Linux after Linus? The kernel community finally drafts a plan for replacing Torvalds
Linux after Linus? The kernel community finally drafts a plan for replacing Torvalds
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-community-project-continuity-plan-for-replacing-linus-torvalds/
Publish Date: 2026-01-28 15:09:00
Source Domain: www.zdnet.com
Linux kernel project
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- If something happens to Linus Torvalds, there’s now a succession plan.
- Rather than naming a successor, the plan describes a process for selecting successors.
- However, Torvalds has no plans to retire.
After more than three decades in the Linux driver’s seat, Linus Torvalds will one day step away from his role as gatekeeper of the Linux kernel. We’ve always known that, of course, but the open-source project is no longer gambling on that scenario. The core kernel community has formally drafted a project‑continuity plan outlining how it would replace Torvalds as the top‑level maintainer if something were to happen to him or if he were to retire.
Also: Linus Torvalds is ‘a huge believer’ in using AI to maintain code – just don’t call it a revolution
Mind you, when I asked him just now if he had any retirement plans — my own plan is to fall over gracefully onto my keyboard — he replied, “My plan seems to just be ‘I will live forever.'”
More pragmatically following the “Happy wife, happy life” principle, he added, “Perhaps equally importantly, my wife doesn’t want to be pestered by a bored husband.” I can’t argue with that.
The new “plan for a plan,” drafted by longtime kernel contributor Dan Williams, was discussed at the latest Linux Kernel Maintainer Summit in Tokyo, where he introduced it as “an uplifting subject tied to our eventual march toward death.”
No single heir is identified
Torvalds added, in our conversation, that “part of the reason it came up this time around was that my previous contract with Linux Foundation ended Q3 last year, and people on the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board had been aware of that. Of course, they were also aware that we’d renewed the contract, but it meant that it had been discussed.”
Also: What tech titans Linus Torvalds and Bill Gates talked about in their first meeting
The plan stops short of naming a single…
