Linux's Creator Is Sorry. But Will He Change?

It's been more than 25 years since Linus Torvalds created Linux, the open source operating system kernel that now powers much of the web, the world's most popular smartphone operating system, and a fleet of other gadgets, including cars. During that time Torvalds has developed a reputation for behavior and harsh language that critics said crossed the line into emotional abuse.

Torvalds' uncompromising style has often been praised, including by WIRED. But his tendency to berate other Linux contributors, calling them names or hurling profanities, has also drawn criticism for creating a toxic environment and making the project unwelcoming to women, minorities, or other underrepresented groups.

On Sunday, he apologized for years of improper behavior. "My flippant attacks in emails have been both unprofessional and uncalled for," Torvalds wrote in an email to the Linux kernel mailing list. "I know now this was not OK and I am truly sorry."

He also announced that the Linux kernel project will finally adopt a code of conduct and that he will take a break from the project to learn more about "how to understand people’s emotions and respond appropriately."

"I'm not feeling like I don't want to continue maintaining Linux. Quite the reverse," Torvalds wrote. "I very much do want to continue to do this project that I've been working on for almost three decades."

The code of conduct replaces an older “code of conflict” that encouraged anyone who felt “personally abused, threatened, or otherwise uncomfortable” to contact the technical advisory board of the Linux Foundation, the organization that stewards the Linux kernel and employs Torvalds, but didn’t list specific behaviors that were unacceptable. The new code specifies sexualized language and “trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks,” among other unacceptable behaviors.

But it wasn’t any of those things that prompted Torvalds to apologize after all these years. Instead, it was an apparently minor issue. Torvalds scheduled a vacation to Scotland that conflicted with a planned Linux developer summit in Vancouver, British Columbia, in November. The summit organizers announced earlier this month that the summit will relocate to Edinburgh, Scotland, rather than proceed without Torvalds. The decision rubbed many the wrong way.

Torvalds wrote that the incident led members of the Linux community to confront him about his "lifetime of not understanding emotions." It’s hardly the first time. In 2013, former Linux kernel developer Sage Sharp, then using a different name, openly criticized Torvalds' communication style and called for a code of conduct for the project. "Linus, you're one of the worst offenders when it comes to verbally abusing people and publicly tearing their emotions apart," Sharp wrote at the time.

Sharp later told WIRED about receiving thanks from developers on other open source projects, who said Torvalds' behavior influenced the way people behaved in those other projects. Sharp also shared some of the intense hate mail they received after speaking up.

Torvalds agreed to talk things out with Sharp, but it didn't amount to much. He panned the idea of a code of conduct in an email interview with WIRED, saying "venting of frustrations and anger is actually necessary, and trying to come up with some 'code of conduct' that says that people should be 'respectful' and 'polite' is just so much crap and bullshit." He doubled down on his position at a conference in New Zealand in 2015, where, according to Ars Technica, he said that diversity is "not really important."

That's why Torvalds' apology comes as a surprise—and why some people remain skeptical.

Many greeted the apology and planned code of conduct as good steps toward making the Linux community more welcoming, including Sarah Drasner, an open source developer, and April Wensel, founder of the software development company Compassionate Coding: