Additionally Alan Cox weights in on how *not* to do changes, using GNOME 3 as an example.This is an excerpt from ELCE 2011 kernel development panel with Linu...
Unfortunate title, but it’s a good video and some good thoughts from both Linus and AC.
Interestingly, this video is just 2 years after Linus and Alan Cox had a bit of a blowup that caused AC to resign from the TTY subsystem.
And even more interestingly, the blowup was specifically about the very topic they’re discussing: not breaking userspace and keeping a consistent user experience.
Linus felt AC had broken userspace unnecessarily, was too proud/stubborn to revert the change and save the user experience.
AC felt Linus was trivializing how easy “just fix it” was going to be and threw up his hands and resigned.
I was curious if they were still on good terms after that, and it’s nice to see that they were.
For newcomers to Linux, Alan Cox used to be (in the 1990s) the undisputed Riker to Linus’ Picard, the #2 in command, ready to take over all of Linux at a moment’s notice.
As we got into the 2000s, that changed, and this video (2011) was from the middle of a chaotic time for him.
In 2009 he quit Red Hat, then joined Intel 2 years later, then quit shortly after that and has just a few years ago stopped kernel development permanently.
Unfortunate title, but it’s a good video and some good thoughts from both Linus and AC.
Interestingly, this video is just 2 years after Linus and Alan Cox had a bit of a blowup that caused AC to resign from the TTY subsystem. And even more interestingly, the blowup was specifically about the very topic they’re discussing: not breaking userspace and keeping a consistent user experience. Linus felt AC had broken userspace unnecessarily, was too proud/stubborn to revert the change and save the user experience. AC felt Linus was trivializing how easy “just fix it” was going to be and threw up his hands and resigned.
I was curious if they were still on good terms after that, and it’s nice to see that they were. For newcomers to Linux, Alan Cox used to be (in the 1990s) the undisputed Riker to Linus’ Picard, the #2 in command, ready to take over all of Linux at a moment’s notice. As we got into the 2000s, that changed, and this video (2011) was from the middle of a chaotic time for him. In 2009 he quit Red Hat, then joined Intel 2 years later, then quit shortly after that and has just a few years ago stopped kernel development permanently.
Should probably also mention that his wife, Telsa Gwynne, was diagnosed with cancer around the time he retired and she sadly passed away in 2015.