We've all agreed that when he dies it would be disrespectful to keep using Linux so we'll pack it up and switch to Windows from them on.
I'll go back to HaikuOS, it should be ready by then. ReactOS will still be working on Win98 support.
GNU will spring their plan into motion for world domination, and send anyone who has said Linux and not GNU/Linux to GNUlag
They'll reveal that GNU was actually Unix all along.
GNU is Now Unix
They will finally release HURD
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.
"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!"
Our worst nightmare come true 😱
Google, Samsung or some other large corporation would take it over
Perkele!
A number of candidates will create their own forks and there will be a long Game of Thrones style war between different factions. After couple of weeks each distro will choose the fork they will make the default one and people will split into warring factions. After that we will enter a nuclear winter style period lasting couple of years during which 90% of post on Lemmy will be just shitposting the rival forks. After a decade or two of backstabbing, dirty politics and other drama new dictator will be selected and all will be back to normal.
So like systemd but ten times more dramatic.
His firstborn son will take over as Linus II, as is tradition.
The far future: A man sits at a table, staring at a floating hologram display. He watches as an indecipherable block of alphanumeric characters wiggles and splits into two segments. He nods slowly.
He takes a breath and closes his eyes, broadcasting a message to everyone on duty that day.
"Merge the request. Tell Linus#3418 that Wayland is now the default display manager."
There will not be a Linus 2, but rather there will be a peaceful transfer of "power".
Linus is not the Benevolent Dictator For Life of the Linux Kernel.
Linus has already stepped away from developing the Kernel. He did this after an incident to work on his professionalism & mannerisms towards people. Kernel development did not stop. Linus does not approve and merge every patch into the Kernel.
Rather it is more likely that the Lead Maintainer/Developer changes to Greg Kroah-Hartmon, and the project does not skip a beat.
Rest assured with something as important as the Linux Kernel: development will keep going.
Rest assured with something as important as the Linux Kernel: development will keep going.
Morgan freeman voice: but he was not rested or assured.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor is a thing that any GOOD project or IT department considers. How many of your staff can you afford to lose if they all happen to be travelling in the same bus, on their way to eat at the same place for lunch when an asteroid inevitably punches through said bus and/or diner.
'Hit by an asteroid' is a little unrealistic. Sentenced to prison for 15 to Life has happened in the Open Source community at least once before. The project I linked to had a Bus Factor of about one. It's now 'old code using outdated APIs' and is considered obsolete.
I've personally seen legal and criminal issues for a single individual cripple IT departments before, meaning their bus factor was also way too low. I've been on trips that have been rudely interrupted by screaming executives when I came down out of the mountains into cell range because I was the only bus factor left on certain systems. Natural disaster, such as hurricanes, wildfires, and floods are very serious existential threats to even the largest of organizations.
Since Linux seems to be a good project, I can't imagine that the discussion hasn't been had, in public or in private. Millions of individuals and dozens upon dozens of big corporations depend on Linux, Open source and otherwise. If the bus comes for core maintainers or project leaders we have at least SOME backup.
We need to consider truck-kun factor, where the developer get isekai-ed.
"I'll Become the Strongest Adventurer in the Other World with My Maximum Level Open Source Operating System Development Skills."
"Known for: ReiserFS, murder" kinda makes it sound like the dude invented both.
I've been on trips that have been rudely interrupted by screaming executives when I came down out of the mountains into cell range because I was the only bus factor left on certain systems.
Wow, incredible management skills, genius move to treat your one critical employee like a piece of shit.
sudo mount --bind /linus2 /linus
Think we all can agree that the only sensible choise would to convert to Tempel OS...
From what I understand Greg Kroah-Hartman would take over
A quick search shows he's actually two years older than Linus. Though I'm sure there's plenty of young blood in the community by now.
For a moment I thought this post was about the LTT host. And was like they could replace him with any of his doppelgangers in the group and no one will notice.
Linus is getting old and its time to pick his replacement.
And its you! Congratulations! I hope your ready
Everyone is making jokes but the thought has occurred to me: Yes, we have an organisation in place that is ready to replace him. But, from what I understand, he IS the benevolent dictator, and he has used his power a few times to stop some changes that otherwise would be in the kernel right now. And I think that's a good thing.
When he dies, I expect his family will be sad for a while and bury him.
If he retires, his family will be pretty happy for him.
Other people will keep doing Linux stuff.
I’m training a code and language model to write Linux kernel code and provide snarky comments, of course all based on Linus’s extensive commit history.
Our AI Überherr will be pleased.
The git based AI he was secretly programming will take over and anyone who can't use git submodules without looking up the commands will die.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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