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by ewi_ 3073 days ago
I'd like to believe that one of the reasons Linus has that kind of reaction is because of the scope and impact his decisions and this kind of patches can have on people all around the world. This is a very specific situation, in which the advices in Sandya's article may not apply.

However, I fail to see how Sandya's observations are BS. A code review is a place to improve code and oneself, and there's a pretty large distinction between constructive criticism and sarcastic/aggressive comments. Being respectful/mindful of your colleague in that situation is in my opinion the minimal requirement.

1 comments

In many cases it's not a patch that is a problem, it's the submitter and their approach/mindlessness/laziness/ethics that led to the patch being of an unacceptable quality. If you are trying to fix a watch and someone comes and suggest to hit it with a hammer, there's really not much place for being "respectful" with an answer.
> If you are trying to fix a watch and someone comes and suggest to hit it with a hammer, there's really not much place for being "respectful" with an answer.

That's actually the opposite of what I see in Linus. He seems to reserve these responses for people who should have known better.

So if I suggest fixing the watch by smashing it with a hammer, it probably wouldn't even merit a sideways glance. I'd be ignored like background noise. (or at most, invited to look for something more in tune with my skillset, perhaps hanging wallclocks).

When Intel show up with a hammer, the hammer is only half of the offence.