+
+ +In OpenBSD developer circles few memes carry as strongly as "The 3 +line diff". This is a humorous warning, but also a true story. More +than half the developers ("the new kids") don't know this story but +still repeat the meme -- it has nearly become apocrypha. +
+Unfortunately, in software development not all problems are as trivial +as we think. +
+The event happened at a hackathon in Portugal more than a decade ago. +
+In a eureka moment Art declared he had found a stunningly simple +solution for a problem long pondered, and he could fix it in 2 -- no +-- 3 lines. In the following weeks his change grew larger and larger, +introducing (or exposing) other problems. We stood and stared. It +was far from a 3 line diff, and was eventually discarded. +
+I am not writing words of mockery here. This is a common occurance in +complex software development. To do great things, we must reach for +the sky. Sometimes we fail, and quite often it is messy. +
+There is of course a danger we'll believe we are invincible, and push +a change which is too disruptive to others. For that reason, we +operate as a team. We can try to avoid hubris. +
+Therefore to this day posing a question like "And you can fix the +problem in 3 lines?" is a humorous way of keeping each other honest. +
+
++
+A tale of a fateful diff,
+That started on a set of stairs
+Right by a pizza joint.
+
+Art was a mighty coding man,
+And he was mighty sure
+The only change that was required
+Was a three-line diff, a three-line diff.
+
+The coding started getting tough,
+The change began to swell,
+Despite the confidence of the programmers
+The system would then crash,
+the system always crashed.
+
+The simple change became complex
+Just too many things overlooked,
+With Grabowski,
+And the testers too,
+Theo watching and skeptical
+Miod Vallat,
+And Kettenis, and Dale, and...
+Hacking Grabowski's diff.
+
+So this is a tale of our programmers,
+They've been here for 20 years.
+They'll have to do the best they can,
+It's an endless task.
+
+Grabowski and the others too
+Will do their very best
+To get the changes into prod
+It is an epic slog,
+
+No QEMU, only DDB,
+Not a single luxury,
+Like Ritchie and Thompson did
+It's as primitive as can be
+
+So check a new diff every week,
+Your head is sure to hurt
+While all the puzzled programmers
+Gawk at Grabowski's diff
+
+Working on a marginal diff.
+
+
+