Linux Kernel closes in on 10M git objects

Linus Torvalds has announced version 6.8 of the Linux Kernel, inching ever closer to a major milestone in the project's codebase. In his announcement on Sunday, Torvalds noted that the git repository tracking the kernel's development now contains 9.996 million objects.

"This is the last mainline kernel to have less than ten million git objects," Torvalds wrote, though he was quick to add, "Of course, there is absolutely nothing special about it apart from a nice round number. Git...

11 March 2024 | Linux

Linus Torvalds: GitHub creates ‘absolutely useless garbage’ merges

Linux and Git creator Linus Torvalds has criticised GitHub for creating “absolutely useless garbage merges”.

Torvalds’ comment can be viewed in an archive of a Linux development mailing list and was directed at Konstantin Komarov, Founder and CEO of Paragon Software, about the submission of its read-write NTFS driver for the upcoming 5.15 kernel.

“github creates absolutely useless garbage merges, and you should never ever use the github interfaces to merge...

8 September 2021 | Git

Torvalds hopes future Linux 5.13 release candidates will ‘start shrinking’

Linux creator Linus Torvalds has expressed mild concern over the size of kernel 5.13 following its fifth release candidate.

“Hmm,” Torvalds opened his latest State of the Kernel post. “Things haven't really started to calm down very much yet, but rc5 seems to be fairly average in size. I'm hoping things will start shrinking now.”

In April, Torvalds warned that 5.13 would likely be “making up” for the smaller release of 5.12 – a position he maintained...

7 June 2021 | Linux

Torvalds: Linux 5.13 ‘will be making up’ for smaller release of 5.12

Linux creator Linus Torvalds warns the next version of the kernel will likely be “making up” for the smaller release of 5.12.

“Despite the extra week, this was actually a fairly small release overall,” Torvalds wrote in an announcement. “Judging by linux-next, 5.13 will be making up for it.”

Last month, Torvalds warned 5.12 may need a little longer in the oven than usual due to its then-fifth release candidate having a “bigger than average” size....

26 April 2021 | Linux

Google wants help developing Fuchsia OS… but still won’t reveal its purpose

Google is calling for more public help in developing its mysterious Fuchsia OS, despite still not revealing what it’s for.

We still know very little about the purpose of Fuchsia. We know the OS is based on a microkernel called Zircon rather than Google’s go-to of a Linux kernel, but why it’s being developed is still just guesswork.

In a blog post, Google wrote:

“Fuchsia is an open source project that is inclusive by design, from the architecture of the...

9 December 2020 | Platforms

Linus Torvalds wants an M1 Mac… but running Linux, obviously

Linux creator Linus Torvalds wants one of Apple’s first machines using in-house silicon—but running his open-source OS.

In a response to a Q&A in which a user asked Torvalds what he thought of Apple’s new laptop, Torvalds wrote:

“I'd absolutely love to have one, if it just ran Linux.. I have fairly fond memories of the 11" Macbook Air (I think 4,1) that I used about a decade ago (but moved away from because it took Apple too long to fix the screen - and by...

23 November 2020 | iOS

Torvalds hails the removal of a relic from Linux’s early days

Linux creator Linus Torvalds has hailed the removal of defunct addressing function set_fs() in 5.10 which has featured in the kernel since its early days.

In his weekly kernel update, Torvalds said:

“The most interesting - to me - change here is Christoph's setf_fs() removal (it got merged through Al Viro, as you can see in my mergelog below).

It's not a _huge_ change, but it's interesting because the whole model of set_fs() to specify whether a userspace copy...

26 October 2020 | Linux