I know nothing about what they're talking, but the response appears reasonable and mature, seems to engage in the substantive issues without responding to the anger/flaming, and looks like it intends to de-escalate and move forward. Torvalds' reply to that is more measured <https://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/2401.3/04260.html>.
There's a step back in tone a few replies later, but if you go through the next dozen or two messages over the next couple of days, it seems like things go a totally different path than might be expected from the linked submission.
Anyway, I thought it was worth a perusal. Good example of how to respond to something like that.
Seems like people in this group have pretty much gotten used to him being a condescending ass every dozen messages, filter out the posturing, take his genuine suggestion, and work from there.
It doesn't seem to bother them (or they are expending emotional energy not responding to it, a likely bit of collateral damage, but they are still communicating in a pretty professional way besides his tantrums).
I wouldn't say saying "If I knew ... was going to piss you off so much, I wouldn't have done that." is very mature.
And in this case, where the person has deliberately, repeatedly, tried to use code they don't understand, it makes it clear that they need to either learn enough to be sensible on the topic, or go away and not come back.
It's very efficient and to the point.
Linus has such a clarity of thought that if I disagree with him I have to examine why. Anything else is hubris imo, his track record speaks for itself.
Perfect example is his infamous rant on why C++ wasn't used for git. He's a kernel developer, of course that's his opinion. I still love C++ but I'm certainly not offended by it.
Don't cry. The contributor will be fine. If you get flamed by Linus you've already earned a badge of a high profile developer. And even best of us sometimes do something stupid and a little direct cold shower is not going to hurt anyone. Linus is not bulling people, doesn't target them for no reason, doesn't do sneaky politics to undermine people, etc.
That message wasn't just for Steven, but for everyone else who contributes to this critical piece of software we rely on. It's usually very easy for standards to slip, so it requires constant resistance in the opposite direction
News from a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39172487
>You copied that function without understanding why it does what it does, and as a result your code IS GARBAGE. AGAIN.
I generally believe in positivity but if I saw this as his direct report I'd move him to another project ASAP to get scrutiny on his code quality.
I'm not sure I'd start there, but I'd definitely want to understand what problem the person was trying so solve. Might be legit, might be OKR-driven development.
https://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/2401.3/04995.html
I would never, ever contribute upstream to Linux so long as Linus is involved. My time is too valuable to deal with his BS.
He should realize the hostile environment he creates drives away contributors.
And with my other comments being downvoted, it’s incredible that people are so up his arse that they live in a bubble thinking that it’s ok to belittle someone like that.
Imagine working under someone like that… wow.
Did we read the same email? He only commented about how bad the code is; he said nothing about the person who wrote it.
Sometimes we want more control and can't get it. Frustrating. Sometimes senior people are sick and tired of control and want less. Frustrating!
This is what narcissist enablers say: that some people are more equal than others.
