Linus Torvalds: Open source is a core element of Linux success
At the North American Open Source Summit on August 31, Linus Torvalds had a conversation with VMware Chief Open Source Officer Dirk Hohndel, who talked about topics including quantum computing, Moore’s Law, Linux development, and the future of Linux without Linus guidance.
Image: By Krd (photo)Von Sprat (crop/extraction) (File:LinuxCon Europe Linus Torvalds 03.jpg) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or CC BY-SA 4.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons
Speaking of the modern fiery quantum computing in the industry, Linus said he is not optimistic. “In this matter, I am a very unbeliever,” Linus said. At the same time, he also believes that it is no longer possible to see the speed of computer speed as fast as before. He does not believe that Moore’s Law is still valid. The basic idea of Moore’s Law is that computing power doubles every two years. Linus thinks this is no longer fulfilled, but he also said that this is a good thing: “Performance is not really doubling every two years and that’s good. t means we’ll maybe go back to the time when you cared more about performance on the software side and you had to be more careful and couldn’t just rely on hardware getting better.”
Linus also commented on his role as a Linux maintainer and what he can or should do for the developer community. “As the maintainer of a project your job is to make sure the project works as well as you can make it work and that you are responsive to the developers you have,” says Linus. He also admits that he doesn’t know every line of code in the Linux kernel. “Nobody knows the whole kernel anymore. Having looked at patches for many years, I know the big picture of all the areas in the kernel and I can look at a patch and know if it’s right or wrong.” But he thinks This is not necessarily a bad thing; he thinks no one knows the whole kernel.
Linux now relies on a set of kernel maintainers and sub-maintainers to handle specific areas of the kernel, so Linus points out that if he is hit by a bus, then this will not affect Linux, after all, there are so many Linux kernels. Kernel maintainers are continually being developed. He believes that workflow is more important than code. If you have the right workflow, the code will clean itself up, find bugs and know how to handle it. On the other hand, the ever-increasing size of the Linux kernel has led to its complexity. Linus believes that in this process, the open source model solves the complexity problem and it has become a core element of Linux success. He said: “When you have complexity you can’t manage it in a closed environment, you need to have the people that actually find problems and give them the ability to get involved and help you to fix them. It’s a complicated world and the only way to deal with complexity is the open exchange of ideas.”
Via: eweek
