Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

blackhole · 2024-10-24 08:26:33

This has caused some considerable contoversy already. They could have said "we have to comply with sanctions" and apologised to those affected. Instead there was an extreme lack of transparency, attempts to just bury it in a code commit, and then the following politically charged diatribe:

Torvalds wrote:

Ok, lots of Russian trolls out and about.
It's entirely clear why the change was done, it's not getting reverted, and using multiple random anonymous accounts to try to "grass root" it by Russian troll factories isn't going to change anything.
And FYI for the actual innocent bystanders who aren't troll farm accounts - the "various compliance requirements" are not just a US thing.
If you haven't heard of Russian sanctions yet, you should try to read the news some day. And by "news", I don't mean Russian state-sponsored spam.
As to sending me a revert patch - please use whatever mush you call brains. I'm Finnish. Did you think I'd be *supporting* Russian aggression? Apparently it's not just lack of real news, it's lack of history knowledge too.

The reality is that the Linux Foundation pushed this through, but it has not been managed with any sensitivity by Torvalds and Kroah-Hartman.

https://lwn.net/Articles/995186/
https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/23/ … ulsion_of/
https://theins.ru/en/news/275585

Ron · 2024-10-24 20:08:48

blackhole wrote:

and then the following politically charged diatribe

I don't see any politically charged diatribe, just facts. And I'm about as unbiased as they come.

Last edited by Ron (2024-10-24 20:10:58)

DaveT · 2024-10-25 08:24:32

https://www.federalregister.gov/documen … esponse-to

President Biden's Executive Order 14071 dated 6th April 2022 is the root cause of why the Russian maintainers were banned.
more mind-numbing detail at Executive Orders 14024, 14066, 14039, 14068.

Brian Lunduke has a couple of videos here:-
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/6263331 … ers-banned

Essentially, the Linux Foundation had no choice, and it will affect other parts of the FOSS environment too.
Happily OpenBSD is not based in the USA.

stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn · 2024-10-25 09:28:49

it is sad though, that after thousands of years, and now with everyone potentially connected intimately via the world wide web, the pogroms continue globally, unabated. shameful really. how long before this type of activity comes to bear upon the thousands of global open-source FOSS projects? Embrace, extend, and extinguish. SystemD. Indeed.

pogrom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogrom

embrace, extend, extinguish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish

systemd
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemd

indeed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4alc7dIP8M8

stopAI · 2024-10-25 11:26:58

I don't see any politically charged diatribe, just facts. And I'm about as unbiased as they come.

Can't see or just don't want to see?

Ron · 2024-10-25 12:59:16

stopAI wrote:

Can't see or just don't want to see?

Get off your high-horse. Mr. Torvalds was forced to do it. End of story. Unless you want him to go to prison or pay a hefty fine or whatever.

Last edited by Ron (2024-10-25 13:00:23)

stopAI · 2024-10-25 15:35:36

Mr. Torvalds was forced to do it.

Yes, I agree. Well said. I just think it's bad when open source programs become political tools...

blackhole · 2024-10-28 15:15:27

Yes "politically charged". There's complying with sanctions and there's voicing your opinion, spewing nationalism and pushing your own agenda:

Torvalds wrote:

Ok, lots of Russian trolls out and about.
It's entirely clear why the change was done, it's not getting reverted, and using multiple random anonymous accounts to try to "grass root" it by Russian troll factories isn't going to change anything.
And FYI for the actual innocent bystanders who aren't troll farm accounts - the "various compliance requirements" are not just a US thing.
If you haven't heard of Russian sanctions yet, you should try to read the news some day. And by "news", I don't mean Russian state-sponsored spam.
As to sending me a revert patch - please use whatever mush you call brains. I'm Finnish. Did you think I'd be *supporting* Russian aggression? Apparently it's not just lack of real news, it's lack of history knowledge too.

I'm not the only one: https://news.itsfoss.com/russian-linux- … opolitics/

No idea how those maintainers, who he has vocally supported kicking out, fit the category of "Russian aggression". For me it's a spectacular own goal, but as with anything else, this will likely get white washed and it will be business as usual.

We know why it was done, we know the sanctions are a political move and the "compliance reasons" were cited - the LF were just "complying", but then Torvalds weighs in with some "Finnish nationalism" and Greg KH's earlier "compliance reasons" seems rather empty, when Torvalds makes it clear he supports the action anyway. So he rounds on "Russian trolls" by throwing even more fuel on that particular fire.

