I don't think many Western developers understand how much damage Linus just single-handedly dealt to the accumulated respect and trust towards the Linux Foundation leadership. If you think that the Russian IT community will think "damn, this evil Putin, we need to overthrow him", think again after taking a look at these discussions (in Russian) [1][2]. And many developers from other countries (especially from China) certainly have started to think "hm, we may be next" and act accordingly because of that, e.g. by not actively participating in the Linux development in the first place.
They could've handled it MUCH better, most people understand that the removal by itself is understandable (properly navigating the current regime of sanctions is extremely hard and it's better for an US-based organization to be conservative, doubly so with people from the directly sanctioned companies like Baikal Electronics), but lack of transparency, sneakiness, and the extremely aggressive, unnecessary and dehumanizing remarks from Linus just the situation from unfortunate bad to extreme worse.
> the extremely aggressive, unnecessary and dehumanizing remarks from Linus
Linus being Linus. I thought he had gotten some comms training but it’s hard to change when you’ve spent most of your career communicating very directly.
Linus and the Linux foundation breaking their own COC:
>In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as contributors and maintainers pledge to making participation in our project and our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, _ethnicity_, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, _nationality_, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
I don't see "employer" on that list. Apparently, these people are being removed from their maintainership status due to their employer, not their nationality.
I assume your interlocutor was referring to how he dismissed those who complained about the move as "Russian trolls" more than the original delisting itself.
This is markedly different afaict. In the past, Linus was brash with individuals, and sometimes corporations, judging them by their actions (even if at times unfairly). Now he is demonizing people based on their country of origin, and citing historical military conflicts as justification for demonizing them.
From my perspective you are reading between the lines something that's not there. It is very strange to blame another person for your own hallucinations.
> he is demonizing people based on their country of origin
My point is that do not act surprised when you will see a noticeable reduction of contributions from Russian, Chinese, etc. developers. Most of people leaving (or not joining in the first place) will not be as visible as the Sergey's goodbye. By itself it may not be a huge deal, especially in the near term, but it compounds with other factors like dwindling (relative) popularity of C and the recent Rust debacle.
>And where exactly is Linus this evil strawman you created?
>My point is that do not act surprised when you will see a noticeable reduction of contributions from Russian, Chinese, etc. developers. Most of people leaving (or not joining in the first place) will not be as visible as the Sergey's goodbye. By itself it may not be a huge deal, especially in the near term, but it compounds with other factors like dwindling (relative) popularity of C and the recent Rust debacle.
I highly doubt anyone would be surprised that people would not stop contributing if they agree with their country's interest in which said countries has questionable interests juxtaposition to USA's - which is where Linux is based.
If anything they would be surprised if they continue to contribute despite their country's geopolitical dumbfuckery and good for them, they got my support all the way.
They could've handled it MUCH better, most people understand that the removal by itself is understandable (properly navigating the current regime of sanctions is extremely hard and it's better for an US-based organization to be conservative, doubly so with people from the directly sanctioned companies like Baikal Electronics), but lack of transparency, sneakiness, and the extremely aggressive, unnecessary and dehumanizing remarks from Linus just the situation from unfortunate bad to extreme worse.
[1]: https://habr.com/ru/news/852962/comments/
[2]: https://www.linux.org.ru/news/linux-general/17766938/page3#c...