this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Will we all be fucked or is there a Linus 2?

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[–] danielfgom 136 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Nothing. Linus doesn't personally do coding on the kernel, he has a team who do that and he oversees it and makes the hard decisions.

There are others who will take his place and the work will continue.

If somehow the entire kernel team shut down, Google, Samsung or some other large corporation would take it over and continue development because at this point many, many, many servers, phones, smart devices, iot, and other appliances rely on the Linux kernel to function.

It simply cannot be left to die.

[–] [email protected] 140 points 1 year ago (3 children)

"Today here at Microsoft we are celebrating the legacy of the late Linus Torvalds by releasing a new kernel, re-written entirely in Golang using Copilot. No GPL code was touched, merely re-written, and we will offer ISOs to the coding community for free! Stay tuned for more updates, as we will be exclusively developing on this kernel going forward! This is a great day for open source!"

[–] danielfgom 51 points 1 year ago

Our worst nightmare come true 😱

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

releasing a new kernel, re-written entirely in Golang using Copilot

I just got so mad.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Golang is a Google thing, Microsoft would probably use C#

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Google, Samsung or some other large corporation would take it over

Perkele!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Do I know this from Alan Wake 2 or My Summer Car?

[–] BeatTakeshi 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Too big to fail is for once not for a big corporation or bank

[–] danielfgom 1 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Nothing. Linus doesn’t personally do coding on the kernel, he has a team who do that and he oversees it and makes the hard decisions.

Even that is not really the truth. There are dozens and dozens of teams that actually do the development, then there are people who coordinate and maintain certain parts of the kernel, merge in patches and make decisions. And then there's Linus who does coordinate these people.

There are others who will take his place and the work will continue.

And most likely Greg K-H will take over the position that Linus has right now. He has been one of the most active maintainers and is probably "the number 2" behind Linus.