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It's more For over 25 years, Linus Torvalds has created Linux, the core of the open source operating system that now powers much of the Web, the world's most popular smartphone operating system, and a fleet of other gadgets. , including cars. Meanwhile, Torvalds has gained a reputation for behavior and crude language that critics have termed "psychological abuse."
The uncompromising style of Torvalds has often been praised, including by WIRED. But its tendency to repress other Linux contributors, calling them names or throwing blasphemies, has also sparked criticism for creating a toxic environment and making the project unwelcoming for women, minorities or other groups under -représentés.
On Sunday, he apologized for years of inappropriate behavior. "My flippant email attacks were both unprofessional and useless," wrote Torvalds in an email to the Linux kernel mailing list. "I know now that it was not ok and I'm really sorry."
He also announced that the Linux kernel project would eventually adopt a code of conduct and pause in the project to learn more about "how to understand people's emotions and respond appropriately."
"I do not feel like I do not want to continue to maintain
Linux on the contrary, "wrote Torvalds. make I want to continue to do this project that I have been working on for almost three decades. "
The code of conduct replaces an old "conflict code" that encouraged anyone who felt "abused, threatened, or uncomfortable" to contact the Linux Foundation Advisory Technical Committee, the organization that runs the Linux kernel. and uses Torvalds. did not list specific behaviors that were unacceptable. The new code specifies a sexualized language and "trolling, insulting / derogatory comments and personal or political attacks", among other unacceptable behaviors.
But that's not what drove Torvalds to apologize after all these years. Instead, it was a seemingly minor problem. Torvalds has planned a holiday in Scotland that has been in conflict with a planned Linux developer summit in Vancouver, BC, in November. Summit organizers announced earlier this month that the summit would move to Edinburgh, Scotland, rather than continue without Torvalds. The decision was close to a lot of things.
Torvalds wrote that the incident led members of the Linux community to confront him about "his life of not understanding emotions". It's hardly the first time. In 2013, former Linux kernel developer Sage Sharp, using a different name, openly criticized Torvalds' communication style and asked for a code of conduct for the project. "Linus, you are one of the worst offenders when it comes to verbally abusing people and publicly tearing their emotions," Sharp wrote at the time.
Later, Sharp told WIRED to receive developer acknowledgments about other open source projects, which said that Torvalds' behavior had influenced how people behaved in these other projects. Sharp also shared some of the intense hate mail received after speaking.
Torvalds agreed to talk about things with Sharp, but that did not mean much. He evoked the idea of a code of conduct in an email interview with WIRED, stating that "it is really necessary to dispel the frustrations and anger and to try to find a "respectful" "code of conduct." politeness "is just so much shit and bullshit." He doubled his stance at a conference in New Zealand in 2015, where, according to Ars Technica he said that diversity was "not really important".
That's why the excuses of Torvalds are a surprise – and why some people remain skeptical.
Many people applauded the apology and code of conduct for making the Linux community more welcoming, including Sarah Drasner, an open source developer, and April Wensel, founder of Compassionate Coding:
But others, including a developer who runs a YouTube channel under the name "Amy Codes" and Sarah Mei, a software engineer, lamented the praise Torvalds received for his apology, even though had decades to correct his behavior.
Others have criticized Torvalds' explanation that he did not understand the emotions of others as the reason for his behavior:
The Linux Foundation did not respond to a request for comment.
Sharp could not be reached for comment but wrote on Twitter that the real test is whether the Linux kernel community is changing.
The great hope is that, admitting that his behavior is wrong, Torvalds will make it more difficult for other open source developers to justify their own negative behaviors.
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