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Linus Retiring from Kernel Dev

looflirpa writes "Here is a post from Linus Torvalds. Seems like he has had enough linux for now, and is searching for a new leader for the linux kernel development. Certainly a shame, but everybody knew that this had to happen, sooner or later" This also is your chance to voice who should take the reins from the kernel's originator.

9 of 343 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdot even gets mentioned in the joke! by blues5150 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Fellow hackers,

    For some time I have felt unappreciated by some members of the Linux
    community. Far too many of you like to whine and cry, saying "My patches
    aren't being accepted by Linus, but they are by Alan or Michael!"
    It seems that some of you are too stupid to follow the simple
    instructions that I have made clear on more than one occasion.
    This, combined with the fact that today is my last day at Transmeta,
    has prompted me to consider rediscovering that balance I had in my life
    before you all took my hobby and made it into a mass movement. I have
    not decided who should take over maintenance of the kernel myself, for I
    believe that this decision should be made in a quasi-democratic
    fashion. While democracy has not worked well with this group of people
    before, I am willing to give it one last chance.

    However, I do have some opinions on who should succeed me as leader
    of kernel development. I will provide my opinions below as I am
    entitled to do so. Below is an alphabetical list of my nominations.
    I include a brief explanation of why I nominated them and any concerns
    I may have. You all should do the same for your nominations.

    Alan Cox: Alan has done a spectacular job of maintaining the 2.2 branch
    ever since I embarked on the development branch. He would have been an
    automatic choice for this job, except for his childish refusal to
    travel to the US, where all the real kernel hackers hang out.
    Marcello has proven to me, however, that you do not need to live
    in a technology-rich country such as the US to be a leader of
    kernel development.

    Matt Dillon: Whenever someone moans about the 2.4 VM fiasco,
    I think to myself, "I wish Matt hadn't left the Linux kernel
    development for FreeBSD!" I believe that if Matt were to be chosen
    as leader, we would have had a sane and working VM on par with
    FreeBSD's months ago. While he has little leadership experience, he
    is a member of FreeBSD-core, a position which certainly demands
    respect.

    Eric S. Raymond: Being leader of kernel development involves
    fielding a significant amount of media attention. ESR has shown
    on many occasions that he can talk shit and still sound just as
    convincing as anyone on this list, all the time being completely
    oblivious to any contrasting viewpoints. While his
    kernel-configuration-adventure-game contribution to Linux just
    screams out "worthless bloat", I must admit to having enjoyed
    many a lonely night playing the game. If he could lay a similar
    interface over gdb, I'm sure that more kernel hackers would
    actually debug their work before submitting it.

    Richard M. Stallman: RMS has an exceptional track record in the
    open-source field, being largely responsible for my favorite text
    editor, compiler, and debugger. No other open-source hacker has
    come as close as he has to replicating the integration available
    with Microsoft Visual C++ 6 years ago. I fully endorse him as a
    candidate, assuming he's willing to drop his puerile "GNU/Linux"
    ego stroking.

    Theo de Raadt: Theo is an exceptional candidate. Not only is he a
    more than adequate hacker; he attracts exactly the type of people
    to OpenBSD that he wants, and will jettison those who are not up to
    the task. While purging out all the less-than-adequate hackers
    in the Linux project will inevitably attract negative publicity
    from Slashdot and other "community" sites where these feeble hackers
    hang out, it will no doubt strengthen Linux in the future. Just
    look at what Theo's strong leadership has done for OpenBSD! He
    turned around the worthless "research project" that was NetBSD and
    made it an enterprise-class firewall system. I can only imagine
    the effect his Midas touch could have on the Linux kernel.

    You have until the end of April 1, 23:59 Pacific Time to submit your
    nominations to the list. The most nominated person will become the leader
    of kernel development. I will examine the list of nominations and,
    assuming that the winner wants the job, I will hand full control over to
    them. I know that this is short notice, but knowing how obsessively most
    of you check your inboxes, I figure you should have more than adequate
    time to submit your recommendations. The decision will be final and no
    discussion will be considered after it has been made, so choose
    carefully.

    Thank you.

    Linus
    -

    --

  2. Re:first post by sglane81 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I modded you as insightful because your troll post was pure trolling. Trolling has become an artform and you reinvented a classic. The subject is first post and the message is also first post. You were not the first post, but you were the second. Don't ever let anyone tell you you will never be a true first post, because I see talent in you. The question is, can you take your talent to the next level and give us years and years of more trolling so I can surf /. at -1?

    --
    This is the Internet. You can say "fuck" here. - AC
  3. yeah right... by 311Stylee · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    just how gullable are we supposed to be, Taco?

  4. Re:first post by CaptainPhong · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I bet the gotse.cx guy could fit all your hot grits, Natalie Portman and your whole beowolf cluster...

    --
    ... "Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the w
  5. Re:first post by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ah, the glory! as of 5:08 eastern:

    Offtopic=1, Troll=2, Insightful=6, Interesting=3, Informative=1, Funny=1, Overrated=5, Underrated=1, Total=20.

    Kharma to the trolls! Long live the revolution!

  6. Whoa, HOA! by dbretton · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Last POST!

  7. -TrollFormers- by dbretton · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Trollbots, mod up into MeGaTRoll!

    -more than meets the eye!

  8. Re:420 p0st[fp] by TotallyUseless · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    first +1 bonus reply to 420 weedsmoking post! karma be damned! Enjoy the High Times or they will pass you by.

    --

    Time for some tasty Shiner Bock!
  9. Hepped-up Jesus on a POGO STICK! by d.valued · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    You know, this is getting re-goddamned-diculous. Couldn't.. everyone.. come up with a, schedule for mock releases?

    I mean, everyone expects this drek today. But, what if you released things, say, on 7 August? Or 20 November? Hmm?

    --
    I used to be someone else. Now I'm someone better.
    Real life is underrated.