BDFL

English edit

Originally applied to Guido van Rossum, creator of the Python programming language.

BDFL (plural BDFLs)

(software, humorous) Initialism of benevolent dictator for life (leader of an open-source software project who retains the final say in disputes or arguments within the community)
- 2023, John Mertic, Open Source Projects—Beyond Code: A blueprint for scalable and sustainable open source projects, Packt Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 69:
  BDFL can be a type of governance that is part of a project from the onset, or it can emerge from the do-acracy form described earlier. We most often see the former: Rasmus Lerdorf with PHP, Linus Torvalds with the Linux kernel, and Guido van Rossum with Python.