On the scalability of Linus

I think "benevolent dictator" is an unfortunate choice of words. Neither can the development process be characterized as a democracy where there's an appointed leader. The reason I'm saying this is because taking this stuff literally might create confusion.

And by confusion I'm referring to suggestions such as "let's have more than one guy maintain mainline". This is not going to work. You need responsibility and you need to be able to point fingers when something goes wrong. It's simple: you have one guy managing his own stuff, and you trust him enough to use that for yourself.

I'm not saying a team can't manage a common repository on equal rights; this is certainly possible, don't get me wrong. But they'd better arrive at this conclusion themselves rather than being pushed into this on grounds like "bus factor". Even moreso if the "dictator" is under pressure, considered burnt out or unwilling to compromise (which can be a good thing). Committees for their own sake aren't going to do any good.