Linus on OpenBSD
Monday, July 21st, 2008“I think the OpenBSD crowd is a bunch of masturbating monkeys, in that they make such a big deal about concentrating on security to the point where they pretty much admit that nothing else matters to them.” – Linus Torvalds, Post to linux-kernel mailing list
I saw this a couple of days ago, and I’m still not sure whether Linus is having a joke or being serious. I see his point about OpenBSD—they are rather obsessed with security—but I think it’s bad form for someone as well-known as Linus to go around bashing other projects, particularly when Linux systems use some of the same software (e.g. OpenSSH). This is part of the problem with geeks running large projects—you combine egos, technical smugness and superiority, and often a lack of social skills and put them into a forum (mailing lists) where you can say what you want with no immediate indication of whether you’ve offended someone or said the wrong thing.
I’m actually surprised that no one has picked Linus up on this, so perhaps he was just having a laugh, or no one dares to upset the Lord and Master of the Kernel.