Linux Kernel Maintainer’s Summit moved to Edinburgh

[anon56864026]

Interesting exchange….

Theodore Y. Ts’o
Thu Sep 6 18:50:43 UTC 2018:

Last Friday (just before Labor Day) I learned that Linus had gotten confused about when and where the Maintainer’s Summit was going to be held this year. And most unfortunately, he has already scheduled a family vacation overlapping with the week of the Maintainer’s Summit.

Over the weekend, I’ve been conferring with folks from the Linux Foundation, Linus, and the Maintainer’s / Kernel Summit program committee. We explored a lot of options, but ultimately there were only two choices that were workable:

1. Have the Maintainer’s Summit in Vancouver, without Linus.

2. Move the Maintainer’s Summit to Edinburgh, with Linus.

Curiously enough, Linus suggested option #1. And while holding the Maintainer’s Summit without Linus might be an interesting experiment, ultimately, the Program Committee had a strong consensus that moving it Summit to Edinburgh was the better option.[…]

lists.linuxfoundation.org/piper … 05308.html

James Bottomley
Thu Sep 6 19:44:33 UTC 2018:

Since our fearless leader apparently can’t even remember the dates of the only conference he goes to, perhaps now might be a good time to talk about how we’d run an orderly succession process (purely theoretically, of course …)

I think a vote amongst the Maintainer Summit attendees might be the way to elect a new leader, but others probably have different ideas.

James

lists.linuxfoundation.org/piper … 05313.html

Linus Torvalds
Thu Sep 6 19:57:19 UTC 2018:

I literally suggested that this is why it would be best to do it without me in Vancouver.

Because what better opportunity for a palace coup than when the old dictator is off gallivanting? It’s very traditional.

          Linus 

lists.linuxfoundation.org/piper … 05317.html

Torvalds quoting and responding to Bottomley
Thu Sep 6 21:41:04 UTC 2018:

On Thu, Sep 6, 2018 at 2:13 PM James Bottomley
<James.Bottomley at hansenpartnership.com> wrote:

However, I really think for an orderly succession plan, you need to be
part of it rather than having a palace coup which could end up being
really messy and divisive. I suspect people treated your proposal last
year as more of a joke last year because they didn’t think you were
serious. If you’re really serious about doing this, let’s try to come
up with the succession process in Edinburgh in October and see if we
can run a Maintainer Summit with the new Leadership in Vancouver in
November.

So I do want to make it clear that it’s not like I am all that serious about it, because I’m perfectly happy to continue to do what I’ve been doing for the past almost three decades.

It’s not like I care about the bus scenario, pretty much by definition.

Honestly, I think the real issue is when others have serious and practical proposals.

In many ways I think that is the real issue: people who feel like there would be advantages to new models.

The advantages could range from just the “I’d really prefer to work with somebody else” to more of a “look, Linus isn’t getting any younger, so to make for a smooth transition we should start moving towards xyz, because then in years we’ll be ready”.

Regardless, I don’t think my opinions matter all that much on this, and I honestly think some people might be more willing to speak their mind without me in the room.

And guys, it’s not like my ego is all that fragile. I think people do know that. So the only thing I do want to be serious about is that if people actually come up with something that they honestly agree is better, you don’t need to worry about me throwing some hissy-fit, and
“take my ball and go home”.

That said, I think we all might have some very real doubts about how practical it’s going to be, and getting people to actually agree on anything.

What I do not want to see is some random flailing discussion while we’re all in the same room. Because I can think of more productive things to do in Edinburgh, and most of them involve drinking.

So I think people should have some real suggestions before-hand, not some “let’s leave it to an open discussion for the summit itself”.

              Linus

lists.linuxfoundation.org/piper … 05333.html