Former Linux Developer Hans Reiser To Remain Locked Up

Hard to believe that former Linux developer Hans Reiser was already eligible for parole, but it was denied this month. The former developer responsible for creating the once-promising ReiserFS and Reiser4 file-systems will remain locked up for at least three more years.

Reiser was convicted in 2008 of first-degree murder of his wife at which point kernel developers were understandably even more reluctant of looking at including the Reiser4 file-system in the mainline Linux kernel and already distributions like SUSE were working to move away from the older ReiserFS.

Since his conviction, both file-systems have stagnated though Reiser4 does continue seeing out-of-tree updates for new kernel releases. Additionally, announced back in December of last year was the in-development Reiser5 as an evolutionary step forward. Edward Shishkin continues working on Reiser4/Reiser5 as a former employee of Reiser's now defunct Namesys corporation.

Hans was already up for parole eligibility as of January. But at a parole board meeting two weeks ago the California Department of Corrections denied him for parole at his suitability hearing. According to the records, he was denied parole for three years so will remain behind bars at least through March 2023. His original sentence was for fifteen years so at that point will likely be just months away from his release in any case.

As he wasn't well received in the Linux kernel community even before his arrest and conviction and now obviously further distanced from all Linux stakeholders from his heinous crime, it would be difficult to see him getting back involved in Linux development when he does end up being released.