The Principal Engineer of System 76 (and the lead developer of System 76's Pop!_OS Linux distribution) has declared the Linux kernel is run by "patronizing pedantic megalomaniacs" and that he doesn't "even try to contribute to the Linux kernel anymore."
While, at first glance, these statements read like yet another round of "Open Source Drama" -- the Open Source world and "Drama" certainly go hand in hand -- the fact that the lead maintainer of one of the most prominent Linux distributions is refusing to have any involvement with the Linux kernel itself... is absolutely fascinating.
And this all seems to stem... from Rust.
Seriously.
Rust & Linux Conflict
Yesterday (August 28th), Wedson Filho (a developer working on migrating some Linux code to Rust) sent the following email to the Linux Kernel mailing list:
"I am retiring from the project. After almost 4 years, I find myself lacking the energy and enthusiasm I once had to respond to some of the nontechnical nonsense, so it's best to leave it up to those who still have it in them."
As an example of the reason he is retiring from the "Rust for Linux" project, Wedson included a clip of a YouTube recording from the Q & A portion of a presentation on Linux Filestyems at Linux Foundation event.
During that presentation, it was suggested that developers of Linux File System support (currently in C) needed to do significant work to accomodate developers who wanted to migrate Linux File System support to the Rust programming language.
One of the audience members disagreed with that -- saying "you're trying to convince everyone to switch over to the religion" of Rust. Which he followed up by saying, "that ain't gonna happen".
The discussion went back and forth for a few moments and then the presentation moved on.
In short: Developers working on existing Linux kernel functionality (in C), want to continue working on their code. Rust developers want them to either port the existing code to Rust, or spend time helping others to port it to Rust.
This, by itself, is an interesting debate as it could have rather sweeping ramifications to the Linux kernel (and related code). But then something truly strange happened...
Enter: System76 & Pop!_OS
That's when Jeremy Soller, the Principal Engineer of System76 (a laptop and desktop PC company focused on shipping computers with Linux, specifically with their in-house developed Pop!_OS distribution), chimed in with his thoughts over on X.
"This kind of treatment is exactly why I started Redox OS from scratch and written primarily in Rust. There is a lot of resistance to even minor beneficial change in Linux and related projects. I don't even try to contribute to the Linux kernel anymore."
It's that last line that caught my eye. "I don't even try to contribute to the Linux kernel anymore."
The lead of software engineering at a company which ships Linux hardware... refuses to work with the Linux kernel?
How utterly peculiar. This would seem to be a massive problem (certainly an inconvenience) for System76.
But then Jeremy Soller continues... by directly, personally attacking Linux kernel developers (and, seemingly, Linus Torvalds and the rest of the Linux kernel maintainers).
"There are projects where you will inevitably have to get your changes past patronizing pedantic megalomaniacs and while the Linux kernel is not only developed by this personality type it is overwhelmingly controlled by it."
Patronizing pedantic megalomaniacs.
Not exactly mincing words.
Putting aside wether the System76 lead is right or wrong about any of that... it would seem to be a bizarre business strategy to directly attack and insult the people building the software which your own product relies upon. Especially when you refuse to work on that same software.
Again, here's what we are seeing:
- System76 ships an OS (Pop!_OS) with the Linux kernel.
- System76 ships hardware with the Linux kernel.
- System76 leadership refuses to work on the Linux kernel.
- System76 leadership insults the people who do work on the Linux kernel (including the leadership of Linux).
- That conflict appears to be originating from Rust advocates unhappy when C programmers refuse to work on Rust.
While the Open Source and Linux world is certainly no stranger to drama and conflict... this goes beyond mere "drama" and into the realm of having a significant impact on the business of System76 (both in terms of engineering and public perception).
Likewise, what does this mean for the Pop!_OS Linux distribution? If the lead on that project (funded and run by System76) refuses to work on Linux -- and personally insults Linux kernel leadership -- what impact will that have on that particular distribution?
And all of this appears to be rooted in an anger that Rust developers have towards C programmers working on the Linux kernel.
An anger so strong... engineering leadership at System76 is willing to significantly harm his company over.
Utterly bizarre.
