Which means that anyone who doesn’t like his style is free to leave at any time without any consequences in the sense of salary, health insurance, etc. The fact that kernel development goes on and goes on pretty successfully is evidence that your concerns are overblown.
Um, Linux kernel doesn’t work like that. Linus doesn’t “add” anyone to development or “remove” anyone. And I don’t know if companies who pay the developers would be likely to fire them if the developers’ patches start to get rejected on a regular basis.
Oh, and you misquoted your source. It’s not 75% of developers, it’s 75% of the share of kernel development and, of course, some developers are much more prolific than others.
Certainly he and his team are less likely to accept patches from people who they’ve had trouble with in the past? And people who have trouble getting patches accepted (for whatever reason) are probably not going to be paid to continue doing kernel development?
It would surprise me if he’s never outright banned anyone.
Thanks for the correction, edited my comment above.
I don’ t think so—it is a difference in how the world works. Anyone in the world can submit kernel patches. The filtering does not occur at the people level, it occurs at the piece-of-code level.
Linus does not say “I pronounce you a kernel developer” or “You’re no longer a kernel developer”—he says “I accept this patch” or “I do not accept this patch”.
As of 2012-04-16, 75% of kernel development is paid. I would assume those developers would find their jobs in jeopardy if Linus removed them from development.
Um, Linux kernel doesn’t work like that. Linus doesn’t “add” anyone to development or “remove” anyone. And I don’t know if companies who pay the developers would be likely to fire them if the developers’ patches start to get rejected on a regular basis.
Oh, and you misquoted your source. It’s not 75% of developers, it’s 75% of the share of kernel development and, of course, some developers are much more prolific than others.
Certainly he and his team are less likely to accept patches from people who they’ve had trouble with in the past? And people who have trouble getting patches accepted (for whatever reason) are probably not going to be paid to continue doing kernel development?
It would surprise me if he’s never outright banned anyone.
Thanks for the correction, edited my comment above.
You are describing a (dubious) difference in word use, not a difference in how the world works.
I don’ t think so—it is a difference in how the world works. Anyone in the world can submit kernel patches. The filtering does not occur at the people level, it occurs at the piece-of-code level.
Linus does not say “I pronounce you a kernel developer” or “You’re no longer a kernel developer”—he says “I accept this patch” or “I do not accept this patch”.