[hamburglar]

I'd say open source on the whole is a "community" endeavor, but individual open source projects are not necessarily. There are countless projects that are a single author who accepts bugfixes here and there but in general it's a one-man show.

The linux kernel is like that: it's Linus' project that he lets some people help with. It's a dictatorship, largely ego-driven, and he has the last word on any philosophical, design, architectural, or even political decision. For better or for worse.