find -type f -exec chmod 644 -- {} +
find -type d -exec chmod 755 -- {} +
will only affect regular files and directories. There are other type
of files (specifically block and character devices, named pipes and
sockets) which those two commands would leave unaffected. In
practice, I suspect you don’t have any of those to worry about so you
can use -find f
.
It was in fact a microscopic deal. Linus overreacted. Lemmy and Reddit milked the drama.