linux: Goodbye from a Linux community volunteer
lore.kernel.org

Official statement regarding recent Greg’ commit 6e90b675cf942e from Serge Semin

Hello Linux-kernel community,

I am sure you have already heard the news caused by the recent Greg’ commit 6e90b675cf942e (“MAINTAINERS: Remove some entries due to various compliance requirements.”). As you may have noticed the change concerned some of the Ru-related developers removal from the list of the official kernel maintainers, including me.

The community members rightly noted that the quite short commit log contained very vague terms with no explicit change justification. No matter how hard I tried to get more details about the reason, alas the senior maintainer I was discussing the matter with haven’t given an explanation to what compliance requirements that was. I won’t cite the exact emails text since it was a private messaging, but the key words are “sanctions”, “sorry”, “nothing I can do”, “talk to your (company) lawyer”… I can’t say for all the guys affected by the change, but my work for the community has been purely volunteer for more than a year now (and less than half of it had been payable before that). For that reason I have no any (company) lawyer to talk to, and honestly after the way the patch has been merged in I don’t really want to now. Silently, behind everyone’s back, bypassing the standard patch-review process, with no affected developers/subsystem notified - it’s indeed the worse way to do what has been done. No gratitude, no credits to the developers for all these years of the devoted work for the community. No matter the reason of the situation but haven’t we deserved more than that? Adding to the GREDITS file at least, no?..

I can’t believe the kernel senior maintainers didn’t consider that the patch wouldn’t go unnoticed, and the situation might get out of control with unpredictable results for the community, if not straight away then in the middle or long term perspective. I am sure there have been plenty ways to solve the problem less harmfully, but they decided to take the easiest path. Alas what’s done is done. A bifurcation point slightly initiated a year ago has just been fully implemented. The reason of the situation is obviously in the political ground which in this case surely shatters a basement the community has been built on in the first place. If so then God knows what might be next (who else might be sanctioned…), but the implemented move clearly sends a bad signal to the Linux community new comers, to the already working volunteers and hobbyists like me.

Thus even if it was still possible for me to send patches or perform some reviews, after what has been done my motivation to do that as a volunteer has simply vanished. (I might be doing a commercial upstreaming in future though). But before saying goodbye I’d like to express my gratitude to all the community members I have been lucky to work with during all these years.

  • kbal@fedia.io
    120·
    6 days ago

    Later in that thread:

    Please accept all of our apologies for the way this was handled. A summary of the legal advice the kernel is operating under is

    If your company is on the U.S. OFAC SDN lists, subject to an OFAC sanctions program, or owned/controlled by a company on the list, our ability to collaborate with you will be subject to restrictions, and you cannot be in the MAINTAINERS file.

    Anyone who wishes to can query the list here: https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/

    • schizo@forum.uncomfortable.businessEnglish
      8710·
      6 days ago

      Which is exactly what anyone who wasn’t wanting to just snort some concentrated outrage knew was the case.

      And you can argue as to if OFAC list should apply to things like this or not, but the problem is that the enforcement options for OFAC violations include ‘stomp you into the ground until you’re powder’, most people are just going to comply.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        21·
        6 days ago

        Oh hey, a reasonable comment here that actually has a decent score… These comments are wild. But given the recent… I’ll just say, conspicuously pro-Russian, turn this site seems to have taken in the run up to the election, it’s not exactly a surprise.

      • 0x4E4F@infosec.pubOPEnglish
        3622·
        6 days ago

        Also from that thread.

        Again, we’re really sorry it’s come to this, but all of the Linux infrastructure and a lot of its maintainers are in the US and we can’t ignore the requirements of US law. We are hoping that this action alone will be sufficient to satisfy the US Treasury department in charge of sanctions and we won’t also have to remove any existing patches.

        US law CAN’T apply on foreign ground, period. Nothing can. Just because they can bully their way around that, doesn’t mean they are right.

        And it should be only fair that Israeli maintainers be removed as well.

        They should also rethink their infrastructure policy and whether they still want it on US soil.

        This is all wishful thinking, I know, but this just goes to show you how they have absolutely no backbone whatsoever. As if anybody is gonna touch the Linux kernel and jeopardize the safety of millions of systems. We all know that is never going to happen, but they still bent over for the US… so typical… just goes to show you how little backbone everyone has, including Linus.

        Oh, and don’t get me started on the Russia/Finland history comment…

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          5·
          5 days ago

          Does everyone here just not understand how international sanctions work?

