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The Linux Kernel Adopts A Code of Conduct

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Linux

Prior to releasing Linux 4.19-rc4 and Linus Torvalds taking a temporary leave of absence to reflect on his behavior / colorful language, he did apply a Code of Conduct to the Linux kernel.

Previously the Linux kernel had a "Code of Conflict" that some might feel is rather harsh. But now it's been replaced by a Code of Conduct that is derived from the Contributor Covenant that has been used by the X.Org Foundation / FreeDesktop.org projects, among others.

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​Linux adds a code of conduct for programmers

  • ​Linux adds a code of conduct for programmers

    If you follow Linux development closely, you know Linux kernel discussions can be very heated. Recently, Linus Torvalds has admitted the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML) and other Linux development spaces are hostile to many. Torvalds announced he'd change his behavior and apologized to the "people that my personal behavior hurt and possibly drove away from kernel development." It was never just Torvalds. So, the Linux community announced it's adopting, for the first time, a "Code of Conduct."

Australian media

  • Linux developers adopt proper Code of Conduct

    Linux leader Linus Torvalds’ admission of anti-social behavior, and his public promise not to do it any more, now has a sequel: a Code of Conduct for the Linux kernel development community.

    The new behavioural document is intended to replace the “Code of Conflict” that Torvalds created in 2015 .

    That 220-word Code did not describe unacceptable behavior and offered no guidance other than “Try to keep in mind the immortal words of Bill and Ted, ‘Be excellent to each other’."

    The post announcing the new rules says “The Code of Conflict is not achieving its implicit goal of fostering civility” and adds that “Explicit guidelines have demonstrated success in other projects and other areas of the [Linux] kernel.”

The New Yorker

  • After Years of Abusive E-mails, the Creator of Linux Steps Aside

    The e-mails of the celebrated programmer Linus Torvalds land like thunderbolts from on high onto public lists, full of invective, insults, and demeaning language. “Please just kill yourself now. The world will be a better place,” he wrote in one. “Guys, this is not a dick-sucking contest,” he observed in another. “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” he began in a third.

    Torvalds has publicly posted thousands of scathing messages targeting programmers who submit what he deems flawed code to the Linux computer-operating-system kernel, which he brought to life more than twenty-five years ago and now administers as a collaborative, open-source project. Today, the Linux kernel is famous, running the enormous computers of Google, PayPal, Amazon, and eBay, and the two billion mobile phones using the Android operating system. Torvalds, though, retains final say over each precious line of code, just as he did when he first started working on the system as a graduate student at the University of Helsinki. For years, he has been known as Linux’s “benevolent dictator for life.”

    On Sunday, the benevolent dictator announced that he would be stepping down temporarily, to “get some assistance on how to understand people’s emotions and respond appropriately.” Torvalds, who is forty-eight and lives with his family outside Portland, Oregon, made clear that he wasn’t burned out. “I very much do want to continue to do this project that I’ve been working on for almost three decades,” he wrote in a post to the Linux-kernel mailing list. “I need to take a break to get help on how to behave differently and fix some issues in my tooling and workflow.” Torvalds named a deputy, Gregory Kroah-Hartman, to run the project while he was away.

Jack Wallen on the CoC

  • The Linux Code of Conduct is long overdue

    It finally happened. Linus Torvalds, the intrepid creator and leader of Linux kernel development, realized that in today's world his attitude and behavior doesn't fly in the face of an enlightened, progressive global population. Further, locker room talk and the sometimes cruel treatment of others simply cannot and will not be tolerated anymore.

    At least, that's the hope with the Linux Code of Conduct, which was released to foster a global community of passionate developers who want to work and build something good together.

    The code is based on the Contributor Covenant and aims to be a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

    How important this is cannot be repeated enough.

Now tacitly alluding to Torvalds as "Rotten"

  • Something is rotten in the Linux Foundation

    When I agreed to talk about the management problems at the Linux Foundation to Noam Cohen, the reporter who wrote this story on Linux for the New Yorker, I expected to wait at least a year to see any significant change in the Linux community.

    Instead, before the story was even published, the Linux project leader Linus Torvalds suddenly announced that he was temporarily stepping down from his leadership role. He also instituted a new code of conduct for the Linux kernel community after resisting years of requests for one.

    I was (and am) astonished. So is everyone else. Now that I’ve read the New Yorker story, I am even more surprised–everything in it is public knowledge. Here’s why I don’t think the story explains why he stepped down.

    Torvalds has been in charge of Linux for 27 years, and he’s been verbally abusive most of that time. I know, I personally spent more than 15 years struggling to change the Linux community for the better, first as a Linux kernel developer for more than 7 years, then as co-founder and executive director of a non-profit working to make things better for my fellow kernel developers. In 2016 I sent a letter to the Linux Foundation board of directors detailing pervasive mismanagement at the foundation. Nothing I or anyone else did changed the culture of Linux.

New Yorker claims credit for Torvalds' apology on behaviour

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