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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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We're gonna start seeing large open source communities start to break into smaller ones because of sanctions from now aren't we?
You don't need sanctions. I've seen you petty fucks fork projects over a font.
This article gives a good discussion about a potential coming East/West political split in the world of FOSS.
https://thenewstack.io/avoiding-a-geopolitical-open-source-apocalypse/
This sets such a bad precedent...
The bad precedent was starting a war
Yeah I'm sure the maintainers are in talks with Putin directly
Maybe not Putin personally, but it's an autocracy. If/when the Russian government comes knocking on their door and tells them that they need to do x, y, and z with the kernel, otherwise they will mysteriously fall from a high window (an extremely credible threat these days), what do you think they'll do? What do you think you would do?
Sucks for the majority of Russian developers that want to participate in the FOSS community, but I get it. It is a national security issue.
This is kind of how sanctions are meant to work. We could have a discussion about whether or not sanctions should be used as it is sort of a form of collective punishment, but that's a separate argument.
They want regular Russians to "feel it," so that there is more pressure from the populace to get them to stop doing the shit they were sanctioned over. Obviously, in an autocracy, it's much easier to just ignore and suppress dissent. But, generally, the idea is to make everybody feel the consequences for invading a sovereign nation.
If/when the Russian government comes knocking on their door and tells them that they need to do x, y, and z with the kernel
CIA could do that.
As a finn, I understand that there are probably legal reasons for doing this.
I just wish they would be transparent and share those reasons with us. The Linux kernel is certainly not the only free software project that is impacted, if this comes straight from EU/US sanctions. Maintainers of other projects have a lot of interest in what is happening.
Transparency is also important because if EU/US policy/sanctions are causing issues for free software projects, then that discussion needs to be public, so that there is a chance to amend the policies if necessary.
He alludes to sanctions being a factor but never clarifies on advice from his lawyers. ngl I don't like the look of it just from a transparency perspective.
Everyone who disagrees with me is a paid russian troll of course. Nobody would oppose blacklisting people based on nothing but their nationality unless they were getting paid for it.
He's gonna ban american and "israeli" maintainers too then, I guess?
Why? There aren't any sanctions for them in Finland?
Linus said it was to prevent security backdoors.
It can be two things.
Free as in... obeys US foreign policy
In the article, Linus explicitly said that it's not just a US thing:
And FYI for the actual innocent bystanders who aren't troll farm accounts - the "various compliance requirements" are not just a US thing.
I'm pretty sure not just the US wants Russia sanctioned to the oblivion. All of the Europe that borders Russia wants that. Now why would it be like that?
It makes no sense to discuss here.They probably follow Russia's narrative of Europe being a puppet of the US.
Linus has never been the best communicator, but he usually speaks the truth. But this is just bonkers and wrong. Not everyone living in Russia has "ties with Russia" other than "they were born there". If this is about sanctions, he could have still just told them that. But instead he just disrespected contributors completely and then double down in it by being xenophobic.
Hate to break it to you, but if you live in Russia and can be useful to the government, they will make you useful. Unless you don't mind you, or your family suffering and dieing, there is no stopping that.
Russia has no law to protect its citizens, only to scare and oppress their citizens. If Russia wants you to do something, such as working in a backdoor in software, you have no choice. So it is a good choice to not leave that door wide open in my opinion.
Yup. If you don't want to "mysteriously fall from a window," you do what they say.
I agree 100% with Linus here
It's really disappointing seeing Russian contributors being disrespected like this, the regime that rules Russia wasn't entirely their fault, and allegiance, nationality, and ethnicity are all clearly different things
Also, wouldn't a state sponsored Russian hacker pretend to be from the US or something anyway? No way they'd contribute code as a Russian, that'd just increase others' suspicion
I agree with Linus a lot too but I strongly disagree here. I hope he's just being made to say this because of government policies
And the most dangerous part here is the whole rethoric of "if you disagree, you are a Russian shill".