This article will summarise the life and some of the works of Linus Torvalds.
Linus Benedict Torvalds, a Finnish software engineer, created and leads the development of the Linux kernel. The Linux kernel is used by various distributions such as Debian, Arch, and Android. Additionally, he developed the distributed version control system called Git.
Torvalds was born in Helsinki, Finland. His parents, Anna and Nils Torvalds, were journalists and campus radicals at the University of Helsinki in the 1960s. Torvalds belongs to the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. He was named after Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize–winning American chemist. In the book Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution, Torvalds mentioned being named equally for Linus, the Peanuts cartoon character, stating that this made him "half Nobel Prize–winning chemist and half blanket-carrying cartoon character."
The first Linux prototypes became public in late 1991, and version 1.0 was released on 14 March 1994.
Torvalds learned about the GNU Project in the fall of 1991 during a speech by Richard Stallman, the free software guru. Initially, Torvalds prohibited commercial use of his Linux kernel but later switched to Stallman's GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2) due to distributors' challenges in covering costs.
In 1996, after visiting Transmeta, Torvalds worked there from February 1997 to June 2003. Later, he joined the Open Source Development Labs, which merged into the Linux Foundation. In 2004, Torvalds and his family moved to Oregon.
From 1997 to 1999, Torvalds contributed to 86open, assisting in selecting the standard binary format for Linux and Unix. In 1999, Red Hat and VA Linux granted him stock options as a gesture of gratitude. Torvalds's share value briefly rose to around US$20 million when both companies went public that year.
Torvalds's personal mascot is Tux, a penguin widely adopted by the Linux community. Despite advocating for open source, he uses the best tool for the job, even if it's proprietary software. He faced criticism for using BitKeeper for version control but later developed the free-software replacement Git.
In 2008, Torvalds favored the Fedora Linux distribution for its PowerPC support. He briefly abandoned GNOME after version 3.0's release, citing its complexity, and switched to Xfce. However, in 2013, he resumed using GNOME with extensions.
The Linux Foundation sponsors Torvalds, allowing him to focus on improving Linux full-time. He is known for his outspoken disagreements on the Linux kernel mailing list, describing himself as a "really unpleasant person." Torvalds apologized for his past behavior in 2018, acknowledging its unprofessionalism, and took a temporary leave to seek assistance in understanding people's emotions. After Linux 4.19's release in October 2018, Torvalds returned to maintaining the kernel.
At first, Torvalds intended to name the kernel he created "Freax," a blend of "free," "freak," and the letter X to signify its Unix-like nature. However, his friend Ari Lemmke, responsible for the FTP server hosting the initial kernel, named Torvalds' directory "linux."
Torvalds initiated the development of Git on 3 April 2005, creating version control software that gained widespread use. On 26 July 2005, he handed over Git's maintenance to Junio Hamano, a significant project contributor.
In late 2011, Torvalds started working on Subsurface, software designed for logging and planning scuba dives. It is free and open-source software distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2. In late 2012, Dirk Hohndel assumed the role of head maintainer for Subsurface.