Linus Torvalds criticized a Google contributor on the Linux kernel mailing list for his suggestions about filesystems.
The debate centered around the use of inodes as unique identifiers for metadata on a filesystem.
Torvalds’s strong language and tone in his response to the contributor were reminiscent of his past flippant attacks, for which he previously apologized.
I’d better read something on the inode uniqueness problem than this. I’ve already got in trouble with GNU tar because of duplicated file identifiers in overlayed FS.
You copied that function without understanding why it does what it does, and as a result your code IS GARBAGE.
AGAIN.
[…]
Debate continued for some time, in a cooler tone, with Torvalds offering suggestions on what he felt would be a better approach to the issues Rostedt hoped to address.
Harsh tone (in only two instances?), but he still invested in offering suggestions 🤷
Disagree. The hostility expresses frustration and indicates recognition of a long term pattern, and emphasizes the gravity of Torvalds’s observation.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pro-abuse – while the hostility does contribute to the content, that doesn’t mean it will have the desired effect. Some people get a fire lit under them when they experience that kind of feedback; others get defensive or heated or hurt, and those people are NOT motivated effectively – and it can cause lasting harm.
The key of it is: group B will not learn and grow from this approach; they’ll learn and grow from a more cool headed approach. Group A, however, will grow from either approach. Therefore, the cool headed approach is preferable.
I don’t believe in this distinction. I am proud of my work. If I wasn’t, I would have almost no drive to deliver good or even any results. I like what I do.
So of course it becomes a difference if you tell me that there is a better way to do what I did (aka giving me something to improve) or if you tell me that my work is utter crap (aka taking away any positivity I had).
So yes, my code can be wrong or bad. But it’s still something I produced. So I prefer to not have it treated like a piece of shit.
From what I've seen: Linus didn't ever typically rip into first time contributors, it was usually always the people that he either expected better of or people that just kept submitting crap after crap.
Still sucks to be on the receiving end of it though.
No. He couldn’t. I have yet to read a Linus rebuke that wasn’t him educating someone as to how and whether they should have known better due to experience … or arrogance (systemd).
Torvalds worked on his behaviour and he’s much better now than he used to be. I suppose he still has to work on it but it’s a clear improvement. Also he knows what he is talking about and he’s not a Nazi.
Torvalds really worked on his attitude and it shows. It’s pretty evident from his interviews that he doesn’t want the attention due to brash behavior. Even this news article is hyperbolic. He is just trying to get a point across. He’s pretty much self restrained otherwise.
Linus might be an asshole but he’s actually competent. Elon Musk is a fucking joke of a person. Not to mention Linus hasn’t done anything that compares to things like Elon suing his way into being a “founder” of Tesla and kicking out the actual founders.
Meh - I’m pretty sure Torvalds is just saying in public what thousands of other people were thinking quietly.
It sure is unpleasant to have your mistakes pointed out in public… but it’s a hell of a lot better than not even knowing you made a mistake at all which is usually what happens.
It would be better if Torvalds told the guy he’s an idiot in a private email but I’m not going to get worked up over that. Honestly I have a bigger problem with The Register making a headline out of it. The kernel mailing list is relatively private… this article is going to be attached to this poor engineer for the rest of his career. They should have omitted his name at least.
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