Linus Torvalds Shows His New Polite Side While Pointing Out Bad Kernel Code

[L_A_G]

I really didn't see anything wrong in his previous email about not enabling drivers by default for no good reason... If he has to repeat himself every merge window that's not getting angry for no good reason, that's merely being human and getting angry for a completely justified reason.

As for dealing with it, the way would do it would be to revert the commit and then ask the responsible maintainer explain/justify why the driver had to be turned off by default or if it was a mistake and then post a fixed update. The thing about naming and shaming is that it actually works surprisingly well and with the Linux kernel you can't even make the argument of "It scares off new developers" as blame travels up the hierarchy and as a result the targets of Linus' ire are the people best equipped to deal with it, i.e senior maintainers.

As someone who thinks that Linux's anger management hiatus was unnecessary I will admit that just blowing up at someone isn't the most effective way to deal with people making the same mistakes or just plain refusing to learn from them, but only because naming and shaming is so much more effective.

[aht0]

This is ranting. And even this gets done on purpose. Eventually benefiting the guy getting his ass chewed off..

'Old' Linus had better 'effect' I think

[AndyChow]

Am I the only one who actually liked the 'old' Linus style?
I always found his rants and colorful language amusing. Oh well.

You're not the only one. I prefer individuals over drones.

[mudig]

Not sure what you people are going on about. I find the "new" style ok, the "old" style needlessly confrontational (which worked so well he had do to it all the time ). Painting this as "oh noes political correctness" or "individualism vs. drones" paints you a tool. Also funny are people who think the hiatus was "unnecessary" when that's something only Torvalds can decide for himself.

[Weasel]

Hopefully his patience will explode soon enough and be back to his former self.

[macemoneta]

Am I the only one that finds a really nice Linus a little unsettling? I think I find the harsher ‒ but completely honest ‒ Linus more palatable. It's like working for a smarmy manager, where you know everything they're saying is not in your best interests. "Oh, yes, I know who you are. I'm looking forward to your performance review."

[justmy2cents]

Am I the only one who actually liked the 'old' Linus style?
I always found his rants and colorful language amusing. Oh well.

nope, i am quite disappointed with the new one, just more from efficiency than from amusing. his usual realistic non sugarcoating was simple and harsh reality where this kind of fake politeness just leads to prolonged conversations with exact same result.

if someone can't take harsh reality he either overestimates his work or he is simply not sure in himself which projects into being offended by insecurity. sad thing is that this fake politeness will end up no differently with one difference of usually taking 10 times more time and talks. .well, that... or usual blaming it on personal sex, sex preference, race, skin color.... instead of taking a look into realism

[dstaubsauger]

I imagine the driver authors prefer not being yelled at in all-caps after submitting their work. Linus' point is still there till perfectly clear, and to be honest "read it and weep" did not make it any clearer previously. Is there any reason to assume they knowingly broke the rule and hoped Linus wouldn't notice? Or were they first-time contributors and unaware of the project's policy?

[eydee]

Sounds a bit picky. Amdgpu got added and enabled by default, and AMD video cards were and still are more rare than those whatever controllers.

[Darkstar0129]

Well, he's making an attempt to be more professional but I agree with the statements about the fact he's probably yelling because he's said how many times not to do this or that and people don't listen. If you think about it, it's typical of human beings... Poke someone in the back of the head and just keep doing it. They'll start off with a simple please don't do that and eventually explode and start yelling at people who do that. The thing I see is his retreat may have just given him a break too because I'm sure managing the kernel is a taxing job in and of itself. But glad Linus is back. Greg KH did ok with the last release and all but I like knowing the great Linus Torvalds has the reigns again. Welcome back Linus!