cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53100937

“Torvalds said that the time has come to make it harder for new people to contribute code to the kernel. People like Kroah-Hartman have spent years trying to teach people how to contribute; it is time to stop doing that, he said.”

https://lwn.net/Articles/1099594/

It is difficult to summarize exactly how Linus got to this point. Most of the discussion at this years Summit appears to have been related to AI assisted code and how the maintainers are dealing with the increase in code submissions to LKML. Many of the maintainers expressed varying levels of frustration with AI assisted drive-by code submissions. Linus’ train of thought is that they make it intentionally more difficult for humans to contribute. A later suggestion of his was to create an AGENTS. md that makes generating kernel code expensive in compute and token time.

  • HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.orgOP
    0·
    5 days ago

    Copied from another thread:

    When he came out talking about allowing LLM code contributions everyone told him this would happen.

    He has criticized the excessive hype around GenAI/LLMs long before. Torvalds has generally a very pragmatic approach, not a black-and-white one.

      • NateNate60@lemmy.world
        0·
        5 days ago

        One of the main benefits of Linux is that it has very proven security. The Linux kernel is possibly the most looked-at and audited code project in history. So any security issues are quickly spotted and patched. Any forks of Linux wouldn’t inherit the swarm of security auditors attached to it. In addition to that, LLMs generate a voluminous amount of code, which is mostly impossible to audit for security anyway.

        There is great promise in AI-driven security testing, but in terms of pure volume of eyes and brains working on it, you cannot really compete against Linux.

        Organisations know that when they use the Linux kernel, they are using a project that has an excellent reputation for reliability and security.

        • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          02·
          5 days ago

          LLMs generate a voluminous amount of code, which is mostly impossible to audit for security anyway.

          They can but they didn’t have to. If you tell claude to “minimize changes” or “keep it simple” then it does.

          This is why people need to familiarize themselves with AI tools. Even those of you who feel they are “of the devil”. Because how one uses these tools matters.