11 Russian Linux Kernel Developers Lose Maintainer Status Due to “Compliance Requirements”
The Linux kernel community is buzzing with controversy following the removal of 11 developers, primarily associated with Russian companies, from the list of subsystem maintainers. Greg Kroah-Hartman, the stable branch maintainer, initiated this change citing “various compliance requirements” as the reason, but failed to provide specific details.
This lack of transparency has sparked concern among some community members. Geert Uytterhoeven, a prominent Linux developer, questioned the vague nature of the announcement. He emphasized the open-source nature of the kernel and urged for clarity on the “compliance requirements” and the documentation needed for reinstatement. Uytterhoeven also warned about the potential for future abuses due to the lack of clearly defined rules for removing maintainers.
The removed developers were responsible for maintaining a range of drivers and subsystems, including those for DVB systems, ARM/CIRRUS LOGIC processors, PPTP and GRE demultiplexers, EMSENSING MICROSYSTEMS sensors, the UFS file system, Alpha architecture porting, ACER ASPIRE controllers, BAIKAL-T1 platform support, various MIPS system drivers, LIBATA PATA and SATA drivers, RENESAS Ethernet drivers, and MICROCHIP POLARFIRE FPGA drivers.
While the change has already been incorporated into the 6.12-rc4 branch, it bypassed the usual scrutiny of the Linux development process. The update to the MAINTAINERS file was slipped into a pull request for unrelated driver fixes and was not reviewed or tested in the linux-next branch.
This incident raises questions about the balance between compliance requirements and the open and collaborative spirit of the Linux kernel development. The lack of transparency and the potential for arbitrary removals could have a chilling effect on contributions from developers globally. The community awaits further clarification from Kroah-Hartman and hopes for a swift resolution to this issue.
The affected developers are:
- Abylay Ospan
- Alexander Shiyan
- Dmitry Kozlov
- Dmitry Rokosov
- Evgeniy Dushistov
- Ivan Kokshaysky
- Nikita Travkin
- Serge Semin
- Sergey Kozlov
- Sergey Shtylyov
- Vladimir Georgiev
