Linux's Sole Wireless/WiFi Driver Maintainer Is Stepping Down

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  • phoronix
    Administrator
    • Jan 2007
    • 67370

    Linux's Sole Wireless/WiFi Driver Maintainer Is Stepping Down

    Phoronix: Linux's Sole Wireless/WiFi Driver Maintainer Is Stepping Down

    Days after a DRM driver developer orphaned his drivers due to health reasons in stepping down, the sole maintainer at large of the Linux wireless (WiFi) drivers is stepping down and without any immediate replacement...

    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite
  • Quackdoc
    Senior Member
    • Oct 2020
    • 5072

    #2
    You know, I do have mad respect all of the developers involved in the kernel. But man... There is just something about hearing so many maintainers step down without replacements ready that just hits the wrong way.

    I do wonder, do these developers announce before hand that they are intending to step down, I know in some cases it's just not feasible, but any warning is ideal.

    Comment

    • hf_139
      Senior Member
      • May 2023
      • 336

      #3
      As a developer from Finland, he was a national security risk anyway.
      Nokia works with China and Russians took over Jolla.

      I only accept code from the NSA-partner company Red Hat in my kernel!
      Red Hat has a long history of running various mass surveillance tools used by our great defenders of democracy and freedom from our three letter agencies.

      Comment

      • Anux
        Senior Member
        • Nov 2021
        • 1959

        #4
        Originally posted by Quackdoc View Post
        I do wonder, do these developers announce before hand that they are intending to step down, I know in some cases it's just not feasible, but any warning is ideal.
        Not too long ago they kicked out 12 maintainers without any warning and most people were celebrating it.
        Someone that provides sufficient documentation will happily step in, there are probably already 100 in line waiting to maintain it.

        SCNR

        Comment

        • CommunityMember
          Senior Member
          • Oct 2019
          • 1378

          #5
          Originally posted by Quackdoc View Post
          There is just something about hearing so many maintainers step down without replacements ready that just hits the wrong way.
          In any well run organization there is a formally designated deputy for the major roles. Linux should strive to be considered well run, and that includes formal deputies for major subsystems. Note that having a formal deputy does not mean that deputy will be the long term replacement (sometimes they will be, in which case they need to get their own deputy, but sometimes the deputy is just a caretaker until the role can be filled).

          Comment

          • Jumbotron
            Senior Member
            • Jul 2015
            • 1261

            #6
            What we are witnessing in real time with these multiple high profile maintainer retirements is one of the primary weakness in the Open Source model of development. Linus and the entire Linux Foundation have got to pull their heads out of their asses and finally grow up and become like a corporation with deep lines of succession and continuation in all the foundational parts of the kernel and the driver development. WIFI is exceedingly foundational. To only have one maintainer of WIFI drivers with NO backup is absolutely scandalous and is a stain on the right and good efforts to promote Open Source as the premier way to develop, distribute and maintain software worldwide .

            Comment

            • Weasel
              Senior Member
              • Feb 2017
              • 4510

              #7
              Originally posted by Jumbotron View Post
              What we are witnessing in real time with these multiple high profile maintainer retirements is one of the primary weakness in the Open Source model of development. Linus and the entire Linux Foundation have got to pull their heads out of their asses and finally grow up and become like a corporation with deep lines of succession and continuation in all the foundational parts of the kernel and the driver development. WIFI is exceedingly foundational. To only have one maintainer of WIFI drivers with NO backup is absolutely scandalous and is a stain on the right and good efforts to promote Open Source as the premier way to develop, distribute and maintain software worldwide .
              Apple fanboy has spoken in true form. Shows.

              Comment

              • dlq84
                Senior Member
                • Jul 2012
                • 434

                #8
                Originally posted by Jumbotron View Post
                What we are witnessing in real time with these multiple high profile maintainer retirements is one of the primary weakness in the Open Source model of development. Linus and the entire Linux Foundation have got to pull their heads out of their asses and finally grow up and become like a corporation with deep lines of succession and continuation in all the foundational parts of the kernel and the driver development. WIFI is exceedingly foundational. To only have one maintainer of WIFI drivers with NO backup is absolutely scandalous and is a stain on the right and good efforts to promote Open Source as the premier way to develop, distribute and maintain software worldwide .
                Ah yes, because nobody every quits important roles in companies with closed source code...

                Comment

                • avis
                  Senior Member
                  • Dec 2022
                  • 2260

                  #9
                  As a Linux kernel bugzilla co-maintainer, I can say this is terrible news.

                  A large number of Wi-Fi related bug reports have already been largely neglected, now it's going to get worse.

                  This is exacerbated by the fact that there's basically no "open source" Wi-Fi hardware anymore. Blueprints are proprietary, only OEMs can actually fix bugs, and they're not really interested in Linux.

                  Comment

                  • aerospace
                    Phoronix Member
                    • Apr 2024
                    • 67

                    #10
                    Originally posted by hf_139 View Post
                    As a developer from Finland, he was a national security risk anyway.
                    Nokia works with China and Russians took over Jolla.

                    I only accept code from the NSA-partner company Red Hat in my kernel!
                    Red Hat has a long history of running various mass surveillance tools used by our great defenders of democracy and freedom from our three letter agencies.
                    Now that is Torvalds-compliant!

                    Comment

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