patch pumpkin

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.
    

pumpkin
backup pumpkin
patch pumpkin
pumpkineer
pumpking

   <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").

   Chip Salzenberg <[email protected]> wrote:

   David Croy once told me once that at a previous job, there was
   one tape drive and multiple systems that used it for backups.
   But instead of some high-tech exclusion software, they used a
   low-tech method to prevent multiple simultaneous backups: a
   stuffed pumpkin.  No one was allowed to make backups unless
   they had the "backup pumpkin".

   (1999-02-23)