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Open Source Linux

Tech Press Rushes To Cover New Linus Torvalds Mailing List Outburst (zdnet.com) 381

"Linux frontman Linus Torvalds thinks he's 'more self-aware' these days and is 'trying to be less forceful' after his brief absence from directing Linux kernel developers because of his abusive language on the Linux kernel mailing list," reports ZDNet.

"But true to his word, he's still not necessarily diplomatic in his communications with maintainers..." Torvalds' post-hiatus outburst was directed at Dave Chinner, an Australian programmer who maintains the Silicon Graphics (SGI)-created XFS file system supported by many Linux distros. "Bullshit, Dave," Torvalds told Chinner on a mailing list. The comment from Chinner that triggered Torvalds' rebuke was that "the page cache is still far, far slower than direct IO" -- a problem Chinner thinks will become more apparent with the arrival of the newish storage-motherboard interface specification known as Peripheral Express Interconnect Express (PCIe) version 4.0. Chinner believes page cache might be necessary to support disk-based storage, but that it has a performance cost....

"You've made that claim before, and it's been complete bullshit before too, and I've called you out on it then too," wrote Torvalds. "Why do you continue to make this obviously garbage argument?" According to Torvalds, the page cache serves its correct purpose as a cache. "The key word in the 'page cache' name is 'cache'," wrote Torvalds.... "Caches work, Dave. Anybody who thinks caches don't work is incompetent. 99 percent of all filesystem accesses are cached, and they never do any IO at all, and the page cache handles them beautifully," Torvalds wrote.

"When you say the page cache is slower than direct IO, it's because you don't even see or care about the *fast* case. You only get involved once there is actual IO to be done."

"The thing is," reports the Register, "crucially, Chinner was talking in the context of specific IO requests that just don't cache well, and noted that these inefficiencies could become more obvious as the deployment of PCIe 4.0-connected non-volatile storage memory spreads."

Here's how Chinner responded to Torvalds on the mailing list. "You've taken one single statement I made from a huge email about complexities in dealing with IO concurrency, the page cache and architectural flaws in the existing code, quoted it out of context, fabricated a completely new context and started ranting about how I know nothing about how caches or the page cache work."

The Register notes their conversation also illustrates a crucial difference from closed-source software development. "[D]ue to the open nature of the Linux kernel, Linus's rows and spats play out in public for everyone to see, and vultures like us to write up about."
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Tech Press Rushes To Cover New Linus Torvalds Mailing List Outburst

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  • by ChodaBoyUSA ( 2532764 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @10:42AM (#58845660)
    PCIe stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, NOT "Peripheral Express Interconnect Express".
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by epyT-R ( 613989 )

      Of course they got it wrong. The 'tech press' aren't about technology. They're about imposing politics onto those who develop it.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    He obviously needs to go!

    But seriously, anyone outraged at this has definitely never dealt with other adults in any collaborative environment.

  • ... that he will, in the next few years, need to relinquish his absolute control over the kernel to the 'next generation' to carry forward.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29, 2019 @10:54AM (#58845708)

    Chinner insists that "The world I work in..." [lkml.org] is different than the general purpose world the linux kernel is made for.

    If he wants to make specialized implementations for his "world" then he is free to fork the kernel and keep going. Otherwise we can't change the general case for everyone because one person who maintains a niche filesystem wants his specific case solution to apply everywhere.

    If he was right about the general case, cache would be an obsolete technology to be thrown to the wayside of the past.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29, 2019 @10:55AM (#58845714)

    You know .... the kind that never swears and always has a fucking smile on his face, and is creepily calm. Who confuses that with maturity.

    You *know* he's gonna be he most evil manipulative scheming backstabbing psychopath ever.

    Torvalds is a HUMAN. Humans are like that. All of them. The more they disguise it, the worse it becomes!
    The more open and upfront they are the more trustworthy they are.

    That's why you Americans are so creepy to us Germans and Scandinavians. And why we seem "too" direct and offensive to you.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @10:56AM (#58845724)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by jwymanm ( 627857 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @11:11AM (#58845782) Homepage
      He didn't shutdown the conversation. He didn't de-list the guy or say never post again. He actually did the obvious. He confused his reading of what Chinner wrote and Chinner clarified it professionally in his response back. Just because Linus wrote it argumentatively doesn't mean anyone was fucking hurt like politics would try to make people think. Or psychology. Or any of our lower grade schools these years. Yes Linus could've responded could you clarify on your point without using what people say is abusive speech. But the real problem comes not from the abusive speech, not from the unprofessionalism, but from the RESPONSE to said "abuse." That response is usually shutdown and quiet the abuser. There stems the real issue. Instead of just telling linus to go suck a cock for being a dick we get these SJW forces that want to remove him from post even though he's arguably the best one at it.
      • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @11:40AM (#58845908)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • by Uecker ( 1842596 )

          No argument about the tone. But after reading the post, I don't think Linus clealry mispresented the original post. I also do not think the post was intended to shut Chinner up. The post was intended to express disagreement with the idea that the page cache is "rapidly becoming a legacy structure that only serves to slow modern IO subsystems down". And I tend to agree with Linus that this statement is nonsense.

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • ...the idea that the page cache is "rapidly becoming a legacy structure that only serves to slow modern IO subsystems down". And I tend to agree with Linus that this statement is nonsense.

            Ya think.

        • I am not an expert, but from what I read...

          Linus said that if all the IO [on the file?] is DIO, the page cach will be empty, and therefore have little effect on performance.

        • intended to have only one result: To shut Chinner up.

