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Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

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Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#81

I hope the github folks get involved in this. I'm specially interested in what they have to say about why they decided to go with what Linus calls _their own totally inferior version_. Love this no-nonsense style, but let me say that it's no only the style, but that Linus has enough on his side to back it up.

You only love the style because he has enough on his side to back it up. Anyone else that acted like Linus does on a regular basis would be considered childish and arrogant. I'd take Github's version of any feature, any day, over the official git version, any time they differed - Git is a notoriously user-hostile piece of software interface-wise, and pretty much the only thing it has going for it on the usability fro…

I value no-nonsense style in itself. It's efficient and direct to the point. If you don't have something to back it up, then it is no no-nonsense whatsoever. It'd be just plain nonsense.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#82
post #19
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say the same about github's forks-as-top-level-entities system. Forking a project is a huge deal. Forking a git repository is no big deal. Github does the former, and it encourages too-broad forks, and at the same time, discourages coordination and contribution with the original project. Nearly all forks should be short-lived and completely subsidiary to the main project .

That's a lot of opinions and much less arguments (no offense). Would you care to explain the motivations behind the opinions?

Forks -- as top-level named entities -- draw attention and resources away from the original project, possibly leaving both projects with too-few resources to survive afterwards.

This is why "forking" an open-source project was considered a nuclear option prior to the emergence of github.

I rarely even get pull requests from people forking my code on github, and when I do, they almost never have bothered to discuss with me prior to implementation. It's a relatively recent phenomena that is largely encouraged by the tools.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#83

I don't mean to be overly critical, but is it just me or are the 'godfathers' of computer science starting to sound like cranky old men? I mean....ok....this pull request being inferior to the way HE (the creator of Git) imagined it (or implemented it) is a bit petty imho. What's with the complaining? I am sure this is not the first time I have heard him complaining about something on Github or some other 'new techno…

Linus is kind of infamous for his rants and have been for years (especially on the mailing lists.. I've seen him tear into people for willful ignorance on the kernel dev lists more than once).

I've never really seen them as cranky because they're spot on. Cranky old men usually don't have anything other than opinion behind their rantings.. Linus can at least defend his position. Given his contributions to the world of technology, I'm more than willing to let the acerbic attitude slide.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#84

I don't mean to be overly critical, but is it just me or are the 'godfathers' of computer science starting to sound like cranky old men? I mean....ok....this pull request being inferior to the way HE (the creator of Git) imagined it (or implemented it) is a bit petty imho. What's with the complaining? I am sure this is not the first time I have heard him complaining about something on Github or some other 'new techno…

The fact that his comment is capped at 74/80 characters and signed only corroborate your feelings.

Looks like he replied through email rather than the github interface. His mail client would have formated the email and signature.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#85
The man wrote git for use on the Linux kernel. Trying to argue with him about how to use git with respect to your tiny patch to the Linux kernel seems... like missing the point on a great many things. The rules for submitting kernel patches are laid out in great detail. Do you really thing arguing with the gatekeeper is going to change anything?

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#86

I don't mean to be overly critical, but is it just me or are the 'godfathers' of computer science starting to sound like cranky old men? I mean....ok....this pull request being inferior to the way HE (the creator of Git) imagined it (or implemented it) is a bit petty imho. What's with the complaining? I am sure this is not the first time I have heard him complaining about something on Github or some other 'new techno…

I totally agree. The past few links on HN to comments by Tovald have been full of inflammatory, juvenile language. I'm sure the guy is intelligent and certainly deserves a place in CS hall-of-fame, but I think the way he carries himself in these forums has tarnished his reputation.

I feel like Tovald should watch DHH's railsconf talk on progress & the 'old' mentality. This feels alarmist, but he like any other githubber gets to choose what gets accepted or rejected.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#87

I don't mean to be overly critical, but is it just me or are the 'godfathers' of computer science starting to sound like cranky old men? I mean....ok....this pull request being inferior to the way HE (the creator of Git) imagined it (or implemented it) is a bit petty imho. What's with the complaining? I am sure this is not the first time I have heard him complaining about something on Github or some other 'new techno…

> I don't mean to be overly critical, but is it just me or are the 'godfathers' of computer science starting to sound like cranky old men?

I think it's a response to the relatively recent over-abundance of attention and coverage given to wheel re-invention and uninformed opinion. I personally tie it to a particular subset of startup culture that relies heavily on convincing young developers to serve as grist for the startup mill by appealing to their ego.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#88

I don't mean to be overly critical, but is it just me or are the 'godfathers' of computer science starting to sound like cranky old men? I mean....ok....this pull request being inferior to the way HE (the creator of Git) imagined it (or implemented it) is a bit petty imho. What's with the complaining? I am sure this is not the first time I have heard him complaining about something on Github or some other 'new techno…

It's weird because it kinda goes the other way too. Why in the world does GitHub truncate my commit messages now? The 80 char thing is a guideline. If git is willing to dutifully accept longer commit messages and my team and I are willing to read and write them, what's the point of forcing us to click to see them in the Web UI? If a project really wants an 80 char limit, that should be a project prerogative, not forced on everyone.

Mini rant aside, it's a bit confusing. Because as Linus notes, there's no indication of the 80 char limit when authoring in the Web UI -- you're only penalized for it later. It seems there are competing sets of best practices.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree. The past few links on HN to comments by Tovald have been full of inflammatory, juvenile language. I'm sure the guy is intelligent and certainly deserves a place in CS hall-of-fame, but I think the way he carries himself in these forums has tarnished his reputation.

I feel like Tovald should watch DHH's railsconf talk on progress & the 'old' mentality. This feels alarmist, but he like any other githubber gets to choose what gets accepted or rejected.

The fact that you're setting up DHH as a foil to Linus is exactly why the old men are cranky; when it comes to technology, Linus has more qualifications in his pinky than DHH has all put together.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, Git is freakishly fast and efficient. Much like C, an interface done with taste I don't agree with the second claim and the first one does not explain it being that way. What is so tasteful about this: # delete git remote rm ... git branch -D ... git tag -d ... git rm ... # rename git remote rename old new git branch -m old new # can't git tag ... git mv No - it may be useful, it may be fast, it may be effici…

First of all, all of these commands make perfect sense to me. I don't know why exactly, but I've never used a version control system that made more sense than this. I never really felt like I'm home with Perforce and SVN. Neither with Mercurial, although Mercurial is better than most. git remote rm This deletes the reference to a remote repository. The difference between Git and SVN here is that in Git you can have m…

Sure they make sense if you have it in front of you and want to know what they do. They stop making sense when you want to write them - why do you have to have different way to deal with each type of an object. Either stick to -d/-D convention, or rm/rm --force, or delete/delete --force, or something else... just don't mix up calling conventions just because you operate on a different kind of object. Same goes for listing things, renaming, etc.

My point was about inconsistencies rather than not being able to figure out which command did what.

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