this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2025
323 points (98.8% liked)

Tech

1845 readers
297 users here now

A community for high quality news and discussion around technological advancements and changes

Things that fit:

Things that don't fit

Community Wiki

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 85 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Honestly that's pretty tame given his history

[–] FizzyOrange@programming.dev 17 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Which is a fairly shocking thing to say really. I thought promised to be less of a dick a while ago. Guess he couldn't keep it up.

[–] Sanguine@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 2 weeks ago

Spicy Linus > mild Linus.

This is 2*

[–] Tja@programming.dev 8 points 2 weeks ago

It is much less dickish that what he used to say, so he's keeping his promise.

[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 50 points 2 weeks ago

From Google? Probably vibe-coded crap.

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 weeks ago

Holy shit. Torvalds is only 55 and that's what he looks like now?

Holy fuck.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Now, I would hope there's no garbage inside the RISC-V parts, but that's your choice. But things in generic headers do not get polluted by crazy stuff.

So can anyone explain this? What are header files in this context and why are unnecessary functions especially problematic for them? Why would it not be up to Linus or not his concern what is included in the "RISC-V parts"? I guess this is all code for a Linux kernel that is built on top of RISC-V which I think is an assembly language, and not a modification to RISC-V itself?

I get the logic about make_u32_from_two_u16() being bad at least.

[–] GlockenGold@lemmy.world 24 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

A header file in the C family of programming languages contains the declarations for each function that gets defined in the accompanying code file. Ideally, the header file should only contain import statements, some basic definitions, and function declarations. It should not contain any actual executable code.

A header file basically exists to tell the compiler "hey, these functions exist in this file, don't freak out if it gets called before you see its definition." Without the header file, you'd need to write the declarations at the beginning of the code file (in the header, hence the name).

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Palmer Dabbelt took it like a champ though:

OK, sorry. I've been dropping the ball lately and it kind of piled up as taking a bunch of stuff late, but that just leads to me making mistakes. So I'll stop being late, and hopefully that helps with the quality issues.

Palmer's pull request - Linus' response - Palmer's apology

[–] hydroptic@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (26 children)

Ah yes, Linus Torvalds, the man who convinced generations of nerds that it's okay to treat others like shit as long as you're "right".

He's like the walking epitome of "you're not wrong, you're just an asshole."

Edit: and the neckbeards who spring to his defense always screech about how everybody else needs to stop being so thin-skinned.

No, assholes need to stop treating people like shit. Don't put this on the rest of us

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 102 points 2 weeks ago (16 children)

It's possible to acknowledge Torvalds as both a technical leader and overall smart guy, as well as acknowledging his poor treatment of people and generally being an asshole. A person can be both of those things.

load more comments (16 replies)
[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 31 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

No, assholes need to stop treating people like shit. Don’t put this on the rest of us

This you?

Edit: and the neckbeards who spring to his defense

[–] masterbaexunn@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

He's not wrong. He's just an asshole.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

I'm okay with people being an asshole and also technically right.

This guy is just being a hypocrite.

If they want to clutch your pearls at Linus being abrasive and insulting, I can understand that.

They just can't go into the next sentence being abrasive and insulting without looking like a toolbag.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 28 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

We need to treat people with respect

E: Downvotes? You fucking asshole neckbeards!

haha

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 weeks ago

heh to be fair he wasn't wrong either... There are just nicer ways to go about it.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 26 points 2 weeks ago

And yes, people still need to get a thicker skin.

If you actually read his posts you'd see that most rants come when people fuck up, then brag about it or complain about Linus not getting their garbage and then doubling down in it.

Simply putting these things on Linus being a dick is unfair at best.

You also left out the little detail nowhere thanks to him we now have an open source Linux kernel that is used in more places.... Not going to make a your mom joke.

I'm sure Linus is not the easiest guy to please but I've never seen him go off against some dude who didn't do anything wrong, who didn't say anything back, who wasn't snarky themselves, etc. yeah, Linus is the benevolent dictator for Linux and so far I see him as a hugely positive force and I hope he continues to be for a long time to come.

After him, however, Linux will need democracy to survive, I think.

[–] DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago

I'm a long time Linux user, and I wholeheartedly agree with you. Linus is a dick. He insults people all the time, and people have normalized it. He's a fucking genius, but not a nice person. What's wrong with just saying "hey, your code has so and so issues. Please fix and resubmit"???

[–] AstaKask@lemmy.cafe 19 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It is important to be able to call people out on their incompetence. Now more than ever. Bad people often hide behind incompetence in order to avoid blame for their actions, and it works.

[–] DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

You can always say "hey, your code has so and so issues, therefore, I won't approve this PR. Please fix and resubmit. Also, please make sure you don't submit your code late. Thanks", instead of insulting the person.

[–] hydroptic@sopuli.xyz 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Calling out incompetence and being a fucking dick are not the same thing, and the fact that people (you included) think that you can't point out mistakes without being a cunt is the entire problem here

[–] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Yeah but you just called everyone in the comments who defends him a "neckbeard"

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] VampirePenguin@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Bro was late and did poor work and that's all Linus said. He didn't insult the guy, he just wasn't polite. Linus is plenty nice to people not actively making his job harder while he's on vacation. It's understandable to be short with someone under those circumstances.

[–] bytesonbike@discuss.online 4 points 2 weeks ago

This was my take.

Developer was late. That itself is a trigger.

If you rush me trying to sneak code in, gloves are off.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

the man who convinced generations of nerds that it’s okay to treat others like shit as long as you’re “right”.

Engineer-types definitely knew that way before Linus.

Thing is, either you're a straight-up asshole like Linus or you're a passive-aggressive asshole like every project lead who believes in their strong Code of Conduct. Or your product is a failure.

[–] Phineaz@feddit.org 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I reckon it would be beneficial to everyone involved if someone else just handled public relations for Linus. Just add a filter.

[–] Kissaki@programming.dev 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That goes directly against the open, transparent development model of the Linux Kernel.

When you're developing in the open, everything becomes "public relations".

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

Not defending him, but him as an entire person is why we have Linux

If he was different we probably wouldn't have it

[–] lime@feddit.nu 7 points 2 weeks ago

question: do you believe it's as bad now as it has been historically? because the guy went to anger management therapy for like a year after getting called out last time, and i got the impression that things improved after that.

[–] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

I dunno, the lesson I learned from him is it's ok to get help. He went and got some, and made working with him better for everyone.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Ooof, 105 upvotes vs 105 downvotes over someone calling out shitty behavior looks about right. Here's a humble upvote to tilt you over to the good side.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (13 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›