The Linux kernel community has formalized a succession plan for the day Linus Torvalds steps down, and outlines how the process will work to replace him as top-level maintainer.
The new “plan for a plan,” written by longtime Linux kernel community contributor Dan Williams, was discussed at the latest Linux Kernel Maintainers Summit in Tokyo, where he presented it as “an encouraging theme tied to our eventual path to death.”
The plan does not name an heir, but it does create a clear process for selecting one or more maintainers to take over the top-level Linux repository in a worst-case scenario or a smooth transition scenario, including convening a conference to evaluate options and maximize the long-term health of the project.
A conservative in Tokyo jokingly suggested that the group would be like the congress that chooses a new pope, locked in a room and that white smoke would appear when a decision was made.
The document is a way to protect against the classic “bus factor” problem . That is, what would happen to a project if its leader were hit by a bus?
Torvalds' central role today means that the project is currently experiencing a bus factor of one, where the departure of a single person could, in theory, destabilize the final releases. In practice, as Torvalds and other top maintainers have discussed, the top penguin position would almost certainly go to Greg Kroah-Hartman, the Linux kernel maintainer.
Responding to the suggestion that the replacement would be Greg KH, Torvalds said:
“But the thing is, Greg wasn’t always Greg. Before Greg, there was Andrew Morton and Alan Cox. After Greg, there will be Shannon and Steve. The real issue is that you have to have a person or a group of people that the development community can trust, and part of trust is essentially being around long enough that people know how you work. But long enough doesn’t mean 30 years.”
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
