Alan Cox chats about life as a Linux kernel hacker, describing the Linux development process as a controlled explosion. He also notes that Linux doesn’t need Linus and even names his most likely successor. He also talks about Trusted Computing’s affect on Linux and his research in people’s desires for desktop Linux.
Alan Cox: Linux doesn’t need Linus
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
No text transcript?
You are new to lugradio aren’t you.. a transcript would consist mainly of the words bollocks and Ubuntu – it’s a senseless endevore to try, many men have gone mad trying..
Needless to say, it’s classic comedy with Linux added.
The questions is…
Do we want him?
The answer for me, is yes.
Did he say that the likely successor is RMS?
They go off on Gnome for being slow compared to XP.
He has done so many good things for all of mankind! Every project can be glad to have him.
Just my 0.02 €
Both KDE and GNOME are terribly slow compared to XP. What’s with that? I don’t care if my l337 console text rendering is faster in Linux. If the DE feels slow, I won’t use it. Many others will do the same.
Say wha’?
If RMS were gifted in the project management area, we’d be running GNU/Hurd.
He is otherwise talented.
I think OSS needs at least one person who looks and behaves like a normal person.
Er, “duh”
I would like John Carmack to replace Linus, he said is bored with 3d engines and would like to do something else (other than rockets i guess).
I would like John Carmack to replace Linus, he said is bored with 3d engines and would like to do something else (other than rockets i guess).
Yeah jon carmack gets my vote too. RMS? his idea elcipsed him years ago. He doesn’t matter much in the world of OSS.
No, RMS won’t be going anywhere near the linux kernel.
Where did Carmack say he was bored with 3d engines?
Carmack is a programming genius, but even he would take a while to get up to speed on unix kernel development.
Oh, and he would have to take a MASSIVE pay cut.
Actually, I believed he said Andrew Morton. I didn’t even hear RMS come up.
Linus is not said person. He’s a damn good engineer, but he fails to dream all too often.
The biggest issue with Linux as it stands isn’t so much the monolithic kernel, it’s the monolithic development direction. People, make various flavours by putting it on a diet or having it compile for esoteric architectures but that’s about it. The only thing even close to tangential going on in Linux development is RTOS stuffs.
We need Linux to be a bunch of kernels under one name. One or two of those kernels need to be what one would call, “usable” Linux — something that someone might use in a distro like Redhat, SuSE and so on. The rest of it really needs to be various experiments to bring in new technologies. Not look we got USB, bluetooth in there or we can swap out our scheduler at run time. But more along the lines of, heh, look a hybridized micro/monolithic kernel — Syllable and Dragonfly BSD have done this. The Linux gene pool needs diversification or it will suffer from tunnel vision.
It also needs a pragmatist who realizes that we NEED a stable ABI for goodness’ sake. Companies aren’t going to release open source drivers, but perhaps they’ll release more open drivers in terms of licensing restrictions, compromise and you’d be surprised as what will happen.
One thing I’d really like to see is a general open source runtime environment strongly tied to the kernel, Squeak and numerous other languages end up having to build and ship their own, when it would be far better if they could just use a common one, one that’s fast and integrated.
Maybe Mr. Cox is giving a hint that Linus does not want to continue being in charge.
I have installed Arch Linux on a system running windows 2000. I installed gnome and did nothing special with it.
It appears much smoother than Windows. (It also starts in 2 seconds or something which I wondered very much about)
Well I can see the point about diversifying the Linux gene pool…but getting rid of Linus totally is not a good idea IMHO. I think sure he can be replaced but he better be like a consultant or something.
And there is no way John Carmack will go into this kind of stuff. I think him and Tim Sweeney are in competition with the next Doom renderer and the next UE 3.0
Despite being reasonably well off and having a kernel that’s quite popular would you REALLY want to be Linus?
Maybe Mr. Cox is giving a hint that Linus does not want to continue being in charge.
No he isn’t, he was just answering a direct question.
i am not sure what mr. cox meant… linux doesnt need one person controling linux or linux does not need linus to control it but can be someone else, maybe mr. cox himself
, but here is my opinion:
every project that consists of many people needs one person in charge (thats why the idea of “project manager” exists) and he has been doing a very good job at it. this is very important for linux (the kernel) to prvent forking as it would create an anourmous amout of new fork+distro combinations (there is too many distros or flavours today anyways, we dont need more headaches). having one person ‘control’ linux, in this case linus, has kept linux alive and kicking, kicking hard may i add.
If the Linux Kernel Project needs Linux Torvalds in order to survive, we’re in deep doo-doo. Who knows how much longer Linus plans to run the whole show. I just hope that if and when he passes on the baton, the transition will be smooth. Who knows … new person at the helm might infuse the project with renewed energy and insight.
Why not RMS ?? Does he not like Linux ???
Linus and RMS do get along right ??
I’m kinda new to linux and OSS..
Is Linus leaving Linux ??? Why ??
Is linux going to join the evil empire ( M$ ) ??
“Where did Carmack say he was bored with 3d engines?”
Just google for “carmack bored”, and if you search his rockets site for “linux”:
http://armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News?news_id=244
http://armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/Resources/Search?t…
RMS more than likely will not be a cantidate for the replacement of Linus, he is too controversial.
