Jonathan Corbet
Posts
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
"No text that is AI-generated may be published in our magazine. No AI-generated art may be used as a Current Affairs illustration. When you read Current Affairs, you are going to be reading the thoughts of a human, and seeing the results of human artistry."
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/why-were-banning-ai
Nice to see, even if they partake in the — wait for it — vilification of em-dashes ...
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/why-were-banning-ai
Nice to see, even if they partake in the — wait for it — vilification of em-dashes ...
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@srtcd424 @mhoye @gvwilson There is *one* Rust developer who left after some frustrating experiences. We were sad to lose him. Meanwhile Rust is going from strength to strength in the kernel.
If you look at my Kernel Recipes talk last month, you'll see that, among many other things, I said that the LLM onslaught was likely to cost us developers who don't want to deal with it. To a lesser extent, the advent of Rust may have the same effect. It is not desirable, but I'm not sure what you do about it.
Those who know me know that I am not a big LLM fan. I don't like what they are doing to our community, I fear for the long-term maintainability of a kernel filled with code that its authors don't understand, I detest the time I have had to put into defending LWN against scraper DDoS attacks, I am terrified by the prospect of making our free-software project dependent on proprietary tools owned and developed by psycopaths, I don't believe we can afford the environmental costs, and so on. But the community has to respond to all of this somehow; we're all still trying to figure out what that is.
If you look at my Kernel Recipes talk last month, you'll see that, among many other things, I said that the LLM onslaught was likely to cost us developers who don't want to deal with it. To a lesser extent, the advent of Rust may have the same effect. It is not desirable, but I'm not sure what you do about it.
Those who know me know that I am not a big LLM fan. I don't like what they are doing to our community, I fear for the long-term maintainability of a kernel filled with code that its authors don't understand, I detest the time I have had to put into defending LWN against scraper DDoS attacks, I am terrified by the prospect of making our free-software project dependent on proprietary tools owned and developed by psycopaths, I don't believe we can afford the environmental costs, and so on. But the community has to respond to all of this somehow; we're all still trying to figure out what that is.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@mhoye @gvwilson The kernel community is more than mildly interested in alternatives. When you have literally thousands of people showing up throwing slop at you, what do you do to retain your sanity and the quality of your code base? Nobody wants to turn away developers who want to actually learn the kernel and be part of the community, but identifying those people takes time and resources that simply aren't there.
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Jonathan Corbet
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@cks I have not quantified it; perhaps I should. There are definitely new developers who show up with a new driver once a company decides to upstream it; I would guess there's a handful of them each cycle, just based on MAINTAINERS file changes.
As for the rest, a lot of changes are obviously focused on drivers just because that's a huge part of the kernel. But one thing that really characterizes the flood of new contributors is that they make changes all over the kernel. You'll see a previously unknown identity changing drivers, security modules, core networking code, and more, all in a single development cycle.
Essentially, if you're not concerned about really understanding the code you're working with, you can work all over, and a lot of the LLM-driven new contributors are doing exactly that.
As for the rest, a lot of changes are obviously focused on drivers just because that's a huge part of the kernel. But one thing that really characterizes the flood of new contributors is that they make changes all over the kernel. You'll see a previously unknown identity changing drivers, security modules, core networking code, and more, all in a single development cycle.
Essentially, if you're not concerned about really understanding the code you're working with, you can work all over, and a lot of the LLM-driven new contributors are doing exactly that.
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Jonathan Corbet
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The updated version of my plot of first-time contributors per kernel release. It seems this trend is not slowing down anytime soon. I wish I felt better about all of the stuff these folks are putting into the kernel...
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
Debian issued a security advisory stating that "several vulnerabilities have been discovered in the Linux kernel:
https://lwn.net/Articles/1097401/
Here, evidently, "several vulnerabilities" means "1,313 CVE numbers".
https://lwn.net/Articles/1097401/
Here, evidently, "several vulnerabilities" means "1,313 CVE numbers".
