Re: [PATCH] docs: remove Assisted-by references

[Troy Benjegerdes <hozer@hozed.org>]

On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 10:54:40PM -0400, Theodore Tso wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2026 at 12:15:32AM -0500, Laurent Pinchart wrote:
> > I fully understand that many maintainers currently feel they're too
> > pressured to invest time in the next generation. We need to find
> > solutions to make that possible.
> 
> One possibility is to create tools and/or procedure to amplify signals
> about which newcomers are most likely to become the next generation,
> as opposed to someone who is just sending drive-by patches.
> 
> The reality is that the vast majority of first time patch submitters
> won't become part of the next generation.  So if we are getting 10x
> the newcomers, if we can be more discerning about which newcomers we
> invest in, the project won't die, even if we are ignoring, 3x to 5x
> the number of newcomers.
> 
> > This is something we really need to improve quickly. Over the past week
> > multiple active kernel developers asked me if I thought they needed to
> > find a job elsewhere, thinking maintainers will now ignore anything but
> > perfect patches and dismiss contributions from developers who don't use
> > LLMs. That's a wrong impression (at least I very much hope so, and you
> > clarified that you're not advocating for that), but it's a disastrous
> > impression that many people got from the maintainers summit and the
> > following mailing lists discussions.
> 
> If someone is an active kernel developer, presumably they already have
> enough of reputation that they won't get ignored.  The issue is really
> going to be newcomers who don't yet enough of a reputation, not
> "active kernel developres who are wondering if they need to find a job
> elsewhere".
> 
> And if they have a job, meaning they are in the industry, hopefully
> their employer is willing and able to hire a more senior kernel
> developer with a reputation in the industry to help them out.
> Fortunately, certain companies like Oracle have graciously been
> releasing a lot of such talent on the market, so these people *are*
> available.  :-)

Where's the job board for this. Or if you know of some developers that
want to come to a farm and work on RiscV-linux farm robots I can provide
food, housing, and whatever my experience is worth.

> A senior kernel developer will be able to help introduce more junior
> developers to the community, both online via e-mail and at conferences
> such as Plumbers.  More importantly, the more senior kernel developer
> can help the more junior developer write cover letters which better
> motivate why a particular patch is important.  Half the problem is
> that a lot of the "AI Slop" patches aren't particular important, and
> in some cases, the business case has been wildly exagerated.
> 
> (For example, there was the patch which claimed to address a very high
> severity "one click exploit" bug --- but the exploit required (a)
> tricking someone to download a malicious file system image, and (b)
> running a fairly obscure "tune2fs -U random" command on said image,
> and (c) be stupid enough do it as root to justify the astronomical
> CVSS score.  By calling this a "one click exploit" with an extremely
> high CVSS score, that engineer and their company has been forever
> tainted in my eyes, and you can *bet* that I'm going to take any
> patches from them far less seriously.)
> 
> Anyway, all of this might mean that someone who has zero prior
> reputation, and doesn't have the $$$ to attend a conference, and who
> isn't able to get a job at a company where a more senior kernel
> engineer can introduce them to the community, and who can't get a
> position at a mentorship program like Outreachy or GSOC might have a
> much harder time to get a maintainer's attention.  Yes, this will suck
> for some newcomers; but so long as we get enough new blood from other
> sources (such as new college grads working at a traditional Linux
> company), it doesn't follow that just because we aren't engaging with
> *every* *single* *newcomer* that it spells doom for the Linux kernel
> community.
> 
> 					- Ted

Those newcomers need viable paths for employment, at least in the
current system. I think if AI companies want to maintain their sky-high
stock valuations, there will have to use some of that theoretical market
cap by actually committed to resolving and paying off technical debt.

What if we had a "pay-per-patch" model? Would this help or would it just
turn into a game where whomever has the most money gets their patches 
reviewed?