Open Source programer Harald Welte enforces GPL provisions for a living. So you'd think he'd walk the party line about code quality, right? Heh. CNET reports:
"If somebody asks me how much the actual free software source code benefits from the code that was released by the vendors, my honest reply would be simple and sad: None," Welte said in his blog Monday.
"The code quality is usually extremely bad. Looking at kernel patches from the various vendors, I'd say the code quality is, by far, off any scale that would ever even remotely be considered to be suitable for upstream inclusion" in the code base of mainstream projects such as Linux, he said. The commercial programmers spend no time making sure code will be portable to different varieties of processors, including 32-bit and 64-bit chips, will work on multiprocessor machines.
"This code is 'throw-away software,'" Welte said. "I would be the most embarrassed man if I ever was involved with any such software. Having your name associated with such poor quality would be like a stigma. Any technical person would laugh. And yet, the managers of those respective companies proudly announce the availability of their so-called 'GPL code releases.'"
But wait a second. I though Open Source was supposed to lead to better software. You mean the code quality is just as bad as closed-source companies? But I... what the... huh?!?
I need to go lie down. I can't keep this stuff straight anymore.