Linux kernel community drafts contingency “plan for a plan” to replace Linus Torvalds
Linux kernel community drafts contingency “plan for a plan” to replace Linus Torvalds
Publish Date: 2026-01-28 10:48:00
Source Domain: www.pcguide.com
PC Guide is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Read More
It has been over 34 years since the Linux kernel was created by Linus Torvalds back in September 1991, and the Finnish software engineer has been at its helm the whole way. The kernel community now admits that it could do with a contingency plan moving forward, and a “project continuity” announcement sets the basis for what will happen once the time comes to replace Torvalds and other high-level contributors.
Authored by contributor Dan Williams, it’s currently described as a “plan for a plan” and is clearly in the very early stages of a transitional period for the torvalds/linux.git repository, currently owned by Linus himself. It is presented as a follow-up to the 2025 Maintainers Summit that took place at the tail end of last year, which kicked off succession discussions.
In a recent GitHub commit, Williams outlines the fact that “over 100 maintainers” continue to work on changing their own repositories; however, the final step remains centralized – all changes must be pulled into the mainline repository. This critical step continues to be performed by Torvalds, though occasionally others have had to step in.
Is Your PC Slowing Down?
Programs taking longer to open? Crashes or freezes happening more often? Your PC may need a cleanup and repair.
Fix it safely & boost performance in just a few clicks!
Repair & Speed Up PC Now
Trusted by thousands of users worldwide
Williams gives the Linux 4.19 release as an example, which was overseen by Greg Kroah-Hartman, while Torvalds stepped away from his duties for a brief period. Torvalds later admitted to “unprofessional” behavior in an apology post – of course, that’s all in the past, but it highlights the need for someone to be there once he retires from his role.
“Should the…
