Linus Torvalds explains why older Linux developers are a good thing

The bright linchpin of Linux, Linus Torvalds, says that despite long-term reports of fatigue in the open source software development environment, Linux is stronger than ever – although he admits that his project is perhaps an outlier due to its scale and scope.

Speaking with Verizon’s head of open source Dirk Hohndel at the Linux Foundation’s Open Source Summit Europe in Vienna on Monday, Torvalds addressed a topic that often raises its head in the Linux world and beyond: the aging developer community that tends to burn out.

“That is absolutely true [Linux] Kernel maintainers are getting old, but there’s good in that,” Torvalds said. “How many [open source] projects with curators that have been around for over thirty years? It is very rare. So when people say, ‘developers are dying and leaving’ – yes, that’s true, but that’s normal. What’s unusual is that people stay around for decades, that’s an unusual thing, and I think that to some extent is a good sign. “

Historically, Linux was a very C-centric kernel, but in 2022 the project introduced official support for Rust, a general-purpose, open programming language supported by many big-name technology companies. Just a few weeks back, Rust for Linux project leader Wedson Almeida Filho announced that they would be stepping down after almost four years, as they found themselves “lacking the energy and enthusiasm” to deal with the “non-technical nonsense” surrounding the project. .

And back in January, Rust senior engineer Jynn Nelson also noted that the burnout problem is very real. “The number of people who have left the Rust project due to burnout is incredibly high,” Nelson wrote. “The number of people in this profession who are close to burnout is incredibly high.”

The trust factor

Linux is probably the most successful open source project of all time, integrating everything from web servers and ATMs, to desktop and mobile applications. During these formative years, Torvalds came together and created the ubiquitous version control system known as Git. But in the 33 years since Linux was founded, Torvalds remains the main maintainer of the kernel, with the support of tens of thousands of contributors from companies that rely on Linux, as well as sources close to home such as Linux Foundation fellow Greg Kroah-Kartman, who leads. in stable releases of the Linux kernel.

“I think part of the problem with having so many developers, is that we’ve always had so many people who are talented and can step up,” Torvalds said. “Greg wasn’t always Greg — before Greg, there were Andrews and Allens, and after Greg there will be Shannons and Steves. There are people who have been around for decades, and the real problem is that you have to have someone – or a group – that people in the developing community can trust. And part of trust is about being around ‘long enough’ for people to know how you work.”

However, Torvalds acknowledged that such an ecosystem can be complex and difficult for young or inexperienced developers to break into, especially if they are long-standing stakeholders. But despite that, there are newcomers who manage to get into the heart of the Linux project.

“We have core developers who are high-level maintainers of large subsystems, which have come up in just a few years,” Torvalds said. “It’s not that time, but there are new people coming in, and after three years they are big developers. It is absolutely impossible. I think we have a healthy developer subsystem, but the whole monkey dance about developers, developers, developers… we have. The fact that we have these old, ‘grey’ people – I don’t see that as a big problem.”