Torvalds: No picnic to become major Linux coder

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I read it, thanks ...

however, would you be willing to test that large patch by someone you've never heard of before?

Yes. I would also test patches by people I had heard of before. Having heard of someone, and even seeing their past work is no guarantee (or even any kind of indication) of the quality of their present work.

the simple fact is that a lot of kernel hackers are going to think "who the hell is this guy? hell, i'm not testing that, i can't be bothered!"

Thank you for restating my point.

it's not the process itself stopping people, it's merely normal human behaviour

I don't think it's necessarily normal, but it is a question of human behavior.

at least if the author of said large patch had been in constant communication with the other developers, they'd have some idea of who he is, what the patch is for and also whether his theory is any good as they've already had some dialogue.

Or if the developer just said, "Hi, my name is Sally Jones and my patch does such and such, and here is my theory and this is the way I implemented it" the other developers would have the same knowledge. They just wouldn't have the false comfort of the past dialogue.

believe it or not, kernel developers need to /talk/ to each other. i don't think linus communicated anything poorly, i just think that maybe you need to RTFA.

I believe they need to talk to each other, too -- all of them. However, it's clear (and maybe if you RTFA a little closer you'd understand better) that there is an "inner circle" and then there's everyone else, and Torvalds says, "Love it or leave it."

Whether it's the best approach or the most efficient approach or whatever is a point for discussion. That the system is set up that way is not.

Posted by: dkawalec   Posted on: 08/19/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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