3 ms·

Linus is angry, that always makes me happy. Lord knows where we would be today if we had leaders like this more frequently through history.

eru 9y ago
A leader getting angry is not a guarantee of getting good governance. For a very memorable performance, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyD4p8_y8Kw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyD4p8_y8Kw
SmellyGeekBoy 9y ago
It does make me worry about the day that Linus retires. I imagine the kernel has enough momentum to carry on for a while but without a leader like Linus I can see it very slowly starting to unravel and quality issues starting to sneak in, much like we're seeing with post-Jobs Apple. Thankfully it doesn't seem that time is coming any time soon.
- txdv 9y ago
  Linus is a pure techie. No politics, no bullshitting around, your code sucks and he calls you out for it. The best kind of dictator to have.
- kogepathic 9y ago
  > I can see it very slowly starting to unravel and quality issues starting to sneak in I know what you mean here, and I agree with you 100%. That being said, I can't help but chuckle because if you've ever looked at a vendor's GPL source code for the kernel (Android phone, NAS/router) you know it's the SoCs vendor's old SDK (lots of bodge) with the ODMs additional bodges for their product customizations. Yes, I am VERY glad that the mainline kernel has Linus and his nose for BS. But just go look at the vendor forks if you want to see some even worse shit than these patches! Allwinner's GPL is basically garbage. You can find quality rants from tkaiser (Armbian) about this. MediaTek doesn't even release theirs! Yes, this IS a GPL violation, and no they don't seem to care. At least Amlogic seems to have woken up and realized an active kernel development community is an asset for them.
- karambahh 9y ago
  What about *BSD ? How are they managing their kernels and other important decisions? I know next to nothing about the BSD communities, my only interaction with the BSD is discussing the taste of a pizza Theo de Raadt and I shared about 20 years ago and young me had no idea who he was. I later heard he is at the helm of OpenBSD and is used to strongly defend his opinions but it is only hearsay. I have no idea how FreeBSD or OpenBSD communities are organized but I suspect they might not be relying on one specific individual for their major decisions?
  - nbsd4lyfe 9y ago
    As for NetBSD, there's hundreds of people with commit access and a small group of respected developers to resolve disputes, with some extra democracy / laws restricting it. FreeBSD is similar but I never bothered to check the details. I think we generate less hackernews-worthy drama posts overall because when someone is repeatedly abusive, they're asked privately to stop/apologize, and if they keep at it, they risk being kicked from the project. With hundreds of contributors and a weak hierarchy, no one person is too important to be kicked.

eru 9y ago

A leader getting angry is not a guarantee of getting good governance. For a very memorable performance, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyD4p8_y8Kw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyD4p8_y8Kw

SmellyGeekBoy 9y ago

It does make me worry about the day that Linus retires. I imagine the kernel has enough momentum to carry on for a while but without a leader like Linus I can see it very slowly starting to unravel and quality issues starting to sneak in, much like we're seeing with post-Jobs Apple. Thankfully it doesn't seem that time is coming any time soon.

txdv 9y ago
Linus is a pure techie. No politics, no bullshitting around, your code sucks and he calls you out for it. The best kind of dictator to have.
kogepathic 9y ago
> I can see it very slowly starting to unravel and quality issues starting to sneak in I know what you mean here, and I agree with you 100%. That being said, I can't help but chuckle because if you've ever looked at a vendor's GPL source code for the kernel (Android phone, NAS/router) you know it's the SoCs vendor's old SDK (lots of bodge) with the ODMs additional bodges for their product customizations. Yes, I am VERY glad that the mainline kernel has Linus and his nose for BS. But just go look at the vendor forks if you want to see some even worse shit than these patches! Allwinner's GPL is basically garbage. You can find quality rants from tkaiser (Armbian) about this. MediaTek doesn't even release theirs! Yes, this IS a GPL violation, and no they don't seem to care. At least Amlogic seems to have woken up and realized an active kernel development community is an asset for them.
karambahh 9y ago
What about *BSD ? How are they managing their kernels and other important decisions? I know next to nothing about the BSD communities, my only interaction with the BSD is discussing the taste of a pizza Theo de Raadt and I shared about 20 years ago and young me had no idea who he was. I later heard he is at the helm of OpenBSD and is used to strongly defend his opinions but it is only hearsay. I have no idea how FreeBSD or OpenBSD communities are organized but I suspect they might not be relying on one specific individual for their major decisions?
- nbsd4lyfe 9y ago
  As for NetBSD, there's hundreds of people with commit access and a small group of respected developers to resolve disputes, with some extra democracy / laws restricting it. FreeBSD is similar but I never bothered to check the details. I think we generate less hackernews-worthy drama posts overall because when someone is repeatedly abusive, they're asked privately to stop/apologize, and if they keep at it, they risk being kicked from the project. With hundreds of contributors and a weak hierarchy, no one person is too important to be kicked.