3. “One of the most important things for a maintainer isn’t that he’s a super engineer. It’s that you’re responsive and people can rely on you being there 24/7, 52 weeks a year.”
It’s very difficult for a young developer to become a maintainer because it takes a few years for the community to trust that you’ll be around for a while. That said, once you’ve proven you’re reliable, it’s easy to become a maintainer because it’s a hard job. You have to be there all the time.
4. Dirk: “What keeps you up at night?”
Linus: Bugs in the code and other technical problems don’t worry him as much.
“The thing with technology is if you do something stupid you can fix it.”
5. What really keeps Linus up at night are the social issues and problems with the development process.
“When tempers flare it can be really stressful for a few days. I have flare-ups and that works fine for me… Other people tend to mull over things. It eats at them for weeks on end, and those issues tend to be the painful ones.”