The recent happenings with the Linux kernel have been something of a geopolitical whirlpool, where many people have been either protesting or supporting the removal of more than 10 Russian developers from their roles as maintainers.
Kernel maintainer James Bottomley confirmed not long ago that people related to any organization/entity on the U.S. OFAC SDN lists would be subject to restrictions and that they could not be included in the MAINTAINERS file.
Now, in an interesting turn of events, there has been a response from Russia itself, with an unnamed representative of the Ministry of Digital Development making some rather intriguing claims.
Some Interesting Claims: Will They Get It Done?
In conversation with RBC (in Russian), a representative has stated that Russia is looking to create its own independent Linux community, aiming to bring together developers from countries who would be open to working with them on this.
They believe that the removal of the maintainers was a discriminatory act, and they're open to establishing a dialogue with other nations to build an alternative that'll ultimately yield a unique product.
Currently, there is no information if Russia is in talks with other countries, but my speculation is that they might reach out to the fellow BRICS members before anyone else.
Of course, this has not stopped Russian organizations and their people from speaking on this matter. Senior Technology Advisor at KasperskyOS, Vladimir Slinko, pointed out that it will become difficult for Russian companies that have previously contributed to Linux, as their changes might not make it into the main branch.
He also fears that going forward, patches from Russian developers might be looked at with suspicion, further complicating contributions by Russians to the Linux kernel.
There have been many similar viewpoints by others in Russia; you can read the original statement by going through the article linked above. Just use your web browser's translation feature if you don't understand Russian.
Closing Thoughts
Only time will tell what comes out of this seemingly coordinated wave of statements. They might be trying to mimic what China has done with HarmonyOS NEXT, but with a Linux kernel base aimed at desktops, laptops, and servers.
But for now, let's wait before we make such assumptions. 😶🌫️
💬 What do you think? Is Russia trying to move away from western-based software?
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