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
I conclude that it is a bad sign when your airline sends you a cheery note asking if you have any data from Air Tags and the like that might give them a clue as to where your suitcase is.
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Kernel Recipes
KernelRecipes@fosstodon.org(1/2) The dust has settled, the coffee cups are washed, but the good vibes are here to stay:
All the talk videos are online : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVVgAZOU9P8
The slides, with more landing over the next few days (some speakers are still polishing 😉) - check the schedule to catch it : https://kernel-recipes.org/en/2026/schedule/
The drawings from our amazing attendees (https://kernel-recipes.org/en/2026/attendees-sketches/) and speakers (https://kernel-recipes.org/en/2026/speakers-sketches/)
Tons of photos: https://kernel-recipes.org/en/2026/2026-speakers-on-stage/ and https://kernel-recipes.org/en/2026/in-the-room/
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@ljs @monsieuricon Anybody can put together a documentation patch :)
What may also happen is that said text will be kept around and posted when the process starts next year.
What may also happen is that said text will be kept around and posted when the process starts next year.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@ljs @monsieuricon So, as you may know, I am on the MS program committee. Statements that you have been "blackballed" are not in any way helpful; nor are they true.
The selection is based on a number of factors; bringing in some new faces has been one of my foremost objectives every time I have helped with that process, and I have had some success there. But, in a meeting limited to 30 people, where you *have* to have the people who are central to the maintainership process, there will be limits on how many new faces there can be.
We did lose something when the larger kernel summit went away. That was really the only opportunity most developers ever had to sit in the same room with Linus and express their thoughts. But I don't think that model is ever coming back.
The selection is based on a number of factors; bringing in some new faces has been one of my foremost objectives every time I have helped with that process, and I have had some success there. But, in a meeting limited to 30 people, where you *have* to have the people who are central to the maintainership process, there will be limits on how many new faces there can be.
We did lose something when the larger kernel summit went away. That was really the only opportunity most developers ever had to sit in the same room with Linus and express their thoughts. But I don't think that model is ever coming back.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@ljs @monsieuricon Would you be willing to expound on what "the maintainer's summit thing" is? What do you think should be different there?
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Jonathan Corbet
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I'm calling the community for help. If you would like your voice heard at the Maintainer Summit, please contact me by e-mail (laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com) to share your opinions on AI usage in the Linux kernel. Unless you explicitly request to be named, I will strictly respect your privacy and anonymize all the feedback I receive before sharing it with kernel maintainers. Please don't wait until the last minute as the week leading to the summit will be very busy. (5/5)
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
“Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” an internal Microsoft document cited in the case read, adding “almost no one intended for content they created to be used in this fashion, nor are they compensated for its use.”
https://www.404media.co/doom-loop-openai-and-microsoft-admits-llms-are-destroying-the-web-and-built-on-theft/
https://www.404media.co/doom-loop-openai-and-microsoft-admits-llms-are-destroying-the-web-and-built-on-theft/
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@david_chisnall This actually aligns fairly well with how I've seen the kernel community deal with the GPL. @torvalds once gave me some real grief for suggesting in a talk that a bit more licensing-infringement litigation might be a good thing; his point was that exclusion from the community is a far more potent weapon.
And say what you will, but the kernel community has had a lot of success in (eventually) convincing companies to play along.
But yes, I don't think the GPL has a lot of force when it comes to keeping companies from using any project of mine in proprietary ways.
And say what you will, but the kernel community has had a lot of success in (eventually) convincing companies to play along.
But yes, I don't think the GPL has a lot of force when it comes to keeping companies from using any project of mine in proprietary ways.
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Jonathan Corbet
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Jonathan Corbet
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Sarah Streza 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
stevestreza@indieweb.socialRE: https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/117241250895962141
Ok, genuinely, tech journalists need to investigate why so much money is being laundered into Omarchy. A bunch of slopware from a white supremacist does not deserve $18 million when real Linux projects have gone unfunded for years. There has to be something else going on here.
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