Kernel hacker Alan Cox takes a break
Summary
In January 2013 Alan Cox announced a withdrawal for family reasons, giving up the job at Intel and kernel development. Cox, 44 at the time, had long been regarded as number two after Linus Torvalds and had been working on the kernel for Intel since 2008. Shortly before, Cox had criticised Fedora 18 as the “worst version I have ever seen”.
Ideas
- Even central developers withdraw for personal reasons.
- Cox left the door open for a return.
- The criticism of Fedora 18 showed Cox’s directness.
Insights
- A mature project survives the withdrawal of former key people.
- Personal circumstances shape open source projects more than outsiders realise.
Facts
- It was not Cox’s first break from Linux development.
- Most recently Cox had mainly maintained the serial drivers.
References
Critique
- The report is based on a short posting and necessarily remains vague about the reasons.
Recommendations
- Spread knowledge in projects so that the departure of individuals can be absorbed.
- Document responsibilities for critical components.
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