Linus is not leaving Linux.
Linux is not joining Microsoft.
Linus is to Linux as Bill Gates is to Windows.
Even if Linus leaves his current role I’m sure we can expect to see him doing other things Linux related. Contrary to popuarl belief not everyone wants to hack on kernels until they are a grandfather.
M. Cox is just warning us because he knows about linus and his interviews and job openings at microsoft. They want him to enhence there os.
Everyone know that money will drive this world crazy ..
this is just the proof.
>>Maybe Mr. Cox is giving a hint that Linus does not want to continue being in charge.
No. I just finished listening to the podcast. His comment was an answer to a direct question amongst other kernel questions.
Checkout the podcast. (just don’t listen to it with an mp3 player in bed while you’re wifes trying to sleep you’ll laugh too much)
My impression is that RMS and Linus Torvalds get along, but not well, and that RMS is more of a philosopher and visionary these days than a programmer. Or perhaps, more to the point, he has other goals and motives…
RMS is a philospher, so would never consider himself as a replacement for Linus. It wouldn’t suit his ego anyway.
As for Linus and RMS getting along – RMS doesn’t speak to Linus since he started using BitKeeper.
Charles Lacroix wrote:
> M. Cox is just warning us because he knows about linus and his interviews
> and job openings at microsoft.
If there is anything in Linus’ personality that has helped linux to succeed, and if there is any truth in what some people say about the corporate culture, atmosphere and the general attitude at M$, these two will never mix. It will be some sad and painful moments and he’ll be again looking for a job.
I think that at the core of FLOSS is fairness. RMS’ message is as much liked as it is about fairness (think about the GNU toolchain) and as much disliked as it is not about fairness (think about his attitude to Linus using Bitkeeper).
Sun’s control of Java and Microsoft’s attempted control of everything is about unfairness. I’m not saying this to advance a crusade of my own. It is just that many people have a “gut feeling” of freedom or lack thereof, and I think that fairness is the decisive idea or concept. It is something one can use as a limited key to understand the movement, the community and the business relations in it.
Whether it is about fun or fairness, I firmly believe that both stop at the door of Microsoft. Whatever it i$ that motivate$ Linu$ after that i$ not our busine$$.
“Linux doesn’t need Linus“.
Depends on the word ‘need’. Being released under the GPL http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html gives it a lot of freedom. Anyone could become the leader of (or one of) the central development branches.
Linus is just the leader of the most popular branch of the kernel development. However there are many other branches, for example, linux kernel banches released by companies with hard and soft real-time enhancements.
The great thing about the GPL is that all these branches are realeased under the same license – the GPL, and so the best can be taken from different branches and combined.
Using the article title “Alan Cox: Linux doesn’t need Linus” may imply that Alan wishes to replace Linus. This is not the case; he merely suggested that the kernel doesn’t depend on him. Apparently, Andrew Morton is the guy who they’d probably select to fill his shoes, according to Cox. Big difference. The kernel team knows who the natural leaders among them are, which is a good thing, because it reassures us that the leadership is robust at kernel.org. In no way does he imply that he (or anyone else for that matter) actually want’s to replace Linus.
I would’ve still read/listened to the article if the title was “Alan Cox on Linux leadership, desktops and DRM“. But I suppose things like this comes with the territory of reporting.
Aside from this minor nitpick, the interview is quite interesting and certainly newsworthy.
My KDE 3.4 is faster than XP in both machines (Athlon 2.0 and Transmeta 599)
We are once again reminded that sensationalist titles like this are meant to draw more advertising revenue for Eugenia.
Gnome and KDE slower than Windows XP??? Are you high??? I’ve got a 2.6GHz HP workstation at work with Win2k, and an AMD 3000+ (1.83GHz) at home with Linx 2.6.11 + KDE, and I can tell you without hesitation that my home machine runs circles around the Win2k (5.00.2195) box at work. I can’t imaging that XP (5.1.2600) is that much faster, since it’s really just a 0.1 upgrade over 2k.
Wake up and smell the silicone!
I sure hope the survival of Linux isn’t dependent on Linus. If so, then Linux has some serious problems.
Think about it… I mean how can anyone expect wide adoption of an OS which is so dependent on a single person that without that person it’ll crash and burn? Personally I wouldn’t even consider Linux if that were the case.
The fact is, Linux doesn’t need Linus. I think it’s great that he’s still around and working on the kernel, but if he left, I don’t think it would come even close to being a crisis for Linux.
There are so many people working on Linux around the world that Linux is not going to die if one person leaves! Linus is not Linux. Linux has taken on a life of its own, independent of Linus. It’s something that’s a lot greater than a single person.
So don’t worry about what Linus chooses to do. Linux will still be here…
xander wrote:
> There are so many people working on Linux around the world that Linux
> is not going to die if one person leaves!
Leadership is such a complicated thing. Remember what happened with the BSDs. Linus isn’t called a benevolent dictator for nothing. He does not go bossing people around, but there is an agreement to trust Linus among the developers.
If that trust and agreement is transferable to any successor, we are fine. And I think it very likely is, because Linus is by no means the only man that is trusted to make decisions with the kernel.
Problem is, if we have, when Linus leaves, two equally trusted developers with opposing ideas about some important matter, then we are in trouble.