Re: BK kernel workflow

Roman Zippel
2004-10-26T01:50:22Z

Hi,

On Mon, 25 Oct 2004, Linus Torvalds wrote:

> In short, BK isn't the problem. You are.

I think you're making it yourself way too easy.

There is a certain ego problem, that makes a more rational discussion
about the real influence of bk rather difficult. bk makes it in first
place easier to apply and merge a lot of patches, but patches still have
to be written, reviewed and maintained. The ability to handle big amounts
of patches includes also the possibility to merge a lot of crap. What
keeps up the general quality? It would be a lot easier to give Larry some
credit here, if he hadn't already taken it all.

There is a certain license problem, which very effectly keeps out a lot of
those people, who might have other ideas for managing the kernel sources
and improving the development process. The "protecting IP" talk is
complete bullshit, one doesn't need direct access to figure out how it
works. There are a few free SCM systems out there, that use very similiar
mechanism, they of course still need to work out the details, but it's no
magic and just takes times. Being able to import the kernel repository
into them would be a great way to test them, but unfortunately all the
free testing is reserved for bk, as usual the winner takes it all and the
losers eat the dust, isn't that how open source works...?

Blaming Andrea for this mess is of course easy, but it doesn't solve
anything and misses the point, the only thing Andrea is to blame for is
that he is not very diplomatic, but that's unfortunately a trait seldom
found under hackers. Ignoring the problems and silencing the critics
doesn't solve anything and I would be more concerned if nobody would
object anymore, when Larry is on one of his ego trips.

bye, Roman