Linus Torvalds

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Last Notes

2025-12-24 21:58:27 UTC

GPLv2 affirmation…
I don’t generally post here as people have probably noticed, but here’s a pdf of a recent court ruling, and this turns out to be the easiest way for me to link to a copy of it, since I don’t really maintain any web presence normally and I don’t want to post pdf’s to the kernel mailing lists or anything like that.
And the reason I want to post about it, is that it basically validates my long-held views that the GPLv2 is about making source code available, not controlling the access to the hardware that it runs on.
The court case itself is a mess of two bad parties: Vizio and the SFC. Both of them look horribly bad in court - for different reasons.
Vizio used Linux in their TVs without originally making the source code available, and that was obviously not ok.
And the Software Freedom Conservancy then tries to make the argument that the license forces you to make your installation keys etc available, even though that is not the case, and the reason why the kernel is very much GPLv2 only. The people involved know that very well, but have argued otherwise in court.
End result: both parties have acted badly. But at least Vizio did fix their behavior, even if it apparently took this lawsuit to do so. I can’t say the same about the SFC.
Please, SFC - stop using the kernel for your bogus legal arguments where you try to expand the GPLv2 to be something it isn’t. You just look like a bunch of incompetent a**holes.
The only party that looks competent here is the judge, which in this ruling says
Plaintiff contends the phrases, “machine-readable” and “scripts used to control compilation and installation” support their assertion in response to special interrogatory no. 4 that Defendant should “deliver files such that a person of ordinary skill can compile the source code into a functional executable and install it onto the same device, such that all features of the original program are retained, without undue difficulty.”
The language of the Agreements is unambiguous. It does not impose the duty which is the subject of this motion.
Read as a whole, the Agreements require Vizio to make the source code available in such a manner that the source code can be readily obtained and modified by Plaintiff or other third parties. While source code is defined to include “the scripts used to control compilation and installation,” this does not mean that Vizio must allow users to reinstall the software, modified or otherwise, back onto its smart TVs in a manner that preserves all features of the original program and/or ensures the smart TVs continue to function properly. Rather, in the context of the Agreements, the disputed language means that Vizio must provide the source code in a manner that allows the source code to be obtained and revised by Plaintiff or others for use in other applications.
In other words, Vizio must ensure the ability of users to copy, change/modify, and distribute the source code, including using the code in other free programs consistent with the Preamble and Terms and Conditions of the Agreements. However, nothing in the language of the Agreements requires Vizio to allow modified source code to be reinstalled on its devices while ensuring the devices remain operable after the source code is modified. If this was the intent of the Agreements, the Agreements could have been readily modified to state that users must be permitted to modify and reinstall modified software on products which use the program while ensuring the products continue to function. The absence of such language is dispositive and there is no basis to find that such a term was implied here. Therefore, the motion is granted.
IOW, this makes it clear that yes, you have to make source code available, but no, the GPLv2 does not in any way force you to then open up your hardware.
My intention - and the GPLv2 - is clear: the kernel copyright licence covers the software, and does not extend to the hardware it runs on. The same way the kernel copyright license does not extend to user space programs that run on it.
https://media.social.kernel.org/media/7423738b6977f73678ca7f996227fecf171a09d691f1a0f737e4d8e7e556b850.pdf

2024-03-15 00:33:04 UTC

Some of you know today as π-day.
But the real insiders know that today is the 30th anniversary of the 1.0 release of Linux.

2024-01-19 19:45:18 UTC

Staycation: day seven.
We had power back twice yesterday for a couple of hours each time. The weather and PGE were just teasing us, and I will not consider that a real break in the cold darkness and despair that is being without electricity.
But I still have battery power, and while it froze some more overnight and outside is now very slippery, it’s once more above freezing. So frozen pipes remain a thing of the past.
End result: I have a handful of pull requests left (most of which came in in the last few hours), and no reason to believe that I won’t close the merge window normally on Sunday.

