this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2026
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libre

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The struggle for libre computing cannot be disentangled from other forms of socialist reform. One must be willing to reject proprietary software as fiercely as they would reject capitalism. Luckily, we are not alone.

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32
Linus Torvalds (Linux creator) gives full endorsement of proprietary AI slop generator (github.com)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by hello_hello@hexbear.net to c/libre@hexbear.net
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In the next installment of "Kill Your Heroes," Linus Torvalds (who doesn't write Linux kernel code anymore), gives a full endorsement of the use of proprietary software to generate computer documents.

Using Google Antigravity (which is just a reskin of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code product) he created a GUI in python. His excuse is that he didn't know how to write Python to create a user interface, being the egocentric millionaire who worships the US and hates Russia, he somehow could not find anyone in the world who would be willing to help "the Linus Torvalds" make a user interface or hire someone to do it for him. kitty-birthday-sad

Imagine being a millionaire and being so lonely and defeated that you can't find anyone to help you write part of your hobby project. doggirl-lol He should try abusing people on the mailing list again, that should help.

Posts documenting Torvalds' russophobia and finnish racism (spoiler: Torvalds is a euro supremacist)

Google Antigravity (warning slop product page)

Phoronix article that summarizes this

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[–] trompete@hexbear.net 29 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yeah that guy has a long history of being unprincipled. "Pragmatism" has been literally his whole ethos and brand since I can remember. That guy just basically lucked out on the fact that his own selfish interest isn't hoarding money, and that it mostly happened to line up with the public good. Which to be fair he is self-aware enough to acknowledge, for whatever that's worth.

[–] Llituro@hexbear.net 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

torvalds abides by exactly one principle: no changes to userland because of the kernel. pretty much any other principle a human might choose to abide is up for debate for him.

[–] aanes_appreciator@hexbear.net 5 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

two principles, I'd say. No Russian changes to the kernel, and then no changes to the userland because of the kernel

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 16 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

B-b-but……… funny penguin man gave Nvidia the middle finger……… h-he's not……… he's not my friend??? doggirl-tears

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 17 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

Everyone points to torvalds-nvidia but don't realize that the only reason that torvalds-nvidia happened was because Torvalds didn't think he had a right to force other companies to publish their software when he refused to upgrade the kernel to GPL version 3^1.

He literally states that he's uncomfortable with the idea that actual software freedom was above source code. I have no idea why people lionize this man he is literally a reactionary techbro.

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 15 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm willing to guess that most Linux end users' knowledge of Linus Torvalds begins and ends with "he made a thing I like and rely on every day" plus hashtag inspirational posters on FOSS-related Facebook pages plus short decontextualized video clips that portray him much more favorably than he really deserves. So his lionization is basically built by momentum (is that the word I'm looking for?) more than anything else, right? People uncritically imitating what they see as "Linux culture". That's the explanation I'd come up with.

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 18 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

The momentum is from the "Open Source" de-radicalization sphere. Capitalists fed into the open source counter movement explicitly to defang free software, you'll see Linus torvalds in the California computer history museum but not Richard stallman whose work on GCC and the GPL allowed Linux to actually succeed in the first place.

Its the Chomsky effect where torvalds will speak truth to power when it affects him and isn't intentionally trying to be dishonest for selfish gain. But you have to wonder why all the capitalists are happy spreading his name around specifically.

Capitalists love Open Source just like they love "Free Markets." Take a look at any corporate license policy page and take a look at which licenses they leave out (spoiler, all the licenses that compel them to give a shit).

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 8 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I was gonna say, Torvalds gets to have the finger thing as his "moment", while Stallman has the toe thing, right? But God knows Torvalds has plenty of "toe moments", too, so the way they're presented in media doesn't match with their actual contributions and characters.

[–] comrade_pibb@hexbear.net 8 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Stallman is, uh, not without his flaws

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 5 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

I vaguely recall some sort of Epstein thing, yeah. Point is that there are no heroes, only weirdos.

[–] aanes_appreciator@hexbear.net 7 points 4 weeks ago

Linus Torvalds' elevation to nerd godhood was only thanks to his relatively private existence in the shadow of Windows and Bill Gates until now.

Linux being an underdog has done well to mislead people into thinking that Linus cares about software freedom or other political ambitions, rather than simply relating to the material conditions in which Linux operates. If Linux and Windows were swapped in market share tomorrow We could guarantee that Linus would direct every developer and his project into producing a carbon copy of Windows 11, just with more C code and penguins.

Even so, the thing that made Linux such an important tool in divesting oneself from Microsoft, will become the thing that makes it easy to divest from the penguin imperialist in chief. There are already binary compatible kernels which are ready to usurp Linux if it does not rid itself of capitalist influence, and many more will follow.

[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 4 weeks ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] invalidusernamelol@hexbear.net 12 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children) 
    def on_xlim_changed(self, ax):
        """Handle external xlim changes (e.g. from Toolbar). Unconstrained load."""
        if self.navigating: return
        self.navigating = True
        try:

NO! ONE STATMENT PER LINE! NO INLINE RETURNS!

But for real, if this is the kind of code that Torvalds puts out with AI slop generator I'm not worried. This is pretty trash.

Now I'm tempted to rewrite this without AI and make a pull request lol

[–] comrade_pibb@hexbear.net 5 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Flex on that nerd, do it

[–] invalidusernamelol@hexbear.net 5 points 4 weeks ago

He didn't even use type hinting, which is basically a required part of writing Python code now that the type checkers are mature.

[–] aanes_appreciator@hexbear.net 10 points 4 weeks ago

this is the guy who gloated about excluding Russian contributors to the Kernel, and continuously berates volunteers via public email chains over "code quality" on a project that regularly faces release delays because it relies on him personally compiling the code himself. lmao

It's funny how for someone so despotic he's also so willing to out his own incompetence. Even Elon outdoes Linus in looking like a technically-minded individual (sometimes).

[–] sictransitgloria@hexbear.net 10 points 4 weeks ago

In the next installment of "Kill Your Heroes,"

thankfully I always regarded this man as an emotionally stunted loser and not a hero

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 8 points 4 weeks ago

His dad went from a communist to devoting his life to licking NATO boot, like father, like son.