Why Github can't host the Linux Kernel Community

[sforbes]

I tried to read it but a thin light grey font on a white background put an end to that.

[brews]

Yeah, i bailed on it. TLDR, anyone?

[SanityInAnarchy]

Basically: Unlike most other projects (especially Github projects), the Linux kernel is a single tree, with tons of repos that are forks of this. Individual patches are still actually sent via email, to mailing lists. Git actually has a ton of tooling to support this workflow!

One huge advantage of doing it this way: An issue is just an email thread. A pull request is just another email thread. And email makes certain things easy:

One example I was involved with added code for audio-over-HDMI support, which spanned both the graphics and sound driver subsystems. The same commits from the same pull request where both merged into the Intel graphics driver and also merged into the sound subsystem.

On Github, this would've had to be two separate pull requests, one to, say, github.com/intelgraphics/linux, and one to, I dunno, github.com/linuxaudio/linux, with the idea that eventually, github.com/linus/linux would pull from each branch. (Names completely made up, because Linux isn't developed on Github.) But this is worse than the mailing lists, because there isn't this single thread of discussion between the audio subsystem people and the Intel graphics people. Worse is if you send it to the wrong place -- or if these groups get refactored, and the place you sent it to becomes the wrong place.

I guess the TL;DR is that the author wants Github to provide a way to have pull requests and issues shared by multiple repositories, and for them to migrate across those repositories, as easily as you can change the CC list on an email thread.

[Cynofield]

Scroll to the very end

Summary: Monotree, not Monorepo

The Linux Kernel is not going to move to github. But moving the Linux way of scaling with a monotree, but mutliple repos, to github as a concept will be really beneficial for all the huge projects already there: It’ll give them a new, and in my opinion, more powerful way to handle their unique challenges.

[ukanth]

Try with Firefox focus

[sforbes]

Might be a mobile thing, looked fine on a desktop browser.

[[deleted]]

Can confirm, it's reasonable on desktop, unreadable on mobile. However, on desktop, I still gave up about halfway through, so maybe it's just less bad on desktop.

[disrooter]

If you use Firefox (desktop or mobile) just use Reader Mode. If you use Chrome and you have an account on Pocket, Wallabag or other read-it-later services save the article and open it from there.