Yes, this is absolutely the reason. Open-source software maintainance burns out people daily, and most can only tolerate <4 years. 20+ years is godlike, and can

Yes, this is absolutely the reason. Open-source software maintainance burns out people daily, and most can only tolerate <4 years. 20+ years is godlike, and can only be achieved if you have the world's longest patience, or correctly direct your madness on exactly the people who caused it. It's the only way. All maintainers do it to some extent, depending on how far separated they are with their contributers. Linus works very closely with them, which is why he experiences so much BS firsthand.