Going my own way

[mjg59]

Reaction to Sarah's post about leaving the kernel community was a mixture of terrible and touching, but it's still one of those things that almost certainly won't end up making any kind of significant difference. Linus has made it pretty clear that he's fine with the way he behaves, and nobody's going to depose him. That's unfortunate, because earlier today I was sitting in a presentation at Linuxcon and remembering how much I love the technical side of kernel development. "Remembering" is a deliberate choice of word - it's been increasingly difficult to remember that, because instead I remember having to deal with interminable arguments over the naming of an interface because Linus has an undying hatred of BSD securelevel, or having my name forever associated with the deepthroating of Microsoft because Linus couldn't be bothered asking questions about the reasoning behind a design before trashing it.

In the end it's a mixture of just being tired of dealing with the crap associated with Linux development and realising that by continuing to put up with it I'm tacitly encouraging its continuation, but I can't be bothered any more. And, thanks to the magic of free software, it turns out that I can avoid putting up with the bullshit in the kernel community and get to work on the things I'm interested in doing. So here's a kernel tree with patches that implement a BSD-style securelevel interface. Over time it'll pick up some of the power management code I'm still working on, and we'll see where it goes from there. But, until there's a significant shift in community norms on LKML, I'll only be there when I'm being paid to be there. And that's improved my mood immeasurably.

(Edited to add a context link for the "deepthroating of Microsoft" reference)

Comments

Re: Stay with the main project

[(Anonymous)]

In other words, bend over and take the abuse with a smile, and don't worry about the continual drain of talent leaving the kernel team, because smart people prefer to work in an enjoyable environment.

Re: Stay with the main project

[(Anonymous)]

I don't work with the kernel community but what I read about the topic and about concrete cases of this so called "abuse" is far more ridiculous than to take seriously.

Re: Stay with the main project

[(Anonymous)]

Your disrespect and dismissal make you a perfect candidate for kernel leadership. Can you code, or do you just sit back and make judgments?

Re: Stay with the main project

[(Anonymous)]

Well said :-)

Re: Stay with the main project

[(Anonymous)]

Taking abuse is a bad idea. Disassociating with abusive people is a great idea.

If the kernel community genuinely is abusive, then people should just leave, and if/when enough do, the community will *have* to become a more pleasant environment to be in.