On kernel mailing list behavior [LWN.net]

On kernel mailing list behavior

Posted Jul 18, 2013 11:09 UTC (Thu) by simosx (guest, #24338)
In reply to: On kernel mailing list behavior by Tara_Li
Parent article: On kernel mailing list behavior

It is actually Jim Zemlin who is at fault here.

Have a look at his mystifying talk at http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/185-jennifer-clo...

He looks surprised that even if things are done /wrongly/ at the Linux development, the Linux kernel appears to come out OK.
His last point was *Don't be nice*, and he was referring to this exact issue we are discussing here. Jim, as an executive director, seems unable to reign or influence the core kernel developers.

What Jim is missing is that the Linux kernel is used in almost all devices. No matter what deficiencies exist in the development, at the moment there will be people around to replace the disaffected.
The Linux kernel development sets the tone to other projects, and you can see how it works with other projects were they lack the contributors.
This immature attitude in the Linux kernel development makes most core development to happen by paid developers and the volunteers are doing peripheral work.

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On kernel mailing list behavior

Posted Jul 18, 2013 22:12 UTC (Thu) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

You appear to have no understanding of how kernel development works. Jim Zemlin is not a king. He does not 'reign'. He is not even Linus's boss in any real sense: he pays Linus, but if he tries to tell Linus what to do, and Linus disagrees with it, Linus could jump ship somewhere else in a microsecond. Linus has so much bargaining power in this relationship that in a very real sense he is *Jim's* boss -- Jim's job, like the organization he heads, wouldn't exist without the kernel Linus has spent the last 22 years on, after all.

(This is true of major contributors to other projects too. You think someone could order the GCC developers to do something seriously stupid? No, they'd jump ship if it came down to it, and they'd even know where to go: one of the other companies employing GCC hackers. To know what those are, they only need to be able to read the bit after the @ on the development mailing list they follow every day.)