Hector Martin, the founder of the Asahi Linux project, which is focused on porting Linux to work on Mac computers with Apple Silicon ARM chips, has announced his resignation as leader and has ceased development. Participants of Asahi Linux have formed a governing council consisting of 7 developers. The council will make collective decisions and coordinate the project's work.
Hector cites burnout and loss of interest in further development due to the undervaluation of the work being done and issues with promoting the project's advancements to the main kernel. In his message, Hector mentions an overly consumerist attitude from users, who only demand and complain about the lack of desired functionality, while the project's development is handled by enthusiasts and donations for development have gradually decreased over time.
A turning point that led to the loss of motivation to continue work was the resistance to advancing the 'Rust for Linux' work into the Linux kernel and the creation of a hostile atmosphere for participants in this project. For Asahi Linux, including support for the Rust language in the Linux kernel is crucial, as this language has been used to develop three drivers (according to Hector, success in developing the drm-asahi driver is due to the choice of the Rust language). Maintaining a kernel branch with its own modifications consumes many resources, and as the code not accepted into the main kernel increases, maintenance becomes increasingly complicated.
Hector believes that efforts should have been made to expedite the inclusion of Rust into the kernel and actively support its contributors, but Linus Torvalds adopted a position of passive observer, not intervening in the abuses of some maintainers who are obstructing the integration of components to support Rust. It is also noted that faith in the kernel development community has been undermined by the hypocrisy of some members, who privately supported Hector while expressing dissatisfaction behind his back. Additionally, there is mention of a general decline in the kernel developer community, where the old enthusiasts are no longer present, and corporations now dominate.
Last week, Hector stepped down as the maintainer of the ARM/Apple platform in the Linux kernel following Linus Torvalds' comment regarding his excessive confidence in wanting to reform the kernel development process and using social media to amplify internal disputes. It seems that Hector reacts too emotionally to the challenges he faces and takes to heart what he perceives as injustice, while not being willing to consider others' interests, find compromise solutions, understand the motives behind others' actions, and accept that his opinion may not be the only correct one.
Source: opennet.ru
