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Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

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31–40 of 251 posts

Re: Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

#31
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Progress relies strongly on unreasonable people like Linus. Keep in mind that Github mutilated his baby so that's a pretty good reason to be upset.

Progress relies strongly on people working together toward a common goal. If being "unreasonable" works for Linux, that's fine. But before others go trying to blindly emulate Linus, I'd suggest attempting to be reasonable first.

Nobody cares how reasonable you are if you don't actually produce anything.

Re: Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

#32

I'm fine with that. Github is 'too large to fail' already, adding the Linux kernel to the pile and forcing the kernel team into Github's workflow are two big negatives. It would be great for Github but bad for everybody else.

Seriously. Linux will likely outlive GH[1], and more importantly, it doesn't need GH. The current workflow works fine, and I hardly think any potential kernel hackers are choosing not to work on the kernel because it is email-driven.

[1] Nothing against them that I don't have with any other commons that depends on corporate beneficence. But companies fail all the time; I can't think of a reason GH is immune.

Re: Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

#33
post #4

This font gave me a headache Why not write with white on white? It would be so stylish

Your browser has a 'Page style/No Style' option to take care of stuff like that.

Not that easy on mobile. Would be much better if people didn't feel the need to make their sites crappy

Re: Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

#34

There's also Linus's personal aversion to how GitHub implements many opinionated workflows. > I don't do github pull requests. > > github throws away all the relevant information, like having even a > valid email address for the person asking me to pull. The diffstat is > also deficient and useless. > > Git comes with a nice pull-request generation module, but github > instead decided to replace it with their own tot…

He really talks in extremes. I see all his points but it doesn't make these things pure garbage.

> He really talks in extremes. I see all his points but it doesn't make these things pure garbage.

Why, from his point of view - if GH lacks functionality he needs and git proper delivers this functionality in conjunction with email, GH is just about as useful as an empty beer can ;)

But sure, outsiders with zero idea of what is being discussed love to take his words out of context and derive all sorts of bizarre conclusions.

Re: Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

#35
post #31
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Progress relies strongly on people working together toward a common goal. If being "unreasonable" works for Linux, that's fine. But before others go trying to blindly emulate Linus, I'd suggest attempting to be reasonable first.

Nobody cares how reasonable you are if you don't actually produce anything.

And nobody cares how much you produce if you're too unreasonable to sell them on your creation. Creating strawmen out of maximally-extreme arguments is silly. Unless you think that being reasonable is mutually exclusive with being productive?

Re: Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

#36
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Progress relies strongly on unreasonable people like Linus. Keep in mind that Github mutilated his baby so that's a pretty good reason to be upset.

Progress relies strongly on people working together toward a common goal. If being "unreasonable" works for Linux, that's fine. But before others go trying to blindly emulate Linus, I'd suggest attempting to be reasonable first.

What people really don't seem to get is that Linus' cultural background is Finnish, and that Finns tend to be extremely outspoken and that they couldn't lie or polish their words if their life depended on it.

http://www.karelia.fi/welcomingguide/the-finnish-way-of-life

What to American sensibilities are grave insults to Linus is most likely just him speaking his mind without any filter in place, the way he was brought up.

Re: Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

#37
post #27
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but solving truly big problems relies on people working together. Linus (and the unfortunate proliferation of jackasses who emulate him) do more to hinder progress than help it.

I'm curious - where do you think we would be today with the Linux kernel and git if Linus wasn't here?

Running on BSD and Mercurial? Wouldn't have made a lick of difference for most of us.

Re: Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your browser has a 'Page style/No Style' option to take care of stuff like that.

Not that easy on mobile. Would be much better if people didn't feel the need to make their sites crappy

> Not that easy on mobile.

Why not? Reader mode is just one button press away in Firefox for example.

Re: Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

#39
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He really talks in extremes. I see all his points but it doesn't make these things pure garbage.

> He really talks in extremes. I see all his points but it doesn't make these things pure garbage. Why, from his point of view - if GH lacks functionality he needs and git proper delivers this functionality in conjunction with email, GH is just about as useful as an empty beer can ;) But sure, outsiders with zero idea of what is being discussed love to take his words out of context and derive all sorts of bizarre con…

He doesn't qualify his statements, though. In my view, one of the most offputting parts of the nerd worldview is "I don't like it therefore it's shit". This juvenile lack of empathy is at the root of a lot of conflict (and the reason many people leave tech).

Re: Why GitHub Can't Host the Linux Kernel Community

#40
post #23

> Please support pull requests and issue tracking spanning different repos of a monotree. Issue tracking you can already file against one or more repos and link them together. It's not ideal, but it'll do the job. Is "pr against different repos of a monotree" not what submodules let you do? Update whatever things you want in whatever repos, and pull the submodule pointer update(s) as a single change in your monotree…

I bet he knows git technical options.

The issue tracking just won't fly for a community that large. Imagine the hours spent keeping everything aligned relevant and updated: all that is wasted time, plain and simple.

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