Testing procedures should have caught the bug long before being seen in the wild so apparently linux still has some catching up to do there and that's a lesson that Linus should be learning here rather than to dump on the developer that caused the bug that wasn't caught in testing
The buck may stop at the top, but if Linus takes the public blame and picks it up, he then has to put his house in order, wouldn't you agree that's what we're seeing here?
Yes, testing procedures should've, would've, etc, but that's exactly why these kernel maintainers are there for. As far as Linux having some catching up to do, how often does this situation occur? I also believe the most valuable lesson to learn here is the one you can do nothing about: no matter how adamant you are about your dearest and most basic rules (we've heard Linus many times on code that break user-space), shit happens.
His frustration appears to stem from (rightful) presumptions that a kernel developer would not make such newbie mistakes.
I totally agree with you that this exchange should not have been so public, unfortunately kernel communication is by design. I would, however, also like to provide a different perspective. Linus is carrying the burden of being a bully, he does a dirty job of publicly berating people from whom he expects nothing but the best, everything about his handling of these situations shakes our moral fibre and makes him appear a dis-likable human being. But then, we're millions to enjoy the fruit of this dirty job everyday, blinding ourselves to what it takes to provide it. Such is often the burden of leaders.
> His frustration appears to stem from (rightful) presumptions that a kernel developer would not make such newbie mistakes.
Everybody makes mistakes including Linus.
His frustration appears to stem from the fact that the developer was blaming the user space program, rather than to immediately recognize the bug as a kernel problem.
But as a team leader you don't start yelling at people like that, this is unacceptable behaviour for someone of Linus' stature. It's immature and damaging to the community in the longer term even if in the shorter term it may have the desired effect.
Imagine you're working somewhere and your boss berates you in front of the whole world for some error.
I was conning a ship while the captain stood on the bridge-wing to watch our boarding party inspect a potentially hostile vessel. He was generally considered a really good, competent, and gentle captain. I was good at conning. I mean, throw a ring in the water, and I could maneuver the ship so the bos'un only had to stick his arm over the side and drop the grappling hook straight down through the ring to retrieve it. Every time. But this time, I had to keep the ship in a very specific position, to make sure the captain could see his men now on a potentially hostile vessel, we had intel that they were a mother ship for the cartel's cigarette boats. 450' ship vs a 150' ship, with 6 degrees of freedom each, rough seas, sundown, and I was off by 10 feet. A rather critical 10 feet: CO couldn't see inside their bridge. He blasted in front of my entire watch team. That was 14 years ago. I will never forget it.
I was in the OR with the coolest neurosurgeon I've ever seen. WashU grad (the med school's mean MCAT score is at 99th percentile for individuals). This guy could operate without disturbing the venous plexus around the spinal cord. I had a hard time focusing on the work because he was moving so little it didn't even disturb the smoke under the operating microscope. I could literally inspect individual specks of particulate smoke hanging in the air. He was moving microns at a time. He had asked for and rejected a specific pituitary in every surgery that week. This time, looking at a patient's dura mater, and trying to sneak around to the other side, seeing the wrong rongeur, his head didn't even move. But he grabbed the pituitary in both hands, bent the stainless steel, and flung it the floor so hard it bounced as high as the table and hit a wall. BA-WHONGGGG! The fact that it was this guy that did it is what everyone felt. I mean, it was palpable. That was 3 years ago. That scrub tech, I guarantee, will never forget that experience. I doubt I will.
I was taught years ago to carry two bags. Put the leadership tools you like in one bag. Put the ones you don't like in the other bag. Remember.
Sometimes the leader looks in the good bag, and comes up empty, or just decides that she's had enough.
Was it the right thing to do? It doesn't matter. Just decide which bag you're going to put it in.
Time critical engagements are different than software problems. You illustrate eloquently that there is a right time and place for everything. Linus' outburst was definitely not in the right place.
1) he's yelling at a volunteer
2) he's doing so in public when I'm sure he has the guys email address
3) (and this is the bit that bothers me) Linus seems to enjoy being abrasive at times
4) included invective that wasn't necessary at all.
Testing procedures should have caught the bug long before being seen in the wild so apparently linux still has some catching up to do there and that's a lesson that Linus should be learning here rather than to dump on the developer that caused the bug that wasn't caught in testing
The buck may stop at the top, but if Linus takes the public blame and picks it up, he then has to put his house in order, wouldn't you agree that's what we're seeing here?
Yes, testing procedures should've, would've, etc, but that's exactly why these kernel maintainers are there for. As far as Linux having some catching up to do, how often does this situation occur? I also believe the most valuable lesson to learn here is the one you can do nothing about: no matter how adamant you are about your dearest and most basic rules (we've heard Linus many times on code that break user-space), shit happens.
His frustration appears to stem from (rightful) presumptions that a kernel developer would not make such newbie mistakes.
I totally agree with you that this exchange should not have been so public, unfortunately kernel communication is by design. I would, however, also like to provide a different perspective. Linus is carrying the burden of being a bully, he does a dirty job of publicly berating people from whom he expects nothing but the best, everything about his handling of these situations shakes our moral fibre and makes him appear a dis-likable human being. But then, we're millions to enjoy the fruit of this dirty job everyday, blinding ourselves to what it takes to provide it. Such is often the burden of leaders.