Linus Torvalds Interview

Thanks, I didn't realize he was involved with Git. We're moving to that from SVN at work, someday.
 
Tiberian said:
He created Git from what I remember, it's all him for the most part. I could be wrong on that, of course, but I seem to recall he was the originator of the idea. And yep, it seems my recollection was correct:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git

https://www.linux.com/blog/10-years-git-interview-git-creator-linus-torvalds
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It is not all him, the very first version was primarily Torvalds, but then it was taken over in 2005 and everything since then has been done by others. But he certainly deserves the credit for architecting and creating the original source.
 
He deserves all the credit - he created it and came up with the core principles that make git so powerful. Like Linus has said himself many times a lot of it was inspired by his experiences with BitKeeper.

What's most impressive is he had it working within a day (!!!) and in 10 days it was good enough to start using for the Linux kernel i production !
 
Old Linus is a very clever and wealthy man. One of the best decisions he ever made was to make the licensing of Linux open source - It's the main reason for the success of Linux today.
 
I think Stallman should get a lot more credit than he does. Everyone dismisses him as a cranky nutcase who won't use cellphones or browsers etc and goes off on rants, but he's right in everything he says and more importantly, actually practices what he preaches unlike a lot of evangelists.

Without him there's no GPL, no GNU core-utils and definitely no Linux. A kernel by itself is no use.

I wish Git had a sane UI syntax. Andrew Morton's quote in this talk - https://video.linux.com/videos/techtalk-linux-torvalds-on-git - Git is “expressly designed to make you feel less intelligent than you thought you were.”
 
MrCrispy said:
I think Stallman should get a lot more credit than he does. Everyone dismisses him as a cranky nutcase who won't use cellphones or browsers etc and goes off on rants, but he's right in everything he says and more importantly, actually practices what he preaches unlike a lot of evangelists.

Without him there's no GPL, no GNU core-utils and definitely no Linux. A kernel by itself is no use.

I wish Git had a sane UI syntax. Andrew Morton's quote in this talk - https://video.linux.com/videos/techtalk-linux-torvalds-on-git - Git is “expressly designed to make you feel less intelligent than you thought you were.”
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I don't hate Stallman but at the same time I don't see Linux progressing like it is currently if we follow his mantra to the letter. Respect to him for actually walking the walk but I want Linux to grow, get more users, more software, more games, continue getting VR, etc and I just don't see any of that happening without some compromise.
 
I respect Stallman, but I think he's a little over the top. I love Linux, but I don't buy the whole FOSS only thing.
 
BulletDust said:
I respect Stallman, but I think he's a little over the top. I love Linux, but I don't buy the whole FOSS only thing.
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The way I see it the core systems need to always remain FOSS... and I think most companies these days are seeing the value in supporting OSS. Making money on the services and products is the way to go... open up your software and make it free and the development costs drop. I agree Linux needs to find a nice comfy balance, and I think it has for the most part. Their are places for steam, and commercial software in general... the system it runs on though is best always left 100% free and open. I think Linus gets that, Stallman seems like a bit of a nut about it.
 
ChadD said:
The way I see it the core systems need to always remain FOSS... and I think most companies these days are seeing the value in supporting OSS. Making money on the services and products is the way to go... open up your software and make it free and the development costs drop. I agree Linux needs to find a nice comfy balance, and I think it has for the most part. Their are places for steam, and commercial software in general... the system it runs on though is best always left 100% free and open. I think Linus gets that, Stallman seems like a bit of a nut about it.
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Totally. Having said that I believe the core system has to remain FOSS as part of the licensing terms.
 
BulletDust said:
Totally. Having said that I believe the core system has to remain FOSS as part of the licensing terms.
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Very true. Linus and Stalmann both did the world a favor in that regard. I think you are 100% correct Linux and the GNU base can't be closed up if forked. I guess that is why the BSD kernel is popular for things like the Playstation. I believe in the licencing terms completely... it does make me wonder what the world would look like though if Sony had used the Linux kernel instead. Not likely much different I guess... although I still believe google will someday soon build a chromebook that can game and perhaps sign a licencing deal with Sony for GNMX and the base systems to make a Chrome game store that runs PS4 software, I do wonder if Sony had went the Linux route if we wouldn't already have that.
 
ChadD said:
Very true. Linus and Stalmann both did the world a favor in that regard. I think you are 100% correct Linux and the GNU base can't be closed up if forked. I guess that is why the BSD kernel is popular for things like the Playstation. I believe in the licencing terms completely... it does make me wonder what the world would look like though if Sony had used the Linux kernel instead. Not likely much different I guess... although I still believe google will someday soon build a chromebook that can game and perhaps sign a licencing deal with Sony for GNMX and the base systems to make a Chrome game store that runs PS4 software, I do wonder if Sony had went the Linux route if we wouldn't already have that.
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That's exactly why Sony and Apple like BSD, it's also why BSD essentially lost to Linux. ;)
 
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Linus is an engineer first, i.e he's always going to prefer being pragmatic and actually getting shit done. 'Talk is cheap, show me the code' - this means compromise.
Stallman is a zealot, but he is needed - without that mentality, there'd be no FSF, GPL etc - no compromise whatever the cost.

Both were needed. But I still think GPL is one of the greatest ideas in the modern age, and its spread to so many other areas beyond just code, its about sharing ideas and information freely without consequences which has always been Stallman's main point. With corporations and govts censoring and monitoring everything, the world would be a very different place without something like it.
 
BulletDust said:
Imagine using Stallman's laptop? :)
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Laptop isn't free hardware! I don't actually know if that's true but I wouldn't be surprised and I think Stallman cares about free (as in schematics) hw just as much as sw.

On the other hand he'd just use Emacs which is almost an OS :)
 
MrCrispy said:
Laptop isn't free hardware! I don't actually know if that's true but I wouldn't be surprised and I think Stallman cares about free (as in schematics) hw just as much as sw.

On the other hand he'd just use Emacs which is almost an OS :)
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I think his freedom advocacy goes as low as the machine's bios?
 
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