(no subject)

[sab]

I love dictionary.com. It doesn't believe "pumpkins" is a word, but it did give me this:

Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

pumpkin
{jargon} A humourous term for the token - the object
(notional or real) that gives its possessor (the "pumpking" or
the "pumpkineer") exclusive access to something, e.g. applying
patches to a master copy of source (for which the pumpkin
is called a "patch pumpkin").

*
If anyone could explain any of those words to me I'd be pretty grateful.

Yours,
Pumpking.

Comments

[christhetoken.livejournal.com]

A humourous term for the token

Why, I don't think it's funny at all.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Forget it. You're gonna be known as "pumpkin" from here on. Unless you'd prefer "pumpking" or "pumpkineer." *g*

so they say

[boxmint.livejournal.com]

patch pumpkin: n.
"[Perl hackers] A notional token passed around among the members of a project. Possession of the patch pumpkin means one has the exclusive authority to make changes on the project's master source tree. The implicit assumption is that pumpkin holder status is temporary and rotates periodically among senior project members.
This term comes from the Perl development community, but has been sighted elsewhere. It derives from a stuffed-toy pumpkin that was passed around at a development shop years ago as the access control for a shared backup-tape drive."