          Seems more like, call him out for repeating a blatantly stupid and incorrect claim about caching. Note: the filesystem he works on, XFS, is a big rambling clusterfuck that doesn't use cache efficiently. See a possible connection?

          Now that they own him, IBM needs to put this guy on a short leash.

      • by west ( 39918 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @12:39PM (#58846158)

        Just because Linus wrote it argumentatively doesn't mean anyone was fucking hurt like politics would try to make people think.

        Funny, I remember 30 years ago someone making almost exactly the same argument about "light" physical abuse. Anyone should be able to take it if there are no lasting bruises...

        The inability of men (and a few women) to control themselves has been used as a weapon of intimidation and bullying since we first evolved. Over the millenia, we've gradually lowered the bar on how out-of-control we'd tolerate: murder, then heavy violence, then ,relatively recently, "light violence" have all been forbidden.

        We're now taking another step, the deliberate use of verbal assault as a vehicle of dominance is no longer tolerated in most workplaces. (And I think brutal language followed up by an ad hominem attack qualifies).

        I'll admit I'm a little amazed at how many people are defending this sort of abuse. But then I remember people defending "light" domestic violence after the laws made it a crime.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • You've got one hell of a logical fallacy.

          Just because the line of "what's acceptable" has been moved from the past, doesn't mean the line should continue moving forever.

          Or should we continue forever where you're expected to preface every sentence with a disclaimer acclaiming how much we love the person before every sentence?

          The goal is getting work done. If people are being screwed, that's a problem. But if people NEED to be told to STFU to get work done, then THAT'S the way it should be. The goal is output

          • For a real world example of the line moving too far? The !@$@'ing Rotherham rape scandal. Over 1000 children raped because police were too afraid of SEEMING racist to their peers.

            https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Ro... [wikiwand.com]

            They cared more about appearing civil than they cared about the goal at hand: _stopping children from being raped._ And real human beings are forever scarred for it. Just because the cops lived in a culture where civility mattered more than plainly citing the facts.

    • by amorsen ( 7485 )

      Chinner did not suggest that caching should be abandoned

      I am not sure how you can read this rant differently:

      That's my beef with relying on the page cache - the page cache is rapidly becoming a legacy structure that only serves to slow modern IO subsystems down.

      To me that very much suggests the page cache should be abandoned.

    • I think Linus's biggest beef was the claim/idea, again!, that page caching is "legacy" stuff.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      Yeah. Imagine all the dick swinging and arguments at Boeing over the MCAS system design. But once the decision was made, everyone must put on their happy face for the press and outside world. Or else.

  • Bad Words Ohh My (Score:3, Insightful)

    by logicnazi ( 169418 ) <gerdes&invariant,org> on Saturday June 29, 2019 @11:26AM (#58845852) Homepage

    Oh my god someone used a bad word when debating open source software. What will we ever do.

    What makes a discussion or mailing list effective or welcoming has very little to do with how blunt people are or if they call bullshit or say something is stupid. Yes, there are some people who are put off by that conversation style but there are people who are put off by every conversation style. Plenty of people find faux cordiality unpleasant.

    As anyone who has spent any time in academia knows it's just as easy to be deeply dismissive, exclusionary, insulting etc.. while maintaining the pretense of collegiality. Some of the most judgemental and spiteful things I've heard said have been delivered using academic language which an outsider might not recognize as anything but the most mild criticism.

    What matters more than bluntness or crude language is how likely participants are to carry grudges, whether people expand disagreements outside of their original contexts.and whether they hold off on harsh criticism until they know the recipient understands the ropes and will see it in context.

    • The rule is pretty simple. Treat others how you wish to be treated. When you come off as an asshole people will just stop dealing with you.

    • by Megol ( 3135005 )

      Perhaps the problem isn't using a bad word but not understanding the point before going on an immature rant?

    • A leader should avoid all appearances of bullying, for many reasons. One, is that people love underdogs.

      Linus is no longer an underdog, but rather a physical embodiment of the establishment. As such, his words wield power. Public displays of demeaning speak and actions towards 'everyday folk' thus harms the recipient and disgusts the audience, similar to seeing a puppy getting kicked.
  • by FudRucker ( 866063 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @11:59AM (#58845984)
    i love to listen to someone that is angry cuss and rant about something , and the more profanity the better, i think it is an art, and there is always some asshole that think they have the moral high ground has a right to censor them,

    right on Linus Torvalds you tell them what you think, and if they dont like it then they can GTFO & FOAD :)
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Except this is the head guy driving the XFS project, which a lot of people use, which attracts a lot of money and commercial development to Linux. Telling him to GTFO and FOAD is going to harm Linux. Linux is bigger than Linus now, and as developers we should expect better, and as users we should want better.

  • What Linux (or at least, Android) *desperately* needs is a way to optionally create binary kernel modules capable of working (or at least, progressively limping in compatibility mode) on at least a few successive kernels, instead of catastrophically breaking every. single. time. even the most trivial change gets made to the kernel.

    Yes, it would be awesome if all kernel modules were open-source.

    No, Qualcomm is never going to let it happen. And US consumers have close to zero market power over Qualcomm, becau

    • I hope you understand that this is only an issue when somebody is trying to game the GPL license by shipping binary modules. A universally hated practice, kernel devs and users alike. Or in other words, fuck you Nvidia.

  • The only person I have encountered with Torvald's issues was an obvious psychopath, who only had his job for historical reasons.

    Sound familiar?

  • Linus had long created a hostile, deconstructive development environment. It is time that the developer community start to move Linus to the periphery so that constructive discussion can become the norm.

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