Growing a thick skin and dealing with a curt reply allows information to flow faster. All Linus is doing here is setting the bar. Doing it in flowery everyone-wins language is more time-consuming and the longer you communicate on the web, the more you realise that frequently it's just not worth the time drain. The attitude Linus is commenting on is something he's known for railing against for a very long time.
If you're trying to make a world-class product, you can't afford the time to wrap all comms with your developers in niceties - you need to define where you stand and what's expected in solid terms.
Also: given his thorough explanations that go along with the chiding, I'd much rather be on a forum that has that kind of poster.
No one's saying Linus should be -passive- about his point, just not hostile. Here is a shorted, edited version of his post without the offputting aggression:
"The user doesn't care.
Pushing the blame around doesn't help anybody. The only thing that helps is
Fedora being helpful, not being obstinate.
Also, the fact is, that from a Q&A standpoint, a memcpy() that "just does the
right thing" is simply _better_. Quoting standards is just stupid, when there's
two simple choices: "it works" or "it doesn't work because bugs happen".
Reality is what matters. When glibc changed memcpy, it created problems. Saying
"not my problem" is irresponsible when it hurts users.
And pointing fingers at Adobe and blaming them for creating bad software is
_doubly_ irresponsible if you are then not willing to set a higher standard for
your own project. And "not my problem" is not a higher standard.
So please just fix it.
The easy and technically nice solution is to just say "we'll alias memcpy to
memmove - good software should never notice, and it helps bad software and a
known problem"."
Not being an ass isn't difficult with practice, and it can even save time when communicating.
That's just it. He's not being particularly hostile. He's being blunt.
Go back and look at the thread. Linus isn't wading in with abuse. He's a solid part of the discussion from the start (I stopped counting his responses when I got to 7 in the first 50) and at least for those first 50 he's polite as everyone seems to demand him being. Explaining both his point about the function and about the user-doesn't-care view, repeatedly, politely - just as all the naysayers in this thread are demanding of him.
Heaven forfend Linus actually show frustration at having to repeat himself again and again, like an ordinary human would!
I don't think that's a good enough reason for interacting with the world as though you have aspergers. The technical excellence of linux may offset the problems caused by such an abrasive method of interpersonal relationships but that doesn't make it ok.
Ah, so it's not okay to act like Linus did, but it is okay to throw out Asperger's like it's an insult? Your morals around civility are curiously labile.
For the record, Linus's behaviour is not typical of Asperger's Syndrome.
If you're trying to make a world-class product, you can't afford the time to wrap all comms with your developers in niceties - you need to define where you stand and what's expected in solid terms.
Also: given his thorough explanations that go along with the chiding, I'd much rather be on a forum that has that kind of poster.