Apple is open sourcing Swift Build

Swift is a nice language. I'm glad to see it being released from the clutches of Apple. I can only imagine how large of a task this is. I hope some day to be able to use it. The last time I tried a cross-platform project with it I switched languages due to `URLSession.shared.data` (a network request) being unable to compile on Linux.

Is it really being released? Although some parts of the language and build chains are technically open source (as in, you can see the code), the project is still completely controlled by Apple at the top.

You are wrong about "some parts" - you can browse github.com/swiftlang to find out.

About control - serious question: how is this different from for example Rust, Go, Zig or Python? For each of those you can submit a change proposal through an official process and you can submit code changes through a pull request.

But also for each of those there is a non-zero chance that a smaller group of people who do governance of the project, the core team or leads or module owners, will either tell you that your proposal or code change is not appropriate or compatible with the project's goals or they will help you to merge it. That is exactly the same for Swift.

Why is Apple suddenly a dictator while every other project also has an agenda and strict rules that are being enforced?

Is the expectation to just be able to do whatever you want in a project like Swift?

You’re only focusing on access to source code, the comment is about leadership and decision making. Remember the OmniSharp story around VSCode from just two years ago? It’s a very high profile example of what can (and eventually will) happen with corporate-controlled projects.

Swift can’t evolve or even exist without Apple and so unless you’re Apple, then Swift is too great of a risk.