After 34 years, the Linux kernel community finally has a contingency plan to replace Linus Torvalds — formal plan drawn up now community is ‘getting grey and ol

After 34 years, the Linux kernel community finally has a contingency plan to replace Linus Torvalds — formal plan drawn up now community is 'getting grey and ol

Bruno Ferreira is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has decades of experience with PC hardware and assorted sundries, alongside a career as a developer. He's obsessed with detail and has a tendency to ramble on the topics he loves. When not doing that, he's usually playing games, or at live music shows and festivals. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-13/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Bruno Ferreira Contributor Bruno Ferreira is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has decades of experience with PC hardware and assorted sundries, alongside a career as a developer. He's obsessed with detail and has a tendency to ramble on the topics he loves. When not doing that, he's usually playing games, or at live music shows and festivals.

abufrejoval I've always felt and argued that Linus' primary quality is his ability to produce good social code via decision making and supporting a culture, rather than programming computer code. One of his first such decisions was to recognize that others were better at writing operating system code and to offer his code to full replacement. And he is now repeating the very same concept on a meta level, just what I'd have expected and I quite sincerely admire. I don't praise easily: they say it spoils character… Reply

praz01 abufrejoval said: I've always felt and argued that Linus' primary quality is his ability to produce good social code via decision making and supporting a culture, rather than programming computer code. One of his first such decisions was to recognize that others were better at writing operating system code and to offer his code to full replacement. And he is now repeating the very same concept on a meta level, just what I'd have expected and I quite sincerely admire. I don't praise easily: they say it spoils character… "recognize that others were better at writing operating system." I'm going to take this sentence purposely out of context to mention that Torvalds' notorious for rejecting pull requests (code changes), on some occasions lashing out in less than civil manner (non-pc)! The Linux Foundation code of conduct solely exists to keep Linus' in check. Reply

abufrejoval praz01 said: "recognize that others were better at writing operating system." I'm going to take this sentence purposely out of context to mention that Torvalds' notorious for rejecting pull requests (code changes), on some occasions lashing out in less than civil manner (non-pc)! The Linux Foundation code of conduct solely exists to keep Linus' in check. I knew this was going to come 😉 But even there he reformed much better than I might have done in his place.. so there! Reply

bit_user praz01 said: "recognize that others were better at writing operating system." I'm going to take this sentence purposely out of context to mention that Torvalds' notorious for rejecting pull requests (code changes), on some occasions lashing out in less than civil manner (non-pc)! The Linux Foundation code of conduct solely exists to keep Linus' in check. I've read several of his rants and they generally make sense to me. I'd rather someone be in charge who's not afraid to give the blunt, honest truth and doesn't waste lots of time and words talking around the real issue than someone who's a mere politician. There's lots of conventional wisdom about projects that are "designed by committee" and it's widely held to be a bad way to go. IMO, if you get someone who's too much of a politician in charge, you end up with something similar. For all the Linus-bashing, you can't argue with Linux' success. So far, we can only imagine how it would've fared under a different style of leadership. Reply

DS426 There's Linus bashers and then cult-like followers, with the rest of us somewhere in the middle (or rather not caring at all). Indeed many of us would have much bigger egos and try to benefit personally more from being in this position. As for this succession planning, I'm surprised this hasn't been done already. Failing to plan is planning to fail, and that could have very well happened. Linus would remain at the top of the pyramid as long as he wishes (and is alive), so there's no real downside to finding and determining successors. Linux deserves and needs the resiliency of an even more robust organization, even as great as it's community structure is. Plenty of technical competence at upper leadership levels but long-term strategy and vision is still an afterthought (or finally catching up as the "gray old man" and others ponder these things), even as the Linux Foundation's aim was to provide those things. Reply

bit_user DS426 said: As for this succession planning, I'm surprised this hasn't been done already. Yeah, I'd have expected it to be near the top of Linux Foundation's priorities, upon its founding. Reply

randomizer praz01 said: "recognize that others were better at writing operating system." I'm going to take this sentence purposely out of context to mention that Torvalds' notorious for rejecting pull requests (code changes), on some occasions lashing out in less than civil manner (non-pc)! The Linux Foundation code of conduct solely exists to keep Linus' in check. Others were better, but not those others. 🙂 Reply

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