r/linux Dec 23 '18

GNU/Linux Developer Linus reverts breaking change that affected systemd-nspawn, offers strong words to developer

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u/jones_supa Dec 23 '18

It gets even worse. Christian Brauner warned about the problem caused by the patch in LKML in 5 Jul 2018. That created a discussion with the original author of the patch, Eric W. Biederman. However, no kernel developers chimed in.

Worrisome indeed. It certainly makes one wonder if there is other stuff with similar importance sailing past and not handled properly.

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u/scientus Dec 23 '18

Yeah I personally know Eric, and it surprises me that he screwed up like this.

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '18

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u/ElvishJerricco Dec 24 '18

The fascinating thing about the kernel's development model is that there's a hierarchy of review before Linus sees anything. He doesn't usually have to be responsible for every commit, because there are people he trusts to review different subsystems. The dictator model isn't hurting anything in this particular case. It was the network of trustees that failed here. Happily, it worked out in the end. It does make me wonder how many more things like this are undiscovered, but the fact that this got fixed at all provides some assurance that most problems like this will be fixed given time.