How New, Polite Linus Torvalds Points Out Bad Kernel Code (phoronix.com)

Linus Torvalds "has shown already for the new Linux 4.20~5.0 cycle he isn't relaxing his standards but is communicating better when it comes to bringing up coding," reports Phoronix, adding "So far it looks like Linus' brief retreat is paying off with still addressing code quality issues -- and not blatantly accepting new code into the kernel as some feared -- but in doing so in a professional manner compared to his past manner of exclaiming himself over capitalized sentences and profanity that at time put him at odds with some in the Linux kernel community."

AmiMoJo quotes their report: Last Saturday he took issue with the HID pull request and its introduction of the BigBen game controller driver that was introduced: the developer enabled this new driver by default. Linus Torvalds has always frowned upon random new drivers being enabled by default in the kernel configuration driver. [H]e still voiced his opinion over this driver's default "Y" build configuration, but did so in a more professional manner than he has done in the past:

We do *not* enable new random drivers by default. And we most *definitely* don't do it when they are odd-ball ones that most people have never heard of.

Yet the new "BigBen Interactive" driver that was added this merge window did exactly that.

Just don't do it.

Yes, yes, every developer always thinks that _their_ driver is so special and so magically important that it should be enabled by default. But no. When we have thousands of drivers, we don't randomly pick one new driver to be enabled by default just because some developer thinks it is special. It's not.... Please don't do things like this.
Phoronix also describes another "kernel oops" testing Torvalds' patience, in which Linus responded tactfully that "What makes me *very* unhappy about this is that if I'm right, I think it means that code was literally not tested at all by anybody who didn't have one of the entries in that list."

Comments

I can actually hear him gritting his teeth

[elrous0]

That should be impossible with just a few written words, right?

Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth

[Anonymous Coward]

On the contrary, it just goes to show how unnecessary his over the top style was. The irritation comes through just as clearly, but without being overtly offensive and hostile.

Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth

[Anonymous Coward]

One can only take offense.. It's not possible to give it.

Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth

[gweihir]

We will see what happens when the first self-important moron does not get it.

Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't see how that is any more polite than before. Professional way to say the same would have been:
- We have thousands of drivers so we can't enable all of them by default. This is especially true for new drivers that have not been properly tested yet and which are not known or used by a large amount of people. Please be careful about this in the future so we don't accidentally cause problems for our users.

Mind you, I don't want Linus to change the way he speaks. I was really happy when my code was rejected by him with harsh words.It made me feel special.

Those of you who don't understand how I feel, work with something for a whole week. Then send it to someone who would really need your work, but who you know won't reply to you nor use your work in any way. That is what kills spirit and makes you feel rejected, not harsh words that tell that the person did actually spend time investigating your work and even was kind enough to tell you what is wrong with it.

Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth

[93 Escort Wagon]

I don't see how that is any more polite than before.

If you honestly can’t see the difference, you haven’t been paying attention.

There are many ways this differs... but it boils down to this: Linus’ words focused on the code, not the coder. He still got his point across regarding why it was a bad decision, and he let people know he expected people to not do this for their own little corners of the kernel.

Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth

[Zontar The Mindless]

On the contrary, I think Linus did an excellent job of explaining reality to this developer. Reality being that thing that has a funny way of not giving a shit about your feelings, and Linus not being required to cater to every developer's unwarranted self-importance.

Oh, and please don't use the term "scare quotes" if you don't know what they are. Thanks!

He just can't stop being a dick

[Anonymous Coward]

He still can't just say:
"Drivers are not to be enabled by default. Disable and resubmit."
Nope, he's STILL gotta go on a passive aggressive sarcasm-fest. Fuck that guy.

Re:He just can't stop being a dick

[gerald.edward.butler]

> and not particularly professional

A crack-whore is a professional. All "professional" means is that you get paid to do work. "Amateur" is someone who does it for the love of it. I'd rather sleep with and amateur than a professional any day.

"Professional" is one of those weasel-words that gets used to control and manipulate others rather than having any real useful meaning (beyond the above). For me, as soon as someone uses the word "professional" I know they are a worthless piece of shit and I can simply ignore them as they are irrelevant to anything that actually matters.

Go be a whore (professional) and leave the work to the amateurs!

Re: Still not right

[Anonymous Coward]

Well his arbitrary opinion has been proven correct over decades. When he finally drops dead you can debate things with his successor all you like.

Re:SERENITY NOW!

[gweihir]

He has to be a jerk to keep kernel quality high. There is no other way. Same as you have to be a jerk (at least temporary) when grading exams, for example.

Re: Stop focusing on the PERSON, it is IRRELEVANT

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of the last paragraph but especially the first sentence of it, was passive aggressive insults. He "nicely" said "you aren't fucking special, stop acting like it". It's unwarranted. Did the submitter try to claim to be special? Maybe they just didn't know the policy, maybe the default flag was a typo, maybe it was just an oversight. Regardless, the diatribe at the end is unnecessary. He also dismisses the user's product as unimportant. I don't think Linus's product is all that important either but I don't go around telling him that. Everyone thinks their product is important, stating you don't think it is, is just being a dick. Linus has always acted like ANY mistake was a malicious attempt to murder his children. All he needed to say was "Our driver policy states drivers are not to be enabled by default. Please correct your code and resubmit." No insults. No ambiguity. Clearly states the reason for rejection.

Talking about how other people aren't special implies you think you are unless you explicitly exclude yourself, which he didn't. It's just an exercise to stroke his own ego and show everyone who's in charge. If he were *REALLY* in charge, he wouldn't have had to take a vacation and we wouldn't be arguing about this article. See, I can do it too, and boy does my ego feel better!