In politics there is little understanding of the importance and relevance of the concept of "forking" that originates in the world of software development.
A "fork" is more than simply a "copy" of something, it involves the copying of additional historical and social relationships. Indeed the act of forking a software project is a deeply social and political act, one that will succeed or fail largely based on the ability to bring the community with the new branch or version of the software.
# Properties of forking
A fork has a number of interesting properties and features. It is: - more than a copy - retains it's complete social history - has social and power (or political) implications - is supported by tools - can be resolved with a Merge
# In software development
Forking of software has a similar structure of A phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree.
A speculatively rooted tree for rRNA genes, showing major branches Bacteria, Archaea, and EucaryotaUploaded image
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct and separate piece of software.
The term often implies not merely a development branch, but a split in the developer community, a form of schism.
# See also - Fork is the new like - Phylogenetic tree