Linus Torvalds speaks about kernel fun, gadgets | Linux Today

Linus Torvalds speaks about kernel fun, gadgets

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Sep 30, 2011

[ Thanks to Slavey
Karadzhov
for this link. ]

“LBG: Nowadays what percentage of the day do you devote to
Linux?

“It comes and goes in waves, mostly dictated by release timings.
Linux is what I do almost all the time, but there are different
“intensity levels”. Right now, for example, we’re pretty late in
the 3.1 release window, and things are fairly quiet. In fact,
because of the troubles we had at kernel.org (somebody broke in,
and people are being *really* careful, so the whole site is getting
re-architected and the whole hardware layout is changing too), I
envision that that fairly calm quiet period will go on for a few
more weeks – normally I’d be making ready to do a release right
about now.

“And when I make a release, and open the merge window, things
really pick up. Doing ten or twenty merges a day is not challenging
per se, but trying to keep track of things and knowing what’s going
on so that when problems occur (and they *will* occur) I can track
it all, that can be quite busy. Not just for the two weeks of the
actual merge window, but usually for the couple of weeks afterwards
too as issues trickle in and before it starts calming down.

“LBG: Can you describe one of your normal working days? Does it
involve wearing a black cloak and riding a batlinux mobile?

“It’s really not very glamorous. I work from home, and have done
so for the last almost ten years, so what usually happens is that I
just walk up to my office in my bathrobe after having woken the
kids up and done coffee for me and my wife. And then I sit in front
of the computer for the rest of the day. Sometimes without getting
into my batmobile for several days at a time.

“So that ‘black coat’ you speak of is actually a pretty ratty
bathrobe. They’ll have to sex it up a bit if they ever make a movie
about it.”

Complete
Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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