back to article 'F*cking crap' aside, Linus Torvalds says Linux 4.9 is coming along nicely

Linux 4.9 is coming along nicely, with Linus Torvalds emitting the fourth release candidate on Saturday evening. But before he got there, he offered a minor kernel mailing list explosion when developer Miklos Szeredi proposed “the concept of feature flags to allow backward incompatible changes to the overlay format” in …

  1. Ralph B

    Misrepresentation

    Linus said: "“There's no f*cking explanation of why we'd even want this crap. Not in the commit message, not in the pull request, not *anywhere*.”

    "this crap" != "fucking crap".

    “no f*cking explanation" != "fucking crap"

    So how do you justify your headline?

    1. SomeoneInDelaware
      WTF?

      Re: Misrepresentation

      "So how do you justify your headline?"

      We made a f*cking mistake. So calm the f*ck down, all of you. :-)

    2. cream wobbly

      Re: Misrepresentation

      It's a fucking IT tabloid.

      1. Captain DaFt

        Re: Misrepresentation

        "It's a fucking IT tabloid."

        But I was told it was a lesbian tabloid.

        1. Ogi
          Pint

          Re: Misrepresentation

          Wow, thanks for the timewarp! It has reminded me how much the Register has changed since then. I kind of miss the old el-reg, there were more playmobil reenactments for starters.

          Still, I raise a pint to thee el Reg, for all the years so far, and hopefully many more!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Linus Torvalds

    I picture him a the Malcolm Tucker of the computer world

    1. /dev/null

      Re: Linus Torvalds

      I thought that was Theo de Raadt?

    2. Zippy's Sausage Factory

      Re: Linus Torvalds

      Oh good. Because now I'm going to be hearing Peter Capaldi every time I read a Linus Torvalds quote. And when I finally get around* to watching his episodes of the eponymously-titled time travel soap, he's going to be Dr Who as well.

      * Maybe never. We're doing a fill watch through and right now we're halfway through Jon Pertwee. Plus we'll have to double back and fill in Power of the Daleks some time soon as well...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Linus Torvalds

      "I picture him a the Malcolm Tucker of the computer world"

      The big difference being of course that Linus does something useful for society at large. A spin doctor is just a parasite who found a niche where bullshit pays.

    4. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Making suggestions to Linus...

    ...less desirable than hanging your balls over a Pirhana tank.

    1. Preston Munchensonton
      Coat

      Re: Making suggestions to Linus...

      Try both and report back before we judge your claim.

  4. malfeasance

    overlayfs

    Isn't that primarily the Docker union FS thing?

    Which given Docker's exemplary support for backwards compatibility; I'm not entirely surprised that Linus has gone off on one.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sigh... I wish we had a Linus here at work. Someone willing to call a spade a spade and weed out the stupid crap.

    We actually do, but he's a Snr. VP and by the time things get to him, they're already too deeply screwed.

    1. cream wobbly

      ...and with that attitude, if he wasn't Signor Veep, he'd be Signor Unemployed.

      The problem with allowing this kind of behaviour in underlings is that it makes bullies feel validated. It's up to you to decide if Torvalds is a bully or not.

    2. Donkey Molestor X

      > Sigh... I wish we had a Linus here at work. Someone willing to call a spade a spade and weed out the stupid crap.

      We actually do, but he's a Snr. VP and by the time things get to him, they're already too deeply screwed.

      See the cute thing about this sentiment is that you think your crap isn't the stupid crap that will get weeded out. I'll bet if Linus was actually at your workplace, he'd run a goddamned train on you, and you would go crying to HR to make the bad man go away before you piss your trousers in dismay.

    3. Version 1.0 Silver badge
      Happy

      I had that attitude at a former employment - it worked for a few years and then we parted company. I'm much happier and they don't understand why their stuff keeps breaking. Not my problem anymore.

  6. cream wobbly

    On the actual topic...

    Torvalds makes the observation that this was undocumented, and submitted at the wrong time in the kernel release cycle. Really, the angle of the story should've been about the novice developer's ignorance, and how Torvalds is a very effective firewall against allowing knuckle-dragging stupidity. Some people think that because a project is FOSS, then they should be thanked for their work every time, even if it's utter shite.

  7. JLV

    Hmmm, anyone else wondering why El Reg needs to report on Linus' vocabulary every fucking time?

    He did his job, told the submitter to go away until it was the right time and/or the right feature.

    Granted, his choice of words could be improved, but reporting on it constantly is not newsworthy in and out of itself. Maybe if they had another high profile, esp female, coder quitting due to toxic environment, then yes.

    But there is no indication that this escalated into anything newsworthy, so reporting on the feature removal, minus chatter about profanity, would have been just as good. Tell you what, apply Shannon's Theorem and report on the language used when Linus happens not put any profanity anywhere ;-)

    My $.02 anyway.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Quaintly old fashioned

      Maybe if they had another high profile, esp female, coder quitting due to toxic environment, then yes.

      How quaintly old fashioned of you. Of course I too was brought up not to swear in front of ladies, but times are a changing apparently.

      http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/equality-drives-surge-swearing-study-finds-women-more-likely-drop-f-bomb-1590122

  8. Herby

    General Patton...

    Speak to them in a language they will understand.

  9. PAT MCCLUNG

    Re. Linus Torvalds

    Thank the lord for Linus Torvalds. Everything else is full of f*cking crap. Linus has shown us that it is possible to be an inspiring and admired leader, without needing, or trying, to steal big in any way. What a great and inspiring guy. A model for the rest of us.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh Goody

    "some tiny arm updates"

    Thank goodness. I've been waiting for the Anchor Arms update. No more wimpy arms for me. Now I'm a jerk and everybody loves me.

    1. Dazed and Confused

      Re: Oh Goody

      > "some tiny arm updates"

      And PA-Risc updates too, just so I can get my museum more up to date. Still no drivers for the last generations of Itanic boxes - pah new fangled doodahs, serves them right. But PA is still riding onwards and upwards.

      OK, I know that's not the tiny arms you were referring too.

    2. asdf

      Re: Oh Goody

      Kidding aside at least he isn't telling folks to put poison in the ARM folks coffee or cut their brake lines like in the past. Mellowing out with age perhaps.

  11. defiler

    An ephemeral empire?

    Sometimes I look at Linus Torvalds and think of Alexander the Great. Here he is building an empire, but what will happen to it when he leaves and takes his iron will with him?

    Sincerely hoping that when that time comes the project can still hold together.

    1. smartypants

      Re: An ephemeral empire?

      Worry not. I've been in f***ing training for 6 months, and I won't take any stupid crap from anyone!

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