Also: https://lore.kernel.org/all/7ee74c1b5b5 … rship.com/

Last edited by blackhole (2024-10-28 15:16:14)

Devarch · 2024-11-03 11:37:03

And now is time to fire out all chinese people, then all originated from BRICS countries. Witch hunt must go only.
The most trusted person is Bill Gates.

zapper · 2024-11-04 09:04:18

@Devarch I hope you are being sarcastic... Bill Gates is the least trusted person in big tech as far as I am concerned.

stopAI · 2024-11-04 16:23:53

To be honest, I don't really like the direction Linux is taking. Strange, politically motivated decisions make me think that it is not clear what else to expect from this person.

Therefore, after thinking about everything, I decided to migrate to FreeBSD without haste. I have already done this by transferring several of my computers. Two left. I'll do some more testing and I think my migration will be complete next month.

Goodbye Linux and welcome to FreeBSD!

Devarch · 2024-11-04 18:32:01

@zapper, yes, it's sarcasm

Devarch · 2024-11-04 18:35:14

BSD could be the final resting place

yeti · 2024-11-04 19:24:48

Devarch wrote:

BSD could be the final resting place

Only one of them if you want to keep your 32bitters running.

blackhole · 2024-11-05 08:50:25

FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD all still mainain an i386 port. FreeBSD moved their's to Tier 2 level support (niche architectures), but that's to be expected really.

chomwitt · 2024-11-05 08:55:19

I wonder if that will impact also further science collaboration. What about the fusion reactor from EU ? Russia contributes parts .
Will that be banned too or politicians do that in piece by piece way and they think linux problems wont hurt the west?
Also i wonder how easy and meaningfull is to align country-level policy changes with a libre license that allows anyone to fork the project.

Last edited by chomwitt (2024-11-05 08:56:30)

zapper · 2024-11-06 02:30:13

@stopai

I would choose NetBSD over FreeBSD myself, like I would ever use a system that equates "The devil" with "being free"

Like hell... pun wasn't originally intended, but its still appropriate.

I rarely take such positions, but it disgusts me to support extremism on even the smallest level. Besides, FreeBSD has a lot of trash in it anyways from linux world.

As for the thread itself, someone pointed out libre licenses making such exports and embragos pointless.

I agree with that.

Last edited by zapper (2024-11-06 02:31:55)

stopAI · 2024-11-06 12:26:16

@zapper
Yes, I agree, but since my computers use exclusively Nvidia products, NetBSD falls behind because Nvidia support is tragic...

like I would ever use a system that equates "The devil" with "being free"
Like hell... pun wasn't originally intended, but its still appropriate.

First of all, it’s not a devil, but a daemon….The “demon” actually refers to something called a daemon, which is a computer program that runs waiting for something to happen (such as a connection from the internet for a web page). The trident refers to the “forking” of processes in the computer. There is nothing demonic or evil in any of this. Although, bearing in mind that the world is ruled by signs and symbols, there is some truth in your words...

FreeBSD has a lot of trash in it anyways from linux world.

I would like to know more about it if possible.

blackhole · 2024-11-08 09:16:31

@zapper, you are terribly misinforned with regards to FreeBSD. Please educate yourself and return with some fact based critique.

@stopAI, there's no more to know - he's spreading what amounts FUD. Some facts here on GPL in base:

https://wiki.freebsd.org/GPLinBase

The only code FredBSD ports from the Linux kernel that I know of is the KMS/DRM graphics driver stack, which is deveoped by Intel and AMD, among others and permissive licensed. NetBSD and OpenBSD also port this same code.

Daemons are from greek mythology, but that's irrelevant - it's just a mascot/logo. If you have a problem with it, it's just your problem and you choosing to take offence. Improperly prepared pufferfish probably killed more people than daemons.

Last edited by blackhole (2024-11-08 14:16:46)

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#1 2024-10-24 08:26:33

Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#2 2024-10-24 20:08:48

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#3 2024-10-25 08:24:32

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#4 2024-10-25 09:28:49

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#5 2024-10-25 11:26:58

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#6 2024-10-25 12:59:16

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#7 2024-10-25 15:35:36

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#8 2024-10-28 15:15:27

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#9 2024-11-03 11:37:03

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#10 2024-11-04 09:04:18

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#11 2024-11-04 16:23:53

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#12 2024-11-04 18:32:01

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#13 2024-11-04 18:35:14

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#14 2024-11-04 19:24:48

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#15 2024-11-05 08:50:25

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#16 2024-11-05 08:55:19

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#17 2024-11-06 02:30:13

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#18 2024-11-06 12:26:16

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

#19 2024-11-08 09:16:31

Re: Several Russian Linux Kernel Maintainers Removed

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