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by KyeRussell 1218 days ago
These days it’s hard to ignore the fact that Linux enjoys its continued success in spite of these sorts of crusted in grumps, not because of them.
2 comments

Would you give the project to other contributors, working for Meta or Google for example?
Absolutely not, but it's also not a binary choice between "power-mad maintainer" and "corporate management".

There's plenty of maintainers who aren't that sort of a stick in the mud (even on the Linux kernel), the problem is that the Linux kernel has a few too many entrenched ones who are basically using their position to be a bully to interested contributors. They're generally aware enough that they know that the people they get into fights with aren't likely to use any of the official processes and are more willing to put up with it.

It's more akin to "this maintainer should be replaced" rather than "the entire management is bad"; to my understanding the actually important trees (as in, the server related components, since Linux is primarily used as a server kernel) don't have these maintainers; they're mostly on the stuff that matters less like well... Sleep/Wake related things, speakers and batteries, all of which are mostly useful for desktops and laptops.

What does "give the project" mean?
Giving the ultimate control for what gets accepted and rejected
I'm not that knowledgeable in this department, but: if the BDFL is really hurting the usability of their library / service, can't it just be forked by more benevolent actors?