How Linus Torvalds Built Linux and Git: From a Finnish Kid to Open‑Source Legend

Heroic Youth

Linus Torvalds was born in 1969 in Helsinki, Finland. His parents divorced early, and he lived mainly with his mother. Influenced by his grandfather, a statistics professor, Linus received a Commodore VIC‑20 at age 12 and began programming, eventually writing his first program.

From University to Silicon Valley

While studying computer science at the University of Helsinki, Linus read the book "Operating Systems: Design and Implementation," which described the Minix teaching OS. Inspired, he wrote his own Unix‑like operating system. On September 17, 1991 he released Linux 0.01 and opened its source code.

After graduating, he joined a Silicon Valley company (USVDA) in 1996, where he was allowed to continue working on Linux during work hours, ensuring the project never stalled.

Clash with Microsoft

Linux’s freedom and its superior paging to disk attracted many users away from Microsoft, leading Microsoft to view Linus as a rival, even placing his portrait on a dartboard. Despite offers of money, Linus refused, insisting on keeping Linux free and open source.

Git Born from Anger

In 2002 the Linux kernel team used BitKeeper for version control, but when BitMover stopped providing it for free in 2005, Linus and a few collaborators quickly created a new distributed version‑control system named Git. Two months later Git was officially released and soon powered projects worldwide, including the launch of GitHub in 2008.

Later Years

By 2019 Linus turned 50, his eldest daughter was graduating, and his youngest was in high school. He reflected on his legacy, noting that while Linux may live forever, he continues to age, hoping his second half of life will be as exciting as the first.