Quoting: jarhead_hI've read some emails where he called people out rather harshly, with plenty of vulgarity and questioning their inteligence. Lots of belittling the incompetent, and quite frankly, THAT'S THE REASON LINUX IS AS GOOD AS IT IS.

The harsh taskmaster gets better results every time. EVERY TIME.

Absolutely true. I can only see Linux as a project go south from now on which is very sad. I hope Linus comes to his senses eventually and removes this toxic CoC completely. Here's a good read on why CoC is actually a horrible thing that brings the very discord it states to prevent.

Quoting: jarhead_hThe problem is, like with systemD - everyone hates it, but everyone uses it because Red Hat - is that a converged corporation becomes the defacto standard, your new fork will be supported by you and only you.

Hey-hey-hey, not so fast! I, for one, love systemd and I'm not ashamed to admit it. It's not without flaws for sure but it gets the job done and is very easy to manage. It really follows the "least surprise" rule or something, i.e. you do simple things and get the exact result you wanted. I understand the proponents of Unix-way that systemd obviously violates compared to SysV and I love Unix-way. Systemd just does that system management task better imo.

So, overall: Linus pondering his behavior and changing it might be fine (if he would still be a harsh taskmaster, maybe less rude). Bringing politics into Linux is NOT FINE at all.

Quoting: rkfgSo, overall: Linus pondering his behavior and changing it might be fine (if he would still be a harsh taskmaster, maybe less rude). Bringing politics into Linux is NOT FINE at all.

Problem : a Code of Conduct is the first step in a long road that ends with people submitting bug reports because comments in the code use gendered pronouns. It's an either/or situation with a middle ground only being temporary on the way towards one extreme or the other. Either let Linus be Linus and tell everyone to grow a thicker skin, or we will end up watching the people that take over for the people that take over for Linus crash development for reasons that have nothing to do with code and everything to do with non-coders that can't do what Linus has done and won't even be able to maintain it.

Linux will lose Linus eventually. He has to die sometime. He might/probably-will retire before then. I'm just in the camp that says that we should keep doing what's worked for this long until we absolutely can't anymore, and then hopefully whoever takes over will ALSO prioritize quality of code over being liked.

Quoting: wvstolzingHere's the link to the entire post from the kernel mailing list (link

"This is my reality. I am not an emotionally empathetic kind of person
and that probably doesn't come as a big surprise to anybody. Least of
all me. The fact that I then misread people and don't realize (for
years) how badly I've judged a situation and contributed to an
unprofessional environment is not good.

This week people in our community confronted me about my lifetime of
not understanding emotions. My flippant attacks in emails have been
both unprofessional and uncalled for. Especially at times when I made
it personal. In my quest for a better patch, this made sense to me.
I know now this was not OK and I am truly sorry.

The above is basically a long-winded way to get to the somewhat
painful personal admission that hey, 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."

Is he a sociopath?

Quoting: Guest@jarhead_h:

There's a difference between being a harsh taskmaster, and being insulting. There's absolutely no reason to insult and put people down for mistakes. There's no reason why telling people trying to do improper things means you have to berate them. It's just as easy to keep it technical, keep it professional, and make decisions without insulting or being derogatory.

Put another way, if I disagreed with you, should I then verbally abuse you? I think you would be quick to take offense.

That depends. Are you my boss, and have I screwed up? Yes and yes? Then abuse is exactly what I would expect. Especially if the screw up was a repeat one.

I found image from his treatment:

Quoting: GuestThere's a difference between being a harsh taskmaster, and being insulting.

The difference between being harsh taskmaster and being insulting is often if what is being said is true or not.

Quoting: GuestThere's absolutely no reason to insult and put people down for mistakes. There's no reason why telling people trying to do improper things means you have to berate them. It's just as easy to keep it technical, keep it professional, and make decisions without insulting or being derogatory.

I believe we should be a little more accepting towards our geniuses and leaders. There is no reason to insult people and put them down for their mistakes, but that is what we have in Linus. We can't choose half a person while rejecting his other half. People come as a whole with the good and the bad bits.

And no matter what happens, I hope this community never accepts the SJW culture. It is a culture with which one shows oneself as being morally superior without actually doing anything worthwhile. It starts a competition of who could be the most offended on other's behalves.

Quoting: jarhead_hLinux will lose Linus eventually. He has to die sometime. He might/probably-will retire before then. I'm just in the camp that says that we should keep doing what's worked for this long until we absolutely can't anymore, and then hopefully whoever takes over will ALSO prioritize quality of code over being liked.

Many things in the world have "worked for this long" but it doesn't mean those things were or are sustainable. People are too quick with their doomsday predictions and have buried not only the kernel but also the man primarily responsible for its existence. How about you guys wait a bit and see if the CoC actually has these catastrophic consequences that you seem to be so certain of? Because it's more than likely that things will keep moving as they have in the past, except Linus has to hold his tongue and stick to technical critique.

Quoting: Samsai

Quoting: jarhead_hLinux will lose Linus eventually. He has to die sometime. He might/probably-will retire before then. I'm just in the camp that says that we should keep doing what's worked for this long until we absolutely can't anymore, and then hopefully whoever takes over will ALSO prioritize quality of code over being liked.

Many things in the world have "worked for this long" but it doesn't mean those things were or are sustainable. People are too quick with their doomsday predictions and have buried not only the kernel but also the man primarily responsible for its existence. How about you guys wait a bit and see if the CoC actually has these catastrophic consequences that you seem to be so certain of? Because it's more than likely that things will keep moving as they have in the past, except Linus has to hold his tongue and stick to technical critique.

Apparently it had pretty catastrophic consequences on FreeBSD when they applied the CoC. Lost a lot of contributors, especially one of the most active ones.

Quoting: SamsaiPeople are too quick with their doomsday predictions and have buried not only the kernel but also the man primarily responsible for its existence. How about you guys wait a bit and see if the CoC actually has these catastrophic consequences that you seem to be so certain of? Because it's more than likely that things will keep moving as they have in the past, except Linus has to hold his tongue and stick to technical critique.

Bowing down to social justice warriors has never worked for any society or organization. Do you really believe that relegating merit to an afterthought will ever do good to Linux? Do you think there is something special abut Linux that things can't play out that way? These CoC are now being used to extinguish the diversity of opinions in the guise of promoting diversity. Just look at the James Damore case. Only people who are not outraged at what was done to him are the ones who didn't actually read his memo.

There is a difference between saying "this code is crap because a b c, please fix this and it will be considered again" and the things Linus has been saying. They will be equally effective as regards the quality of code in Linux if in both cases the code is simply not accepted.

No-one is born perfect and fully formed and the expectation that someone who is just starting with kernel development will be immediately able to satisfy the code maintainer's expectations is nonsensical.