Benevolent Dictator for Life
Template:Sources Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL) is the informal title given to a respected individual in the open source development community who sets general directions and makes final calls in certain situations within the scope of a given project. The term "Benevolent Dictator" is first used in the open source development context by Eric Raymond in his book Homesteading the Noosphere to refer to a project structure in which "a project has multiple co-maintainers working under a single `benevolent dictator'"
A "benevolent dictator" (or Benevolent Dictator for Life) is the person who effectively holds dictator-like powers over that project, yet is trusted by other users/developers not to abuse this power. The term is used humorously, because the "subjects" of the project leader contribute voluntarily, and the end-product may be used by everyone. A dictator in this context has power only over the process, and that only for as long as the trust remains. Examples include Linus Torvalds for the Linux kernel; Guido van Rossum for the Python programming language; Larry Wall for the Perl programming language.
Of course, a project coordinator cannot really be anything like a dictator in the sense that one ultimately cannot enforce a decision, since a project fork is always possible.
Not all, or even most, open source projects have a BDFL.
The title is an portmanteau of benevolent dictator and president for life.