Andrew Tridgell

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Andrew "Tridge" Tridgell (born February 28, 1967) is an Australian computer programmer best known as the creator of and contributor to the Samba file server, and co-inventor of the rsync algorithm.

He is known for his analysis of complex proprietary protocols and algorithms, to allow compatible free software implementations.

1 Projects
2 Academic achievements
3 Employment
4 Awards
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Projects

Tridgell was a major developer of the Samba software, analysing 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 thesis, he co-developed rsync, including the rsync algorithm, a highly efficient file transfer and synchronization tool. He also was the original author of rzip, which uses a similar algorithm to rsync.

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

In April 2005, Tridgell tried to produce free software (now known as SourcePuller) that interoperated with the BitKeeper source code repository. It was a source of controversy and was cited^[1] as the reason that BitMover revoked the license that allowed Linux developers free usage of their BitKeeper product. This resulted in a messy public falling-out between Tridgell and Linus Torvalds, in which Tridgell stated that he had never had a BitKeeper license so he couldn't violate it and had acted entirely ethically in analysing and implementing the protocol, something he'd previously done with the Samba protocol. Tridgell's involvement in the project resulted in Linus accusing him of playing dirty tricks with BitKeeper^[2]. The broad extent of Tridgell's analysis started by telneting to a BitKeeper and typing HELP, something that, seemingly, no-one else had previously thought to try.

[edit] Academic achievements

Tridgell completed a science degree with majors in applied mathematics and physics at the University of Sydney in 1988, before moving to Canberra to complete an Honours degree at the Australian National University, in which he received first class honours in theoretical physics.

Tridgell completed a Ph.D. 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 thesis, on "Efficient Algorithms for Sorting and Synchronization", was based on his work on the rsync algorithm. (link to thesis below)

[edit] Employment

Tridgell started his career working for Efam Resources from 1987 to 1988, designing computer models of financial markets. His work led to a product named The Options Analyst, which he marketed and sold for five years.

From 1988 to 1989, Tridgell worked as a software developer for a company named Sonartech Pty Ltd (now Sonartech Atlas), which developed sonar technologies for Australian submarines. He worked on passive sonar technology.

Between 1989 and 1990, Tridgell was employed at the Research School of Biological Sciences in the Australian National University, creating computer models of physical and biological events and environments such as bushfire spread and population dynamics.

From 1991 to 1999, Tridgell held various other positions at the Australian National University, such as UNIX administration, satellite control, and supercomputer research. During this period he was seconded to the Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Computational Systems, where he headed the PIOuS (Parallel Input/Output System) project - later HiDIOS (High-performance Distributed Input/Output System) - for parallel file systems on the Fujitsu AP1000 and AP+ supercomputers. Tridgell also went on to lecture, first as an associate lecturer, and then as a casual lecturer, in the university's Computer Science division. He remains a Visiting Fellow of the University.

In mid-1999, Tridgell joined the LinuxCare company's office in Canberra as their first Australian employee. He helped to assemble 14 staff for a research and development team known as OzLabs. Linux and open-source companies were quite a new concept at this stage. Tridgell was made a research fellow of Linuxcare in 2000.

In March 2001, Tridgell joined VA Linux Systems. He worked in the network attached storage division for VA Linux Systems, making enhancements to Samba and the Linux kernel to provide enhanced performance for their network-attached storage device range.

Tridgell continued his work with network-attached storage technologies when he joined Quantum Corporation as a Senior Engineer in the Systems Storage Group. His role once again involved developing functionality and efficiency modifications into Samba to enhance Quantum's Guardian network-attached storage device range. One of the features that he added to Samba at this time was support for Microsoft's Active Directory technology, a new authentication system introduced with Microsoft's Windows 2000 Server product range.

In 2004, Tridgell was employed by IBM working remotely for the Almaden Research Center. In January 2005, he joined the OSDL on a one-year fellowship^[3]; he then returned to IBM.^[4]

[edit] Awards

In October 2003, The Bulletin magazine judged Tridgell to be Australia's smartest Information and Communications Technology person.^[5]^[6]
In January 2006, the Free Software Foundation awarded Tridgell its 2005 Award for the Advancement of Free Software, for his work on Samba, the Linux kernel, and rsync. Tridgell was considered to have furthered an important goal of the free software movement since the founding of GNU, analyzing ways for free software to interact with widespread proprietary systems to allow people to more easily move away from those systems.