What happens when Linus dies/retires?
What happens when Linus dies/retires?
Will we all be fucked or is there a Linus 2?
156 comments
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We've all agreed that when he dies it would be disrespectful to keep using Linux so we'll pack it up and switch to Windows from them on.
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I'll go back to HaikuOS, it should be ready by then. ReactOS will still be working on Win98 support.
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I'll move to TempleOS
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Time to start teaching Holy-C at uni.
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But what happens when Bill Gates is dead?!
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I think I have a Windows ME CD lying around somewhere. Can I use that?
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That does sound almost kinda dope because that's a lot of developers who could make Windows suck a lot less
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Microsoft: we don't do that here
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The point of non-free licensed software is that you cannot improve it.
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GNU will spring their plan into motion for world domination, and send anyone who has said Linux and not GNU/Linux to GNUlag
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We're actually on the 10th Linus now, so the next one will be LinuXI
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Stupid God-Emperor keeps ordering all these gholas
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Don't you Hayt it when that happens?
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Still waiting for LinusXI Pro Max.
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For me its LinuXIV the Sun Kernel
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Nothing. Linus doesn't personally do coding on the kernel, he has a team who do that and he oversees it and makes the hard decisions.
There are others who will take his place and the work will continue.
If somehow the entire kernel team shut down, Google, Samsung or some other large corporation would take it over and continue development because at this point many, many, many servers, phones, smart devices, iot, and other appliances rely on the Linux kernel to function.
It simply cannot be left to die.
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"Today here at Microsoft we are celebrating the legacy of the late Linus Torvalds by releasing a new kernel, re-written entirely in Golang using Copilot. No GPL code was touched, merely re-written, and we will offer ISOs to the coding community for free! Stay tuned for more updates, as we will be exclusively developing on this kernel going forward! This is a great day for open source!"
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Our worst nightmare come true 😱
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releasing a new kernel, re-written entirely in Golang using Copilot
I just got so mad.
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Golang is a Google thing, Microsoft would probably use C#
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Too big to fail is for once not for a big corporation or bank
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😁
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Nothing. Linus doesn’t personally do coding on the kernel, he has a team who do that and he oversees it and makes the hard decisions.
Even that is not really the truth. There are dozens and dozens of teams that actually do the development, then there are people who coordinate and maintain certain parts of the kernel, merge in patches and make decisions. And then there's Linus who does coordinate these people.
There are others who will take his place and the work will continue.
And most likely Greg K-H will take over the position that Linus has right now. He has been one of the most active maintainers and is probably "the number 2" behind Linus.
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A number of candidates will create their own forks and there will be a long Game of Thrones style war between different factions. After couple of weeks each distro will choose the fork they will make the default one and people will split into warring factions. After that we will enter a nuclear winter style period lasting couple of years during which 90% of post on Lemmy will be just shitposting the rival forks. After a decade or two of backstabbing, dirty politics and other drama new dictator will be selected and all will be back to normal.
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So like systemd but ten times more dramatic.
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"The Lannisters send their commits"
he stabs him
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His firstborn son will take over as Linus II, as is tradition.
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The far future: A man sits at a table, staring at a floating hologram display. He watches as an indecipherable block of alphanumeric characters wiggles and splits into two segments. He nods slowly.
He takes a breath and closes his eyes, broadcasting a message to everyone on duty that day.
"Merge the request. Tell Linus#3418 that Wayland is now the default display manager."
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For King and Kernel!
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Hm, he and his wife are getting on in years. If they want a son, they should probably get on that right away.
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He has decided it shall pass on to his eldest daughter, and he has already fulfilled his kingly duties. Long may she reign.
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There will not be a Linus 2, but rather there will be a peaceful transfer of "power".
Linus is not the Benevolent Dictator For Life of the Linux Kernel.
Linus has already stepped away from developing the Kernel. He did this after an incident to work on his professionalism & mannerisms towards people. Kernel development did not stop. Linus does not approve and merge every patch into the Kernel.
Rather it is more likely that the Lead Maintainer/Developer changes to Greg Kroah-Hartmon, and the project does not skip a beat.
Rest assured with something as important as the Linux Kernel: development will keep going.
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Rest assured with something as important as the Linux Kernel: development will keep going.
Morgan freeman voice: but he was not rested or assured.
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You're right, I am not.
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But what happens when GKH and Linus are hit by a bus? The same bus. At the same time.
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BSD fanatics driving the bus
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Greg Kroah-Hartman
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DIGIMON!
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor is a thing that any GOOD project or IT department considers. How many of your staff can you afford to lose if they all happen to be travelling in the same bus, on their way to eat at the same place for lunch when an asteroid inevitably punches through said bus and/or diner.
'Hit by an asteroid' is a little unrealistic. Sentenced to prison for 15 to Life has happened in the Open Source community at least once before. The project I linked to had a Bus Factor of about one. It's now 'old code using outdated APIs' and is considered obsolete.
I've personally seen legal and criminal issues for a single individual cripple IT departments before, meaning their bus factor was also way too low. I've been on trips that have been rudely interrupted by screaming executives when I came down out of the mountains into cell range because I was the only bus factor left on certain systems. Natural disaster, such as hurricanes, wildfires, and floods are very serious existential threats to even the largest of organizations.
