At Open Source Summit Japan, Linux and Git creator Linus Torvalds talked about Rust in Linux, Linux maintainer fatigue, and AI’s future role in Linux and open-source development.
At Open Source Summit Japan, Linux and Git creator Linus Torvalds talked about Rust in Linux, Linux maintainer fatigue, and AI’s future role in Linux and open-source development.
I would have liked for Linus to maintain his angry-man-finger-thrusting self against evil corporates like Nvidia. I suppose I’m asking for too much, but his mild-mannerisms towards developers is a welcome change. Towards such corporates though, not so much. I would have liked some more motivated cursing against Intel and Nvidia and IBM. Oh well.
Other than that (which is a minor gripe from me at the most), touching message from Linus. Indeed, the maintainers are graying, and the current generation isn’t that interested in kernel programming. I’m sure there will be talent around (as long as the big companies need Linux to run their servers, I’m sure someone will turn up), but someone to rise to the helm with a fiery approach to openness is very important to my heart. I don’t think we will ever see another Linus in our lifetime, and I will personally grieve the day Linus and his core set of maintainers pass away.
I am not a programmer, and the best I can do is provide some funding to people who can/would engage directly with the kernel. But if the situation becomes so dire, I too will get my hands dirty, if nothing but to help the cause. Long live FOSS!
Linus was himself a major contributor to making people steer well clear of wanting to work on the Linux kernel. I didn’t need that kind of abuse in my life.
So while he is identifying a problem, it’s a bit like a recovering arsonist homeowner bemoaning the scorch marks on his house.
As I said, his change in behaviour towards fellow developers is a welcome change. There’s no doubt about that.
I just wish he would continue to rage against companies up to no good, especially for FOSS. I never want him to get mild with Nvidia, and I want him to praise AMD a bit (they deserve it, and his opinion holds value).
Hell will freeze over before he accepts a pull request on GitHub or uses Issues for discussions. I believe his behaviour serves only to scare away contributors and embolden elitists.
So you want a fool to validate your insipid worldviews.