2024-01-18 21:02:43 UTC

Well that didn’t last long.
Do I reset my staycation counter to day one, or do I keep this at day six?
https://social.kernel.org/media/cf9d575257178e9c366944e786b50da40a2145e286231944a79d13b8434ed56a.jpeg

2024-01-18 18:26:17 UTC

.. and ten minutes after posting that, power and internet are back up.
#note1tpe…wq3l

2024-01-18 18:08:08 UTC

Staycation: day six.
To nobody’s surprise, power didn’t come back yesterday, but neighbors report that the tree across the power lines has been cut up. So hopefully the electrical crew can come in and fix the power line.
Of course, there may be other issues lurking. We lost power at 5am Saturday morning, and apparently the tree fell a few hours after that. So now there are conflicting theories about where our power is actually fed from.
Presumably somebody at PGE knows, but they aren’t telling.
Once again - there is a pattern emerging - PGE reports that our otage will surely be fixed by 10pm today. And there are now sufficiently few outstanding outages reported that our little area with only 174 customers affected might actually merit some attention.
In the meantime, while temperatures might dip just below freezing again, it won’t be bad enough to freeze any pipes again, so while the kitchen is at a balmy 8°C, I don’t feel worried about the house freezing.
So I’ll continue the merge window on battery power.

2024-01-17 18:38:59 UTC

Staycation: day five.
Power still off, but outside is warming up. So now it’s a big ice rink outside with people playing bumper cars with the real things.
Not interested in partaking in that particular contact sport, and as a result I’m still not leaving the house even if the worry about frozen pipes is fading.
Instead trying to see how far I can get on the remaining merge window pulls on just battery power. Not very far I bet, but at least something.
PGE claims power back tonight. Of course, they did that yesterday too…
https://social.kernel.org/media/a971ace2b7bfc56f7c20282a1ecf920d1bd7d421eb7301043e2e4014f9134629.png

2024-01-16 17:10:40 UTC

The reason why it’s taking so long is mostly that we’re in a fairly sparsely populated area on the outskirts of town. So not only do we have a lot of these big trees around, PGE also always ends up prioritizing the areas with many more customers affected.
But it doesn’t help that this really is a pretty massive tree, and it has also fallen in a way that makes it hard to remove, with the middle unsupported.
One of our neighbors has a brother that is a logger, and he apparently thought you might want two trucks to get it out: one to support the tree while the other cuts it from above.
Me not being a logger just nodded wisely.
#note10ja…wd4s

2024-01-16 16:57:13 UTC

Day four of no power and no Internet. This big tree is the reason. One among hundreds in the area, but this is the one that took out *our* power and Internet.
PGE (Portland General Electric) claims we should get power back by 10pm today, but the ice storm arrives today, so we'll see.
https://social.kernel.org/media/dce00d722743a2409047402309b887ef2be4656d14630df269091adaa41ce871.jpg

2023-10-14 19:23:45 UTC

https://social.kernel.org/media/0adf3deeed50428f15549bd2bffd1ea9507f9592ec775760b2cdd035276059c6.jpg

2023-07-09 21:28:49 UTC

I’m clearly a master of SEO.
When I google for “cold dark place filled with sadness and despair” right now (with the quotes), google gives me exactly one result - my Linux kernel github repository.
I will call my new hobby “Reverse Emo Googlewhacking”.
You’re welcome.

2023-06-07 19:55:45 UTC

Bye bye, nytimes.
When the only thing that continues to work on you ad-filled web site is the captcha, I’m not interested in supporting your journalism any more.
Ironically, another pet peeve of mine was the “you can sign up online, but you have to call and talk to a human to cancel”.
But with apparently nothing but your main page (and your ads - surprise surprise) working, that was actually good for once.

2023-04-17 16:32:07 UTC

Life is good. We have a dishwasher again.
Our old one broke (again!) and while I fixed it myself last time, I wasn’t willing to deal with a dishwasher that keeps breaking.
I grew up washing dishes by hand, and I’d largely forgotten how much I hated it. Ten days without a working dishwasher is ten days too many.

2023-03-14 22:51:11 UTC

Random first trial post: today, March 14th, is the 29th anniversary of the Linux 1.0 announcement.
Of course, there are other arguably more important dates in Linux history, but this is one of them.