Linux Kernel Becoming a Slopfest - Part 4 - Outsourcing to Microsoft, Approaching 10 Gigabytes
The kernel.org site/domain has a backend and frontend, which includes the above Web interface with pertinent repos being visible via a modest Web browser:
In the previous part we talked about the DDoS attacks, attributed to LLM slop (plagiarism) bots, which also impact the mailing lists' Web interface and sites like LWN.
Can we blame Microsoft for those DDoS attacks? Partly.
There are also mirrors, with some projects that 'consume' the kernel making Web interfaces available:
In Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 we spoke about the core issue, the bribes that prevent honest discussion about this, and the harms already done. We mentioned some of these harms yesterday afternoon in relation to Andy ‘TheFlow0’ Nguyen. We discussed this in IRC.
As it stands at the moment, Linus Torvalds did set up a Microsoft account and put Linux there. What was he thinking? Well, now his 'baby' is controlled partly by Microsoft, via the exact same site that lets Microsoft control his other 'baby', Git. Stockholm Syndrome?
Linux is now partly outsourced and is monstrously large (Torvalds might say that repo is "just a mirror/hobby, nothing official/professional", but many will get Linux code from Microsoft).
As I put it to a friend the other day, "is LF [Linux Foundation] selling what's left of itself to Microsoft? GitHub is PROPRIETARY (what git was meant to divert away from)?"
Linux is now a 2.1 GB tarball (when gunzipped, even more) with 11836949 objects, 9586741 deltas. Clearly not a hobby project a small community can audit or harness.
$ du -sh linux/ 8.3G linux/
That's just the source code!
Imagine projects like GNU Linux-libre trying to meaningfully improve something (changing/removing not in bulk/by script) while the project surges ahead with another RC almost every Sunday (Portland time) and a new stable release every 2 months. █