this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
233 points (95.0% liked)
Linux
47929 readers
1212 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It is not good for the kernel and it's team to suddenly have to kowtow to Usamerican politics.
Suddenly? Linux entities have always had to follow the rules of the country they exist in. A kernel isn’t a sovereign nation no matter how loud the what-about army becomes.
The reality is that the Linux Foundation is in the United States, and Linus is a naturalized US citizen who lives in Oregon (at least on Wikipedia). So they both will have to pay attention to avoid transacting business with individuals and companies on the SDN list. That is the law in the United States.
What an extremely dangerous place to domicile such an important project.
Maybe it's time to fork the Linux Foundation and fix those two problems.
And it can cost you up to 30 years for breaking it. I'd listen to my lawyers too.
Then they should try to free themselves from it.
And governments should wise up and exempt them from any kind of petty stuff.
In the balance between geopolitical conflicts and Linux, the latter is the petty stuff.
This is not something that needs balance.
And they have quite different kinds of petty:
When Linus gets petty, then there's a proper rant, somebody gets red in the face (but you don't get to see the pics), and some news interns can write headlines.
When politicians get petty, then people in foreign countries are killed.
Would a fork be the solution to avoid having a system that is crucial for people worldwide cease to be a weapon at the hands of merrican politicians?
Sure for not but it we’ll go nowhere. Most of the kernel developers are paid developers it’s not somebody working on it in there free time.
This kind of thing is the inevitable outcome of US policy to "decouple", which they are pushing. Take something they nominally control, kick out every designated enemy / enemy collaborator, and then watch as an alternative pops up among the " enemy" and ban its purchase or use.
It'll be at the hands of whatever jurisdiction the forker is in. It's not like you can escape governments.
brazilian linux fork when?
I'm afraid that if the sanctions will continue to be a go-to method of dealing with geopolitical rivals, we may end up with a few divergent forks. One for US and "the west" block, one for Chinese comrades with their junior Russian partners, and maybe one for Indian code gurus who don't like both sides and have capable engineering resources themselves.
Considering that that this idea of making a Linux for the US vs a Linux for "the rest of the world" was what made me ditch Fedora for Debian, it'd be a shame to have it happen to Linux as well. Like, sure, an alternative will emerge, but where does one go while that progresses to be daily-driver? Haiku?
Real question: does India contribute anything to the kernel?
Could be. Maybe not a hard fork, if this slap fight can be contained in the driver space. I’d keep an eye on OpenHarmony and OpenKylin.
Thank you for that! I was perplexed since I've been in the Linux space for 25 years and I was thinking that I would have to switch to bsd.
Finally the year of Hurd on the desktop?
Doesn’t free BSD not allow anyone with a Chinese or Russian sounding name already.
If you think BSDs are devoid of drama you’re in for a cold shower…
Switch to OpenBSD if you have to, at least the drama there is super funny
Would a fork be technically viable if Americans and American businesses can't participate (because the fork works with SDN entities)? Maybe.
I'm guessing most IoT devices are made in China (or increasingly Southeast Asia), so yes.
Kreg moved to Europe, last I heard. So at least the heir apparent is in a region with better potential international diplomacy and neutrality.
Western Europe has committed to making itself an American dependency. This same thing would eventually repeat there but with different aesthetics.
Inheritance wars wasn't something on my FOSS list...
Winter is coming