Linus Torvalds Slams GitHub Merge Messages – What Developers Should Learn

In a recent Linux development mailing list discussion, Konstantin Komarov of Paragon Software submitted their NTFS driver to the Linux kernel, and Linus Torvalds criticized the use of GitHub’s merge interface, calling its merge messages "useless garbage" that should never be used for kernel integration.

"GitHub creates absolutely useless garbage merges; you should never use GitHub’s interface to merge anything. GitHub is a great hosting site in many respects, but merging is not one of them. Linux kernel merges require proper commit messages that include what is being merged and why, as well as correct author and committer information. GitHub completely breaks this."

The Paragon driver improves interoperability with the Windows NTFS file system, but its 27,000 lines of code were considered too large for easy review.

Linus emphasized that each pull request should be signed, ideally with a PGP signature, and that the proper workflow involves command‑line merges rather than the GitHub web interface. Merge branch 'torvalds:master' into master He also recalled his 2012 stance against using GitHub’s pull‑request features because they discard essential contributor information.

Ultimately, Linus accepted the Paragon submission, stating that future contributions must follow the proper rules.

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"To continue development, you need to do things the right way, which means merging from the command line rather than using the broken GitHub web interface."