Since Linux seems to be a good project, I can't imagine that the discussion hasn't been had, in public or in private. Millions of individuals and dozens upon dozens of big corporations depend on Linux, Open source and otherwise. If the bus comes for core maintainers or project leaders we have at least SOME backup.
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"Known for: ReiserFS, murder" kinda makes it sound like the dude invented both.
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Or was sentenced for both.
'No your honour, that's not what committing ReiserFS means'
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I've been on trips that have been rudely interrupted by screaming executives when I came down out of the mountains into cell range because I was the only bus factor left on certain systems.
Wow, incredible management skills, genius move to treat your one critical employee like a piece of shit.
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Yeah, that was close to the end of that job. I didn't want to be there, and that particular manager was really upset that they couldn't just eliminate those servers. He wanted his folks trained on them, but then refused to actually let them spend any time training on them. I was a scapegoat and took the severance deal ASAP.
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I prefer to call it the lottery factor.
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when an asteroid inevitably punches through said bus and/or diner.
Or, you know there is a crash? Lol
I've never heard it with the asteroid explanation. But thousands of people die every year in car crashes. Most in single occupant vehicles, but a bus can be involved too.
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sudo mount --bind /linus2 /linus
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From what I understand Greg Kroah-Hartman would take over
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At which point it becomes Gregus.
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Gregux*
Or as someone else said, Grex
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I would switch to grex when that happens
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Any talk or podcast with him is generally worth listening to.
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Think we all can agree that the only sensible choise would to convert to Tempel OS...
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The only true OS, Amen.
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I'm going back to FreeDOS. I can still edit autoexec.bat and config.sys.
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This is the way.
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Hannah Montana Linux has entered the chat.
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I'm switching to OS/2
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BeOS here I come.
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Only one problem: The dev is dead too
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Dont need to develop more on perfection
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Then the propheciced hurdnus will rise and awaken a new era of foss
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fuck i really struggled to pronounce that even in my head, jesus.
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Linus has stepped away from kernel development before, and probably will again. Life continues on.
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By then GNU/Hurd will be ready lmao
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Thinking about switching to Guix at some point.
It looks like the most GNU of all the distros.
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Linus is getting old and its time to pick his replacement.
And its you! Congratulations! I hope your ready
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So I just click commit and it works? Wow, this is easy!
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Everyone is making jokes but the thought has occurred to me: Yes, we have an organisation in place that is ready to replace him. But, from what I understand, he IS the benevolent dictator, and he has used his power a few times to stop some changes that otherwise would be in the kernel right now. And I think that's a good thing.
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Greg K-H is the presumed successor and there's no reason to think he wouldn't do the same.
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When he dies, I expect his family will be sad for a while and bury him.
If he retires, his family will be pretty happy for him.
Other people will keep doing Linux stuff.
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When he dies, I expect his family will be sad for a while and bury him.
merge conflict*
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I’m training a code and language model to write Linux kernel code and provide snarky comments, of course all based on Linus’s extensive commit history.
Our AI Überherr will be pleased.
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The git based AI he was secretly programming will take over and anyone who can't use git submodules without looking up the commands will die.
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We mummify him and put him on display like Stalin... Err no wait..... liberache.
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Lenin is mummified and inside a glass chamber.
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Yeah I know, I knew it as soon as I hit send but I dunno, once there's an edit people get like weird about it.
Ed: although class chamber is accidentally perfect lol.
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I was thinking a nice golden throne. More appropriate for a god-emperor.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Foundation
Not much will change.
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Linux Foundation is where open source projects go to die.
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We will switch to GNU/Hurd.
Then we will plug a USB device and remember that Hurd doesn't support that yet.
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Clone him
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you mean fork him under a new maintainer?
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Git clone
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When linus dies we will pull a weekend at bernie's and make commits under his name then we will turn him into a human meat puppet.
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There shouldn't be another Linus. The model of a single maintainer holding so much importance is fundamentally flawed, especially for a project with the size and importance of Linux. Responsibilities and decision making should be distributed among stakeholders and volunteers. It will take time to rebuild around that sort of structure.
I've also heard tell that the linux-kernel mailing list has become extremely toxic, especially to newcomers. A professor that I have a lot of respect for has stopped teaching his kernel drivers course because one of his students received death threats related to her involvement. If a change in the tenor doesn't happen, less and less of the fresh blood that Linux needs will join.
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Nothing. But I would love a microkernel approach like redoxOS. Monolithic kernel is such a bloat?
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Get on with it then.
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Guy: I wish I had a flying car.
You: Invent one then.
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My megabytes D=
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There are plenty of other tech youtubers to watch.
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The top secret classified, for your eyes only papers will finally be revealed and we will find out that...
we have all been using BETAMAX this whole time, not Linux. Oo
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is there a Linus 2?
There was but Carmen Ortiz took care of that little problem, if you know what I mean 😉
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I didn't know her role in it but that's what I guessed, and I'm now sad to have been reminded of it
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Anyone good at insulting and ranting can make the cut. It should not be hard to train an AI on it.
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I don't care about Linux, but damn am I hoping Subsurface is in good hands.
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You should care about Linux. The web depends upon it :)
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And so does Subsurface :-p
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There will be so many forks trying to continue a Kernel based on linux and i think a few will succeeded! We may use arch kernel or debian kernel in the future.
156 comments