Linus Torvalds: Speaks on Fatigue and the Future of Linux

Linus Torvalds speaks on maintainer fatigue in the Linux Kernel and how it effects the ability to get more people involved in the Linux Open Source Project. Will there be an end to Linux?

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[SavvyNik]

Will there be more or less maintainers in the future?

[TheBlueThird]

Linux won't end, but companies will try to move in and take it over. This is my biggest fear. People need to get involved; donate money, learn C or rust. The kernel is the biggest component. It must stay free.

[YTDeletesPercentOfMyComments]

Linux kernel developers should sell books on kernel development and write journals. Not just preserve their code but their thoughts, hopes, and plans.

[Michael_Scott_Howard]

Shit I am 60 and have made a living with UNIX/Linux for 32 years. I hope to work 15 more years. I enjoy learning news things... I hope to died while learning -God willing

[BryanChance]

Kernel releases have been quite frequent since 2.6. Especially version 6.0, 6.1, 6.2 ... 6.8 in about 12 months. I'm just a simple user but I could imagine that amount of work that contributors put in.

[nifi]

Take a break. The system is damn good and stable now. I'm running 6.6.10 and its better than ever. I stayed on 5.15 for several years before even considering updating. If it ain't broke.... I know it's got to be a ton of work doing what Linus has done but damn its appreciated. I feel so much better using Linux over windows. I really have a hard time anymore going back to windows not because its not a good operating system (that spies on you constantly) but because it looks so bad compared to Linux. This most important thing you can lay down Linus is a guideline or a Constitution about how the system should be maintained. Put that with a Bill of Rights and let nature take its course. It should be a guiding set of principles that everyone should strive to follow.

[chrisfedde]

Succession planning is always hard. Especially in volunteer organizations.

[cbbcbb]

How do the maintainers earn a financial living?

[Eimantasks]

I see people saying, of someone must step up and learn C, Rust.... but that phrase "SOMEONE" worries me. We all know we need more and that SOMEONE should do it - but not me. How many of you guys are ready to sacrifice your personal time to study? How many of you will stop watching so many tv shows? going out with friends? playing video games, and start studying? I have a feeling that not many.

[sa]

There are so many Linux distros, which means that maintainers are spread very thin. I always thought it would be better if there were fewer versions of Linux, so more attention could be given to the popular versions.

[terencetan]

Give college credit for Linux maintainers?

[HikaruAkitsuki]

It's drastically hard to maintain a behemoth project so it's too hard to join and think what you will gonna distribute to this project. The new programmers that joining is mostly relay too much of the prefabricated frameworks and library so deep knowledge of the programming become so thin. Only the true enthusiast gonna spend more brain cells to join the maintaining.

[clintonreisig]

Open Source is safe in practice and principle. People will rise to fill the need

[gammaraider]

The world of software development has changed. When we started off we were the odd ones out, the only people who could do this stuff. Computers were for nerds and us programmers were the kings of the nerds. It was a rare skill and there was a feeling of belonging to a special group. Nowadays it's just another common profession. They're not gonna do it for free anymore just to get the geek cred. It's a natural evolution.

[Fenrasulfr]

Honestly as a normal user, I probably don't appreciate the immensity of the task. But I think that funding is the biggest problem in open source. If the future generation don't see a clear path to financial stability I doubt they will stick around and become maintainers.

[DarkGT]

I see it the other way around. What do people do when they get that old? - Retire from their jobs and spend more time doing their hobby, so they will continue to work with the community.

[Michael-itgb]

So Linus thought that many of the Linux developers suck at programming, and at the same time they worked too hard after all that bad work? What the heck is he expecting from his contributors?? Not everybody can be Torvalds, Carmack or Wozniak. Some people at the top are out of their damn mind.

[Mr.Finkel]

does the kernel really need to be updated as often as it is? what would happen if they just pushed only security updates for a year? i imagine this team feels like they are responsible for keeping the whole world up and running. and if they stop for a day then all servers will come to a grinding halt and humans will cease to exist on this planet (joking...a little). there has to be some sort of compromise they can make to ease the burden no?

[Quettesh]

Linux community is not toxic. Toxic are some people safeguarding their precious distributions, I'm looking at you Arch community.

[orionclose]

This video surprises me given the accomplishment of Linux in our life. It is the most used OS utilised in the world (Android, server). At the same time it is ironically unknown by the vast majority of people. Imagining this project to disappear is appalling. I want to believe it will survive because of its predominance and importance in so many fields. Future will tell.