond employed as a software engineer doing advanced programming/AI research.
Employment: MicroCorp lead programmer (timeline source)
Timeline source lists Raymond as lead programmer at MicroCorp working on micros.
Employment: Rabbit Software (timeline source)
Timeline source lists Raymond working with a seven-man team on emulation projects and windowing packages.
End of early proprietary-software phase
Raymond's early career includes writing proprietary software between 1980 and 1985.
Adopted and updated the Jargon File
Noting the Jargon File hadn't been maintained since ~1983, Raymond adopted and updated it (this led to controversy with purists).
Edited and published The New Hacker's Dictionary (printed)
Raymond edited/updated the Jargon File; the printed MIT Press edition (The New Hacker's Dictionary) lists Raymond as editor.
Took over popclient and renamed it Fetchmail
Raymond took over development of the open-source email software 'popclient' and renamed it Fetchmail; experience informed his later essay.
Wrote essay 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar'
Raymond wrote the influential essay detailing the 'bazaar' model of open-source development, based partly on Fetchmail experience.
Presented thesis at Linux Kongress
Raymond first presented his 'Cathedral and the Bazaar' thesis at the annual Linux Kongress on May 27, 1997.
Co-founded the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
Raymond co-founded OSI and became a prominent ambassador for open source to press, business and the public.
Essay cited in Mozilla source-release discussion
Frank Hecker's internal white paper that led to Netscape/Mozilla's source release cited 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar' as independent validation.
Published Microsoft 'Halloween Documents'
Raymond received and published a leaked Microsoft internal memo (part of what became known as the 'Halloween Documents').
Joined VA Linux Systems board (timeline source)
User-provided timeline indicates Raymond became a board member/director of VA Linux Systems on this date (source: timeline entry).
Coined 'Linus's law' (appeared in book)
The aphorism 'Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow' first appeared in Raymond's book (1999).
Published book 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar'
Expanded his 1997 essay into the 1999 book 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary.'
Began work on Configuration Menu Language 2 (CML2)
Raymond created CML2, a source-code configuration system originally intended for the Linux kernel.
CML2 rejected by Linux kernel developers
CML2 was rejected by kernel developers (Raymond attributed to 'kernel list politics'; others cited policy preferring incremental changes).
Listed Thyrsus Enterprises consulting activity
Raymond did consulting under the Thyrsus Enterprises service mark (noted on his site/resume); date approximate in early 2000s.
Published 'The Art of Unix Programming'
Raymond published 'The Art of Unix Programming', discussing user tools and philosophy on UNIX programming.
Posted 'A Guide to the Mazes of Menace' (NetHack guide)
Raymond posted a guidebook for the roguelike game NetHack ('A Guide to the Mazes of Menace').
Stepped down as OSI president
Raymond remained active with OSI but stepped down as president in February 2005.
Contributed to The Battle for Wesnoth (approx.)
Raymond contributed code/content to the free software game The Battle for Wesnoth (Wikipedia notes contributions; exact year not specified).
Published essay 'Why I Hate Proprietary Software'
Raymond published an essay defending programmers' rights to issue work under proprietary licenses and describing his feelings about proprietary software.
Endorsed Defense Distributed (blog post)
Raymond endorsed the open-source firearms group Defense Distributed in a blog post, calling them 'friends of freedom.'
Public attention for controversial pro-3D-printing-guns stance (press coverage)
Raymond's support for 3D-printed firearms attracted press coverage (e.g., The Verge and other outlets).
Accused women's tech groups of entrapment
Raymond publicly accused the Ada Initiative and other women-in-tech groups of attempting to entrap male open-source leaders (controversial remarks).
Published 'Dilemmatizing the NRA' (blog)
Raymond posted 'Dilemmatizing the NRA' on his site; part of his ongoing public political commentary.
Administrator role at GPSD (timeline/source)
Timeline/source notes Raymond as an administrator for GPSD, a GPS and navigation sensor project (user timeline entry dated March 22, 2017).
Great Slate campaign used Raymond quotes to raise funds
A progressive campaign ('The Great Slate') raised funds partly by asking tech workers to donate in return for not publicizing Raymond's quoted statements; reportedly raised over $30,000 by March 2018.
Spoke at SouthEast LinuxFest (photograph dated 2019)
Raymond appeared (photo/caption) at SouthEast LinuxFest 2019 — indicating continued speaking engagement presence in the community.
Identified as main developer of NTPsec (project active)
Raymond is described as the main developer of NTPsec, a secure replacement for NTP (project referenced on its blog; year of involvement not precisely specified).
Removed from two OSI mailing lists
In early March 2020 Raymond was removed from two Open Source Initiative mailing lists due to posts that violated OSI's Code of Conduct.
Maintained and published various open-source tooling (reposurgeon, cvs-fast-export)
Raymond authored tools such as cvs-fast-export and reposurgeon for repository conversion and history manipulation (publicly available projects; dates of initial release not given in text).
Continues to maintain personal website and blog (catb.org)
Raymond maintains an extensive personal site with essays, HOWTOs, software projects, and a list of speaking engagements; site requests tips via Patreon/SubscribeStar.
Key Achievement Ages
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