Brian Fox is a titan of open source software.

We talked to him about his career and how he works.

I first recall being interested in technology at the age of 6.

It connected to BBN via a modem.

The baud rate was probably around 110bpsquite low.

I used to hold down the CTRL key while pressing G, which would cause the bell to ring.

At age 8 I was a guinea pig in a Wally Feurzeig experiment involving his new Logo language.

At age 21 I wroteTerrapin Logofor the Apple //e.

I wrote theTexInfo documentation system.

At age 27 I authored the Bash shell.

I became an entrepreneur, creating and working with startup companies for the past 19 years.

I care about freedom.

I created a completely open source voting system in 2007.

Bash taught me how to relinquish code ownership to garner additional supporters.

Take us through a recent workday.

I wake up relatively early, often at 5am.

I read emails and current events information.

I hack on various projects for an hour or so before helping my kids get to school.

I write answers to FAQs, to interview articles.

I meet with people, and we discuss Orchid and how to keep making it better.

I drink too much coffee and not enough water.

In the evening I go home, eat dinner and communicate with my family.

I might watch a TV show, such asThe Orville, or I might do some more hacking.

Im asleep by midnight or so.

What apps, gadgets, or tools cant you live without?

A pair of monitors.

My phone, unfortunately.

Whats your workspace setup like?

Whats your best time-saving shortcut or life hack?

Listening when other people talk.

What was the most important thing you learned from creating Bash?

Theres no end to complaininggive a mouse a cookie.

How do you keep track of what you have to do?

I wrote my own accounting system to make my life easier.

What everyday thing are you better at than everyone else?

I try hard to not work.

How do you recharge?

What do you do when you want to forget about work?

I try hard to not work.

I absolutely love to play music, and I do that as often as I am able.

Whats your favorite side project?

What are you currently reading, or whats something youd recommend?

Three random sci-fi books.

I wont tell you the authors names.

I recommend that people read the Orchid source code.

Theres good stuff in there, but more importantly, it will awaken them to how they can help!

Fill in the blank: Id love to see _________ answer these same questions.

David Vinyak Wallace (Gumby), co-founder of Cygnus, sold to RedHat in the 90s.

Whats the best advice youve ever received?

Is there anything else youd like to add that might be interesting to readers and fans?

Best way to get into Lifehacker: 1.

Write some software that might be useful.

This interview has been lightly edited.

Have someone you want to see featured, or questions you think we should ask?