Linus Torvalds is Back in Charge of Linux (zdnet.com)

At Open Source Summit Europe in Edinburgh, Scotland, Linus Torvalds is meeting with Linux's top 40 or so developers at the Maintainers' Summit. This is his first step back in taking over Linux's reins. From a report: A little over a month ago, Torvalds stepped back from running the Linux development community. In a note to the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML), Torvalds said, "I need to change some of my behavior, and I want to apologize to the people that my personal behavior hurt and possibly drove away from kernel development entirely. I am going to take time off and get some assistance on how to understand people's emotions and respond appropriately." That time is over. Torvalds is back.

Whether he'll be a kinder and gentler Torvalds remains to be seen. In the Linux 4.19 announcement, Greg Kroah-Hartman, Linux's temporary leader and maintainer of the stable branch, wrote: "Linus, I'm handing the kernel tree back to you. You can have the joy of dealing with the merge window :)"

Comments

Step 1: Remove the Code of Cancer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Step 2: Admit that he was blackmailed and fuck all that bullshit he was forced to say.

Re:Step 1: Remove the Code of Cancer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Also if it is not up to standard, make it constructive.

Some of the cases he called out ended up that way because constructive criticism was met with denial and deflections. In one case I remember the maintainer broke a user land API by introducing a new error code, we got to see Linus laying it in on the maintainer long **after** the maintainer dismissed Linus statements about unacceptable compatibility issues. Wether professional or not BS remains BS and in that case Linus had to tell the maintainer to quit with his BS.

Re:Step 1: Remove the Code of Cancer.

[Luckyo]

The main problem with Social Justice Warrior mob-style attack is that they function like a pack of hyenas. They will not attack until they sense weakness, but single hyenas will make forays to poke the target for weakness. But they will not make a full out attack until they see a weakness. But once they begin attacking, it's a bloodbath and does not stop until it's a full and unconditional surrender or utter defeat of the target.

This is why it's critically important that when Social Justice Mob attacks you, you never show any weakness and never flinch in the face of the brutal onslaught. Any sign of weakness, like an apology is a mark on you that you're the weak target and everyone in the pack goes after you instead of just a few scout hyenas poking you.

Linus caved with his apology and stepping back. He's now either their slave or a pariah in the eyes of anyone who is either a part of Social Justice Mob or is afraid of them and therefore will not take his side in fear of becoming a target himself.

He's done. That's the sad reality of the polarized world of today.

Re:Step 1: Remove the Code of Cancer.

[Anonymous Coward]

You live in a very fucked-up non-reality bro

right

[cascadingstylesheet]

Whether he'll be a kinder and gentler Torvalds remains to be seen.

Which is part of the problem with these public confession/appeasement things.

Someone can always claim you didn't get "woke" enough.

Re:right

[azcoyote]

There's rarely a need to bring right and wrong into these matters, and an apology is basically an admission of guilt.

I've been pondering this a lot lately. As ridiculous as Trump is, his lack of remorse for anything and everything has shown a kind of fault line in the way in which today's culture has become a culture of blame. Most public figures, when confronted with something that brings public ire, try to apologize even if they don't really feel bad about it, because they think that apologies will diffuse the situation. But these days an apology is not just an admission of guilt; it's also an admission of weakness. It causes people to go in for the kill like a pack of wolves. Trump is just about the only person who can survive in such a situation, precisely because he refuses to apologize and simply "misremembers" what he said or did in a convenient way. Thus ironically it's the kind of witch hunt culture today that has helped to cement Trump's position. Every time people attack him, he shows his dominance by refusing to apologize.

This is visible, for example, in the difference between the affairs of Bill Clinton and Trump's tryst with Stormy Daniels. Now in terms of morality, both deeds are of course gravely sinful, despite being mutual (notwithstanding the illicit power dynamic in the case of Bill, though Hillary still refuses to acknowledge it). But looking at the cultural/political impact, apart from the question of right and wrong, it's fascinating how Trump is able to weather the storm simply by refusing to apologize. It's almost as if, in the public eye, it's the apology that constitutes the sin.

Re:right

[Mashiki]

You're right on the culture of blame, but misunderstand why Trump is able to whether it. It's because he refuses to "bow" to the politically correct culture around it and through it. People were getting pissed off over it ~20 years ago, that PC culture has gotten far worse over the last 6 years. Everything from destroying historical monuments, to active discrimination against others "for the greater good" for education, job positions, loans, and so forth. In general western society was on a very good track towards meritocracy, and the political left injected identity politics into it hard pushing that if you don't fall in line with what they tell you, then you're a racist, sexist, misogynist, rapist, and so on.

You can round all of this out, that in many cases the people who are screaming this culture of blame from the rooftops are people who've actually done the things they've accused others of. The rank hypocrisy is simply the final nail in the coffin for it.

Why you are getting resistance

[MikeRT]

No small part of it is because the left has adopted a view that "marginalized people" are effectively entitled to be disruptive, toxic, etc. Because discrimination(tm). If you want proof that most human beings are miserably stupid, it's the fact that so many left wing activists cannot reconcile two principles they've advocated and realize how the lock together like Lego pieces:

1. Every innocent civilian killed by anti-terrorism operations breeds new terrorists as people bitterly resent being collateral damage.
2. "Marginalized people" cannot be guilty of oppressing "non-marginalized people" no matter how they behave.

A rational person with an IQ higher than the thermostat might have an "oh fuq...." moment here. Every "non-marginalized person" who is disemployed, hounded out of public life, etc. creates collateral damage in their family, friends and people sympathetic saying "shit man, that could be me too" just like many a Muslim has done when the USAF bombs a village.