- Linus Torvalds criticized a Google contributor on the Linux kernel mailing list for his suggestions about filesystems.
- The debate centered around the use of inodes as unique identifiers for metadata on a filesystem.
- Torvalds’s strong language and tone in his response to the contributor were reminiscent of his past flippant attacks, for which he previously apologized.
Archive link: https://archive.ph/LP24s
On the bright side, it looks (based on what I can tell) that things calmed down and the guy he was talking to took it fairly well.
Maybe he realized that he is not his code; that his code can be wrong and he’s still okay.
If so, he’d be WAY out in front of many devs I’ve worked around.
I don’t believe in this distinction. I am proud of my work. If I wasn’t, I would have almost no drive to deliver good or even any results. I like what I do.
So of course it becomes a difference if you tell me that there is a better way to do what I did (aka giving me something to improve) or if you tell me that my work is utter crap (aka taking away any positivity I had).
So yes, my code can be wrong or bad. But it’s still something I produced. So I prefer to not have it treated like a piece of shit.
Proud of today’s code. Deeply ashamed of yesterday’s code. That is our lot in life. At least it shows us our development.
If Linus “flamed” me, I’m putting it on my resume.