tension on kernel mailing lists continues to grow as a Linux Foundation board member finally replies with a "summary of the legal advice the kernel is operating under" re: enforcing US sanctions

Arthur Besse@lemmy.mlmod to Linux@lemmy.ml – 226 points –
lore.kernel.org
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Would a fork be the solution to avoid having a system that is crucial for people worldwide cease to be a weapon at the hands of merrican politicians?

It'll be at the hands of whatever jurisdiction the forker is in. It's not like you can escape governments.

I'm afraid that if the sanctions will continue to be a go-to method of dealing with geopolitical rivals, we may end up with a few divergent forks. One for US and "the west" block, one for Chinese comrades with their junior Russian partners, and maybe one for Indian code gurus who don't like both sides and have capable engineering resources themselves.

Could be. Maybe not a hard fork, if this slap fight can be contained in the driver space. I’d keep an eye on OpenHarmony and OpenKylin.

Thank you for that! I was perplexed since I've been in the Linux space for 25 years and I was thinking that I would have to switch to bsd.

If you think BSDs are devoid of drama you’re in for a cold shower…

Switch to OpenBSD if you have to, at least the drama there is super funny

I was thinking that I would have to switch to bsd.

Finally the year of Hurd on the desktop?

Doesn’t free BSD not allow anyone with a Chinese or Russian sounding name already.

I’m afraid that if the sanctions will continue to be a go-to method of dealing with geopolitical rivals, we may end up with a few divergent forks. One for US and “the west” block, one for [...]

Considering that that this idea of making a Linux for the US vs a Linux for "the rest of the world" was what made me ditch Fedora for Debian, it'd be a shame to have it happen to Linux as well. Like, sure, an alternative will emerge, but where does one go while that progresses to be daily-driver? Haiku?

This kind of thing is the inevitable outcome of US policy to "decouple", which they are pushing. Take something they nominally control, kick out every designated enemy / enemy collaborator, and then watch as an alternative pops up among the " enemy" and ban its purchase or use.

Would a fork be technically viable if Americans and American businesses can't participate (because the fork works with SDN entities)? Maybe.

I'm guessing most IoT devices are made in China (or increasingly Southeast Asia), so yes.

Sure for not but it we’ll go nowhere. Most of the kernel developers are paid developers it’s not somebody working on it in there free time.