&gt; Arguments stand on their own.<p>No, they don&#x27;t.  Arguments can be measured against reality.  Let&#x27;s check the score.<p>15 years later, Linux has been really smart about where to share code (vfs) and where not to (drivers, subject of this post).  Linus was right, ESR was wrong.<p>Trying to make a framework for everything is the hallmark of the intermediate programmer.  Often you increase complexity and coupling in exchange for deduplicating a few lines of code here and there -- in a real system, I often prefer the few lines of duplication and the simpler overall design.