this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2025

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126

Christoph Hellwig steps down from maintaining DMA (git.kernel.org)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For those unaware, Christop Hellwig is the Linux maintainer who tried to block Rust bindings for DMA.

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

oh wow, no one is left from that disagreement, they both resigned.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Sort of. The person that made the initial commit is not the one that quit (Rust side).

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago

I think it's safe to blame that first one on Linus' absence.

[+] [email protected] -59 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Honestly I kind of want Linus to step down too. He's been slowly moving away for a long time already. It might be time for a new primary maintainer to step up.

[–] [email protected] 88 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

I really really don't. As soon as he does, corporate vultures (such as MBA degree holders) and people who "want to change what 'open source' means" will swoop in. If we replace Linus, I hope its someone very similar to him who isn't afraid to be a hardass where it's needed and will keep the current vision of Linux alive.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 days ago

Linus already has a backup. Its Greg Kroah-Hartman.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago

If Linus is the only person keeping Linux from descending into corporate enshittification then the project is critically vulnerable already.

What if Linus steps back for personal reasons? What if he falls ill? What if a family member falls ill? What if he's ousted within the foundation? Linux cannot afford to have Linus being a single point of failure.

[–] yardy_sardley 27 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Such is the problem with dictators in any situation. A benevolent dictator might be one of the most productive ways to run a project, but at some point there has to be a successor. Even a mildly-less-benevolent dictator could cause a lot of damage. Linux needs a governance structure with checks and balances even if it means slower decision making; it's too important to let fall into the wrong hands.

[–] phoenixz 3 points 3 days ago

Fully agree with this

Any dictator at some point can cause irreparable harm, this is something that should never be able to happen.

This is coming from a huge fan of Linus, he really is a hero to me

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

As long as good actors can still do good work in a fork of Linux then hopefully it's resistant to corporate vultures.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Let Linus see through the Rust inclusion in Linux. I dont think it will go well without him. He is well respected in the Linux community so people are more willing to compromise with him.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago

Just proves to me that this should've gone to remediation so much earlier. Losing three important contributors to the Kernel, because people were scared of involving the Code of Conduct Committee from the start, is a shit sandwich, regardless of whoever you want to blame for this.

I'm not gonna lose sleep over his departure but the Linux foundation could do a lot to improve the professionalism of the project instead of dumping money on chasing AI.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 days ago

Hellwig was a bit crusty about being overruled by Torvalds, it seems.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 days ago

Good. This makes room for innovation.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago

I hate that it came to this, after so many Rust devs left, but all I can say is "Good."

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago

Good that there's a maintainer in place, too. Sad that it came to this, but perhaps it's time to pass the torch.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Completely off topic, but I first read that as 'DNA', did a double take.

At this point, an announcement that whoever is in charge of all DNA continuing to work just stepped down or got fired... wouldn't really seem that out of character for this timeline.