One obvious problem with the book which this article demonstrates is that it leaves the reader with the mistaken impression that "In Unix Everything Is a File".

I assumed this was common knowledge, but apparently not, so here goes: Another reason not to buy the book is that the author, Eric S Raymond, is a racist sexist Islamophobic conspiracy theory spreading global warming denying gun nut, who threatened to kill Bruce Perens.

In summary, and just because you asked, Eric S Raymond is a mediocre programmer who has made a career of trying to pose as a hacker, define what a hacker is, tell people how to become a hacker, all while viciously, personally, professionally, and unfairly attacking actual successful influential hackers like Richard Stallman, including his philosophy and his life's work, by hijacking and distorting the definition of Free Software and the very definitions of words in the hacker's dictionary, to reflect his own extremist narcissistic racist political ideology, which most certainly does not align with the non-bigoted ideology in the Hacker's Manifesto: "We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias."

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond

"In the U.S., blacks are 12% of the population but commit 50% of violent crimes; can anyone honestly think this is unconnected to the fact that they average 15 points of IQ lower than the general population? That stupid people are more violent is a fact independent of skin color." -Eric S Raymond

"A clash of civilizations driven by the failure of Islamic/Arab culture (though I would stress the problem of the Islamic commandment to jihad more than he does). I think he [Steven den Beste] is also right to say that our long-term objective must be to break, crush and eventually destroy this culture, because we can't live on the same planet with people who both carry those memes and have access to weapons of mass destruction. They will hate us and seek to destroy us not for what we've done but for what we are." -Eric S Raymond

"And for any agents or proxy of the regime interested in asking me questions face to face, I’ve got some bullets slathered in pork fat to make you feel extra special welcome." -Eric S Raymond

"When I hear the words "social responsibility", I want to reach for my gun." -Eric S Raymond

As much as he thinks he and everyone else should own lots guns, Eric S Raymond has recently stated (2017) that he believes blacks are too unintelligent to own or to be trained to use guns:

https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/816449724127608833

>Unfortunately, this doesn't cover the BLM crowd, which would have an average IQ of about 85 if it's statistically representative of American blacks as a whole. I've never tried to train anyone that dim and wouldn't want to.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond

Eric S. Raymond (born 1957) is a computer programmer, advocate of open source software, and author or editor of several written works, including The Cathedral and the Bazaar and the Jargon File. Coincidentally, "Yonder Racism" is an anagram of his name.

Unfortunately, his work and expertise in computer technology[1][2] has been all but overshadowed by his batshit insane wingnut tendencies in the wake of 9/11, his misogynistic claims,[3] and his increasingly wanky ego-gazing,[4][5] as he acknowledges that people aren't so crazy about him anymore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Russ_Nelson#Blacks_are_la...

Eric S Raymond threw down the gauntlet and defended Russ Nelson's infamous "Blacks are Lazy" article by calling everyone who wanted him to resign his position as president of OSI "fools and thugs", and demanded OSI spend their precious time and resources fighting critics of racism and defending Russ Nelson's racist beliefs which ESR shares, instead of promoting open source software.

http://www.eweek.com/servers/new-osi-president-steps-down

>“Abetting somebody elses witch hunt is no less disgusting than starting your own.” “Personally, I wanted to fight this on principle,” Raymond said. “Russ resigned the presidency rather than get OSI into that fight, and the board quite properly respected his wishes in the matter. That sacrifice makes me angrier at the fools and thugs who pulled him down.”

This would be funny if it weren't exactly like Trump's recent "'nt" flip-flop on Putin:

>Nelson subsequently sought to explain himself in an essay titled "Blacks are Not Lazy."

https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Eric_S._Raymond

In 1999, Debian developer Bruce Perens published an "email threat" that he allegedly received from Raymond. Raymond then "clarified" that he only meant to defame Perens. From this we can assume that he is batshit insane and will fucking kill and or write to anyone that says anything about him or his software. If you are lucky you might get an O'Rielly book about you.

https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/1999/04/msg00623.html

To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: email threat
From: bruce@perens.com
Date: 5 Apr 1999 22:48:42 -0000
Message-id: <19990405224842.2386.qmail@perens.com>

Today I received the following threat in e-mail from Eric Raymond. The message
was copied to the Silicon Valley Linux User's Group officers, who you may
consult regarding its authenticity. The police have been notified.

Because I know that Eric is a firearms enthusiast, for my own protection,
I feel the best strategy is for me to publicize the threat widely.

Thanks

Bruce Perens

> Damn straight I took it personally. And if you ever again behave like
> that kind of disruptive asshole in public, insult me, and jeopardize
> the interests of our entire tribe, I'll take it just as personally --
> and I will find a way to make you regret it. Watch your step.

The irony of Eric S Raymond threatening someone else for behaving "like that kind of disruptive asshole in public" is rich -- very rich.

https://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/cat/bruce-perens/page/10

https://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/archive/terrorismistic