The Cathedral and the Bazaar
The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymondby Eric S. Raymond
Shares rank 37 of 60 articles by recommenders
People credit this essay with drawing people into free software and say its ideas still matter, though critics call it factually weak, dated and bad on its own merits.
People credit this essay with drawing people into free software and say its ideas still matter, though critics call it factually weak, dated and bad on its own merits.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 42%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Still discussed and relevant today
“The fact that people are still talking about it today proves it has some kind of worth.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “The Cathedral, the Megachurch, and the Bazaar” “Nothing that was possible then is less possible or less potent now.”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 in “The zero-cost fallacy: open-source software in the agentic era” Lasting influence on open source
“I'm pretty sure that CATB brought more people into FOSS than the GNU manifesto ever did.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “The Cathedral, the Megachurch, and the Bazaar” “The fact that people are still talking about it today proves it has some kind of worth.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “The Cathedral, the Megachurch, and the Bazaar”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Factually weak and dated
“it also didn't hold up very well factually”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “The Cathedral, the Megachurch, and the Bazaar” “It made predictions, some of which turned out to be comically wrong.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “The Cathedral, the Megachurch, and the Bazaar” Bad on its own merits
“It was a bad essay at the time and I don't think you can make a good essay by trying to build off it.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “The Cathedral, the Megachurch, and the Bazaar” “I think CATB fails objectively, on its own merits (or lack thereof)”
Comment from 19 Jan 2026 in “The Cathedral, the Megachurch, and the Bazaar” “It's just bad on its own merits.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “The Cathedral, the Megachurch, and the Bazaar”
Other articles people recommend
The four most recommended other articles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programming as Theory Buildingby Peter Naur | 32 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Ur-Fascismby Umberto Eco | 18 | 2 | 90% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Politics and the English Languageby George Orwell | 14 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| The Grug Brained Developer by Carson Gross | 13 | 1 | 93% | 9 | — | Approved |
| The Cathedral and the Bazaarby Eric S. RaymondThis page | 5 | 7 | 42% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“makes CatB even less relevant now”
“Eric Raymond and open source were a bad move.”
“Nothing that was possible then is less possible or less potent now.”
“It was oddly sad to read.”
“The cathedral and bazaar simply isn't the magic this article treats it as.”
“The Bazaar guy's own magnum opus was a Cathedral that never got built.”
“it consistently celebrates the successes of Free Software in a company friendly way”
“I think CATB fails objectively, on its own merits (or lack thereof)”
“the substance of my critique is on a different thread”
“~1,000 words of detailed criticism of CATB, on which I support my claim here that CATB is bad.”
“I'm pretty sure that CATB brought more people into FOSS than the GNU manifesto ever did.”
“It made predictions, some of which turned out to be comically wrong.”
“It's just bad on its own merits.”
“it also didn't hold up very well factually”
“The fact that people are still talking about it today proves it has some kind of worth.”
“It was a bad essay at the time and I don't think you can make a good essay by trying to build off it.”
“The Cathedral & The Bazaar are both alright.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.