Andrew Tridgell

Andrew "Tridge" Tridgell OAM (born 28 February 1967) is an Australian computer programmer. He is the author of and a contributor to the Samba file server, and co-inventor of the rsync algorithm.

Andrew Tridgell

OAM
Tridgell in 2006
Born (1967-02-28) 28 February 1967
Sydney
NationalityAustralian
Other namesTridge
OccupationProgrammer
Known forrsync, Samba, rzip, ccache

He has analysed complex proprietary protocols and algorithms, to allow compatible free and open source software implementations.

Projects

Tridgell was a major developer of the Samba software, analyzing the Server Message Block protocol used for workgroup and network file sharing by Microsoft Windows products. He developed the talloc hierarchical memory allocator, originally as part of Samba.

For his PhD dissertation, he co-developed rsync, including the rsync algorithm, a highly efficient file transfer and synchronisation tool. He also was the original author of rzip, which uses a similar algorithm to rsync. He developed spamsum, based on locality-sensitive hashing algorithms.[1]

He is the author of KnightCap, a reinforcement-learning based chess engine.

Tridgell was also a leader in hacking the TiVo to make it work in Australia, which uses the PAL video format.[2]

In April 2005, Tridgell tried to produce free software (now known as SourcePuller) that interoperated with the BitKeeper source code repository. This was cited as the reason that BitMover revoked a license allowing Linux developers free use of their BitKeeper product.[3] Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, and Tridgell were thus involved in a public debate about the events, in which Tridgell stated that, not having bought or owned BitKeeper – and thus having never agreed to its license – he could not violate it, and was analyzing the protocol ethically, as he had done with Samba. Tridgell's involvement in the project resulted in Torvalds accusing him of playing dirty tricks with BitKeeper.[4] Tridgell claimed his analysis started with simply telneting to a BitKeeper server and typing help.[5]

In 2011 Tridgell got involved with the software development of ArduPilot Mega,[6] an open source Arduino-based UAV controller board, working on an entry for the UAV Challenge Outback Rescue.[7]

Academic achievements

Tridgell completed a PhD at the Computer Sciences Laboratory of the Australian National University. His original doctorate work was in the area of speech recognition but was never completed. His submitted dissertation 'Efficient Algorithms for Sorting and Synchronization' was based on his work on the rsync algorithm.[8]

Awards and honours
  • In October 2003, The Bulletin magazine judged Tridgell to be Australia's smartest Information and Communications Technology person.[9][10]
  • In July 2008, Tridgell was named "Best Interoperator" at the Google–O'Reilly Open Source Awards, for his work on Samba and Rsync.[11]
  • Tridgell (along with Jeremy Allison and Volker Lendecke) has been called a "guru in its traditional Indian meaning" by IT writer, Sam Varghese.[12]
  • On 11 December 2018, Tridgell was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by the Australian National University, for authoring Samba, co-inventing rsync; and contributions to free and open source software.[13][14]
  • On 26 January 2020, Tridgell was awarded the Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division for service to Information Technology. The biographical notes for the award noted his contributions to software development and education including his work on rsync, Samba, ArduPilot, MAVProxy as well as teaching at the Australian National University.[15]

References
  1. Jesse Kornblum (2006). "Identifying almost identical files using context triggered piecewise hashing" (PDF). DFRWS. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  2. http://www.samba.org/~tridge/tivo-ethernet/
  3. git [LWN.net]
  4. Orlowski, Andrew (14 April 2005). "Torvalds knifes Tridgell: Kernel source row turns nasty". The Register.
  5. "Groklaw – Tridge Speaks". Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  6. Andrew Tridgell's Page. DIY Drones. Retrieved on 19 September 2013.
  7. UAV Challenge – Outback Rescue 2013 – Home Archived 10 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 19 September 2013.
  8. "Andrew Tridgell - The Mathematics Genealogy Project". www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  9. The Bulletin Smart 100 Archived 18 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  10. The Bulletin publishes for the last time Archived 9 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Google Open Source Blog: ... and the winners of the 2008 Google-O'Reilly Open Source Awards are
  12. FOSS folk who make us proud, Sam Varghese, iTWire, 2007-12-25, accessed 27 September 2009
  13. "ANU Graduation Ceremony 1 - from ANU Graduation Ceremony 2". Livestream. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  14. "ANU Honorary degree: Dr Andrew Tridgell".
  15. "Australia Day 2020 Honours List".
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