Linus and Dirk on succession, Rust, and more
The "Linus and Dirk show" has been a fixture at Open Source Summit for as long as the conference has existed; it started back when the conference was called LinuxCon. Since Linus Torvalds famously does not like to give talks, as he said during this year's edition at Open Source Summit Europe (OSSEU) in Vienna, Austria, he and Dirk Hohndel have been sitting down for an informal chat on a wide range of topics as a keynote session. That way, Torvalds does not need to prepare, but also does not know what topics will be brought up, which makes it "so much more fun for one of us", Hohndel said with a grin. The topics this time ranged from the just-released 6.11 kernel and the upcoming Linux 6.12, through Rust for the kernel, to the recurring topic of succession and the graying of Linux maintainers.
After Torvalds suggested that they had been doing these talks for 20 years, though Hohndel pointed out that the tradition began in 2012, the conversation turned to the weather—a common topic after the surprisingly horrible weather in much of Europe due to Storm Boris. In a massive understatement, Hohndel said that it had been a "wee bit windy" the day before, which he and Torvalds had hoped to use as a sightseeing day, but the day before the conference started (September 15) was not a day to stray far from your hotel. It did give Torvalds plenty of time to do the 6.11 kernel release, which they discussed next.