‘I’m not a programmer’ anymore: Linus Torvalds on the only two tools he uses now
‘I’m not a programmer’ anymore: Linus Torvalds on the only two tools he uses now
https://www.zdnet.com/article/open-source-summit-linus-torvalds/
Publish Date: 2026-07-08 17:09:00
Source Domain: www.zdnet.com
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Linus has no interest in supporting obsolete hardware or software.
- While Rust is important, it’s no panacea for bad programming logic.
- Linux developers have adopted AI tools for maintenance work.
MUMBAI — At Open Source Summit India 2026, Linux creator Linus Torvalds and his friend Dirk Hohndel discussed the current state of Linux and where it’s headed.
Linux 7.1: Slow and steady, not splashy
The conversation opened with Hohndel asking about what Torvalds thought about the Linux 7.1 release. Torvalds said he doesn’t think in terms of blockbuster releases: “For me, the highlight has been that it’s been a very steady progression of continued improvements.” He stressed that since they created the Git version control system, “We don’t do releases that have big new splashy features, and I actually actively try to avoid that kind of model; we want to have this kind of incremental improvement and steady progress all the time.”
Also: Linus Torvalds built Git in 10 days – and never imagined it would last 20 years
AI is, however, pressuring this workflow. “It’s been getting a bit harder lately because of AI finding interesting bugs, and that has stressed out people in the community,” Torvalds added, even as the kernel continues its “steady release schedule” every nine to ten weeks.
Merge windows, fixes, and personality bugs
Torvalds described his work pattern during kernel merge windows: “Over two weeks, I do roughly 200 merges. That’s a very rough ballpark number.”
Even with decades of trust in maintainers, he pushes back on last‑minute changes: “If it’s not a really important fix, please queue it for the next release instead of sending me last-minute fixes,” because “fixes… may not be worth the slight chance that it causes a new problem.”
Also: Linux 7.1 is here to end the Intel 486 CPU era – and do some serious legacy clean up
The technical…
