18 developers announced they had taken FFmpeg, the code that turns nearly every video on Earth into pictures and sound. Michael Niedermayer had decided what went in for 7 years.
Attila Kinali sent the letter in 2011, 88 minutes after Niedermayer approved a signer's patch. Niedermayer's name is nowhere in it. They phoned, texted and emailed everyone else first.
FFmpeg had no written way to replace its leader, so Kinali's phone tree was the procedure.
https://canartuc.medium.com/every-video-on-earth-18-developers-took-it-in-12-minutes-one-version-survived-bc2ce90d0ed6
