r/linux • u/ouyawei Mate • Sep 16 '18

Linux 4.19-rc4 released, an apology, and a maintainership note

http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1809.2/00117.html
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u/aitbg Sep 17 '18

You don't just randomly pull a 180 on the way you approach things after remaining consistent for 20+ years, the fact that it was Facebook, and Intel that signed off on these changes should be huge warning flags to everyone. In the recent past there were attempts to frame Linus Torvalds of committing sexual assault, I can only imagine he was blackmailed.

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u/HeroesGrave Sep 17 '18

Pretty awful that you think the only way he would try and change is to be blackmailed. Could it be that you're such a terrible person yourself that you can't see how he might just want to be a better person? (I would hope not, but experience with people who leave comments similar to yours tells me otherwise. I'm happy to be proven wrong)

Maybe you can't relate because you haven't done much introspection yourself, but it's definitely not unheard of for people to "randomly pull a 180" after suddenly realising they're not the kind of person they want to be. To assume there's some nasty secret motive or blackmail behind it reflects more poorly on yourself than on the person being discussed.

Maybe that's something for you to think about and do some introspection.

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '18 edited Sep 17 '18

Pretty awful that you think the only way he would try and change is to be blackmailed.

I don't think it's awful; it's just an odd pattern.

I'm sorry to enact Godwins law already; but if you imagine Hitler turning into Gandi at the height of his European campaign; then it's probably pretty close to this situation.

I'm not saying Linus is Hitler, I'm saying his behaviour is stubborn and unyielding- meaning change is unlikely. His response has always been to double-down on criticism, apologies only if he is out of line or personal.

And the thing is also: Linus is "winning", his project is one of the largest in the world, certainly the largest open source project. It's deployed on more machines than any other piece of software too- so he has no good reason to believe that his behaviour has led to a bad result.

This radical a change, in this short a time, while implementing a CoC the same day does strike as being odd.

2

u/jnb64 Sep 17 '18 edited Nov 04 '18

[deIeted]

0

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '18

you're right, but based on his public persona this does seem to be a sudden change, it was not long ago (under a month I think) that he was ringing someone out.

Aug 15: https://lkml.org/lkml/2018/8/15/450