> which gives the not-so-great precedent that invoking social media was actually more effective at getting some sort of response than the technical debate that he actually said he wants. So now, the status quo is that someone with the power to completely block any progress towards actually including any amount of Rust in the kernel will presumably continue to do so, but Linus still is sticking to the line that we can have "technical debate" about it even though the outcome is predetermined to end in failure.
It's true but sort of assumes that Linus is an automaton, like a corporation: if you threaten with a social media drama, then he'll respond. The problem is that it feels he was forced to respond, and he didn't really like kernel devs being part of the social media drama. So he responded, so in a strange way, he emerged as the calm voice of reason. And it left a long unpleasant memory in the community regarding it.
> it will just cause more frustration in the long run than simply ending acknowledging the reality of the current situation.
Sadly, I think that's what will happen.
> I'd argue that we're basically at the point where that _is_ what the de facto policy is, except without it being actually stated.
It does seem that way, I agree with you, but I think this made it worse as you highlighted already. So it was an uphill road, but now the hill got steeper and taller. Another way this could have played out is Hector wrote a blog post saying "I am having personal issues, I am frustrated, I am stepping down". Let people figure out more details. But getting into a public spat with Linux devs was not productive for his and his team's goals. He hurt his team (Rust + Asahi) more than he helped in the end.
It's true but sort of assumes that Linus is an automaton, like a corporation: if you threaten with a social media drama, then he'll respond. The problem is that it feels he was forced to respond, and he didn't really like kernel devs being part of the social media drama. So he responded, so in a strange way, he emerged as the calm voice of reason. And it left a long unpleasant memory in the community regarding it.
> it will just cause more frustration in the long run than simply ending acknowledging the reality of the current situation.
Sadly, I think that's what will happen.
> I'd argue that we're basically at the point where that _is_ what the de facto policy is, except without it being actually stated.
It does seem that way, I agree with you, but I think this made it worse as you highlighted already. So it was an uphill road, but now the hill got steeper and taller. Another way this could have played out is Hector wrote a blog post saying "I am having personal issues, I am frustrated, I am stepping down". Let people figure out more details. But getting into a public spat with Linux devs was not productive for his and his team's goals. He hurt his team (Rust + Asahi) more than he helped in the end.