Why Linus Torvalds’s Return Matters for Linux’s Future Development

21CTO Community Briefing: Recently, Linux founder Linus Torvalds returned to his role overseeing the Linux kernel. His temporary replacement, Greg Kroah‑Hartman, announced Torvalds’s comeback in a post that detailed the release of Linux kernel 4.19 and various adjustments.

Linus Torvalds met with the first 40 Linux developers at the European Open Source Summit in Scotland, discussing his return, the Linux Code of Conduct (CoC), and how the Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) is changing Linux.

What’s happening now?

Torvalds is back at the helm, resuming his usual merge‑window activities, but he notes that he may add another maintainer to share the workload.

Kroah‑Hartman will have speaking rights over Linus’s kernel tree, and it remains to be seen if others will gain write access to help reduce the burden.

Torvalds emphasized that the merge‑window plan aims to keep things stable, despite the busy early days of a merge window.

What did Torvalds do during his break?

He temporarily stepped away from managing the Linux kernel to adjust his behavior and reduce stress, seeking to improve how developers interact with the kernel community.

He mentioned using an email filter to manage the volume of messages and personal attacks, and he discussed taking time to understand emotions and appropriate responses.

About the Controversial CoC

The Linux community adopted a Code of Conduct aimed at fostering respectful and inclusive language, appreciating diverse viewpoints, accepting constructive criticism, focusing on community benefit, and showing appreciation for fellow members.

The CoC also lists prohibited behaviors such as posting sexual images, vulgar language, and personal attacks.

It calls on key developers, including Torvalds, to enforce these standards.

Torvalds has stepped back from the CoC debate, stating that opinions differ and there is no objective measure of the “right” CoC; he prefers to address concrete issues as they arise rather than engage in endless debate.

Kroah‑Hartman echoed the need to stabilize the situation and address real problems when they emerge.

How the code tree will evolve

The discussion turned to the rise of BPF, described by LWN editor Jon Corbet as a kernel virtual machine that lets user‑space processes load code into kernel space.

BPF is increasingly used for network filtering, performance analysis, security policies (e.g., seccomp), and upcoming security modules, bridging the gap between kernel and user space.

“BPF is truly useful; its power lies in allowing people to run specialized code before it’s even requested. It’s valuable for tracing, statistics, and network filtering, and it enables developers to attach small programs to specific machines or sites.”

In summary, the Linux community appears to be returning to normal development focus, with Torvalds acknowledging the need to improve interpersonal interactions while the community continues to advance core kernel technologies.

Source: 21CTO Community