          As someone with a STEM degree in a STEM field, I’m consistently bummed out by how clearly silo’d my colleagues’ educations were. It is so plainly obvious as soon as you try to have a conversation with them about anything outside of their area of expertise.

          And don’t bother trying to correct or teach them anything, because in their minds, they’re smarter than you, and you have nothing worthwhile to teach them.

          This thread is full of software engineers with just no concept of how society functions, or even a basic understanding of the geopolitical context of any of this.

        • BCsven@lemmy.ca
          4·
          6 days ago

          If the company is in the USA they can restrict who you colloborate with. They also can control what you export as a oftware product under ITAR/EAR rules. It is why when some encryotion work had to be done the devs crossed the border into Canada to work on development, because under USA law encryption code is a controlled export product even if opensource

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      5030·
      6 days ago

      But folks who work for US companies building weapons for Israel are totes okay?

      It’s honestly fucking wild that an internationally developed open source project has to play by the US government’s rules when the US government is out here helping commit genocide right the fuck now.

      Like, look in the fucking mirror on this why don’t you.

      Maybe the better rule is that if you work for a company that produces weaponry for war you shouldn’t be allowed to contribute, period.

      • SplashJackson@lemmy.ca
        1·
        5 days ago

        You want the World Bank to bail out your economy post-pandemic, you gotta accede to some tough demands

      • 0x4E4F@infosec.pubOPEnglish
        8·
        6 days ago

        Maybe the better rule is that if you work for a company that produces weaponry for war you shouldn’t be allowed to contribute, period.

        This is something I can actually get behind on.

        But, you, there is just one teeency weeency tiny problem with that. They spend trucks of cash on whatever they deem will give them what they want, including funding organizations that they profit from.

      • Orygin@sh.itjust.works
        446·
        6 days ago

        Wow, I didn’t know that being a Linux/open source contributor meant you don’t have to follow your country’s laws.

        It’s developed internationally but devs still reside somewhere and have to abide by the rules at that place. Linux in this case being represented by an US entity means they have to follow the gov’s sanctions. If you want more or less of those, that’s where (the government) you act.

      • kbal@fedia.io
        298·
        6 days ago

        You may be amazed to learn that there aren’t many international sanctions against the USA at this time, but I imagine you could probably get into legal trouble for collaborating with Americans if you’re in, I don’t know, North Korea maybe.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          1·
          6 days ago

          What are you even trying to say here?

          Do you think you’ve unraveled some massive conspiracy simply by learning about the existence of Western hegemony?

        • AbidanYre@lemmy.worldEnglish
          184·
          6 days ago

          It’s crazy how the US Treasury isn’t sanctioning companies for working on US government approved contracts. /s

              • actually@lemmy.world
                5·
                6 days ago

                The genocide has such wide support in the USA community and defense companies ( irregardless of the louder minority of people protesting it)

                That if there were justice, then many other people and organizations would have similar treatment and be kicked

                We can’t get away from politics, or limits, but if I will point out the hypocrisy

              • davel [he/him]@lemmy.mlEnglish
                132·
                6 days ago

                U.S. law requires the government to cut off weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid. Israel has been largely dependent on American bombs and other weapons in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

                • AbidanYre@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  62·
                  6 days ago

                  Yes and? You keep arguing against things I’m not saying.

                  I’d be perfectly happy if we told Bibi to fuck off. But the US government isn’t going to impose sanctions on itself.

        • davel [he/him]@lemmy.mlEnglish
          2810·
          6 days ago

          You may be amazed to learn that the reason there aren’t many international sanctions against the USA at this time is not because the USA is a beacon of peace, freedom, democracy, and national sovereignty. Because the US is very much not that.

          • kbal@fedia.io
            158·
            6 days ago

            Address your complaints to the government of the USA. Or, if you have the right to do so, cast a vote in the upcoming election there to prevent it taking a big step in the opposite direction from a world in which it might consider anything like similar sanctions against Israel.

            • davel [he/him]@lemmy.mlEnglish
              126·
              6 days ago

              “Write a stern letter to a foreign government” and “Vote against ‘very probable 101% genocide’ and for ‘proven 100% genocide’” are some weak tea, and beside the point being made.

              • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
                11·
                6 days ago

                Oh look, a bad faith argument about the upcoming election from someone who I’ve tagged for making bad faith arguments about the upcoming election. Fun.

              • kbal@fedia.io
                115·
                6 days ago

                Your particular complaints are better addressed to almighty God I suppose. So long as you don’t blame linux kernel devs for them it’s all the same to me.