Is Linux Facing a Succession Crisis? Linus Torvalds on Kernel 5.8 and the Future

Linux: We’re All in Our 50s and 60s – The Community Needs New Blood

At a recent open‑source summit and embedded‑Linux conference, Linus Torvalds discussed the challenge of finding new maintainers for the Linux kernel, noting that many current maintainers are in their 50s‑60s and the community faces a generational turnover problem.

Is Linux running out of successors?

Torvalds said the community must consider a hand‑over, and that there are many newcomers under 50 who are actively contributing.

He also highlighted the difficulty of attracting people who will review others’ code and improve the system, describing the maintenance work as “boring and repetitive.”

Torvalds admitted it is hard to find maintainers, and that the kernel work can be monotonous, yet he emphasized the need for trust and time to build it within the community.

Regarding the upcoming 5.8 release, he called it “one of the biggest releases ever,” with roughly 20 % of the code updated, including new driver support, initial support for IBM/Power10, KVM improvements, exFAT driver updates, and accelerator support for Habana Labs Gaudi and Intel Tiger Lake Thunderbolt.

He noted that while the kernel is written mainly in C, there is interest in using Rust for drivers and other components.

Torvalds also reflected on his own temperament, apologizing for past harsh remarks and stating he is not naturally empathetic, but aims to understand emotions without hurting others.

He reaffirmed his commitment to the project, which he has never left since its inception in 1991, and called on the next generation of maintainers to step up.