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DebConf 14: QA with Linus Torvalds

Adnan Hodzic · interview · Watch on YouTube

Linux & open-source ecosystemsTech pioneers & interviews

What it is

A 72-minute Q&A with Linus Torvalds at DebConf 14. Topics include the pain of distributing Linux binaries, distro fragmentation, kernel backwards compatibility, GPLv2 versus GPLv3 and conduct.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN returns to it as Linus's own explanation of why shipping software on Linux is hard and why he dislikes GPLv3.

  • 7 people recommended it
  • 7 different months
  • 3 strong recommendations
  • first 2014, last 2021

What HN commenters said

  1. “Linus Torvalds just laid out a whole bunch of the problems at DebConf14. Go watch it.”

    Linus lays out problems of shipping Linux binaries

    dottrap, 2014-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Why osx sucks and you should use ubuntu instead”

  2. “It is 100% to the point and nothing has changed in 6 years since”

    Commenter says it is 100% to the point and still true

    stiray, 2020-05 · Strong recommendation · in “How to disable the built-in Windows 10 ads”

  3. “Highly recommend watching Linus's answer ~6 minutes in”

    Linus's answer on deploying binaries that work everywhere

    NavinF, 2021-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Tiny Container Challenge: Building a 6kB Containerized HTTP Server”

  4. “I suggest watching as it gives a up-to-date view which all the necessary qualifiers in one single talk.”

    Linus's up-to-date, qualified view on GPLv2 versus GPLv3

    belorn, 2015-02 · Recommendation · in “GCC, LLVM, Copyleft, Companies, and Non-Profits (2014)”

  5. “Linus Torvalds addresses some core issues in his "DebConf 14: QA with Linus Torvalds" talk starting around 5:40”

    Linus addresses core packaging issues from 5:40

    probonopd, 2016-02 · Recommendation · in “AppImage: Linux apps that run anywhere”

  6. “What he's talking about is on the video above and it's a very reasonable point.”

    Linus makes a reasonable, valid point about distro fragmentation

    adnzzzzZ, 2018-03 · Recommendation · in “Linus Torvalds Rants”

  7. “In fact Linus has a good rant on nearly this exact topic that I'd recommend watching”

    Linus rant on kernel backwards compatibility

    gpm, 2021-02 · Recommendation · in “The modern packager’s security nightmare”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: linus torvalds, packaging, gplv3, distros, binary compatibility, debconf

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