Linus Torvalds Responds to Kernel Project's Removal of Russian Contributors: Restoration is Impossible
Brook.X
Yesterday, it was discovered that the Linux Kernel project team had removed entries of several contributors, most of whom are Russian or related to Russia, from the merge log. However, code submissions by Russian contributors in Linux Kernel version 6.12-rc4 have not been deleted.
Greg Kroah-Hartman of the Linux Kernel project team explained that the names of Russian contributors were removed from the log entries due to various compliance requirements, and these entries could potentially be reinstated in the future.
However, this action has undoubtedly impacted the project's reputation, affecting the transparency of the Linux Kernel, as the reasons behind such a move remain unclear to the public.
Today, Linus Torvalds issued an email response addressing two main issues: the compliance requirements arising from sanctions against Russia and the submission of code by spam accounts (Linus Torvalds had some harsh words about this).
Therefore, at least for now, the removal of entries related to Russian contributors will not be reversed, as Linus Torvalds stated unequivocally, especially since Greg Kroah-Hartman's email yesterday did not mention what the sufficient proof documents referred to.
The potential impact of this situation is yet to be assessed. One obvious concern is whether the code submitted by these contributors will be merged into the mainline version, as merging in the RC version does not guarantee inclusion in the mainline.
It is also uncertain whether these removed contributors will face further restrictions, especially when it is often difficult to trace the origins of kernel code. Identifying origins might be easier with explicit regional and organizational/corporate email addresses.
How the Linux Kernel will handle code or patches previously submitted by Russian contributors that have already been merged into the mainline version remains unclear. Ideally, content that has been merged should not be subject to manual removal.
