A month ago,
Sarah Sharp posted
to say
I'm not a Linux kernel developer any more
and
I am no longer a part of the Linux kernel community
.
She added USB 3.0 support to Linux (via the new xHCI host driver) and
contributed in many other ways to the USB stack. She also did her best,
in the face of an absurd level of outright hostility, to ask the
kernel development community to adopt a more personally respectful tone
of communication (which has nothing to do with political correctness,
but is just about
basic human decency).
It's a real shame that Linux has lost a valuable contributor and member
of the (newly-formed) Technical Advisory Board. A shame, but hardly a
surprise. If anything, it's surprising that she stuck around long enough
to achieve as much as she did.
Incidentally, a
Documentation/CodeOfConflict
file was added to the kernel in February 2015. Among other (fairly vague
and conciliatory) things, it says:
If however, anyone feels personally abused, threatened, or otherwise
uncomfortable due to this process, that is not acceptable.
I'm sure the people who wrote this had good intentions, but I wish they
could have found wording to make it clear that it's the personal abuse,
threats, and other such behaviour that are unacceptable, not
feel[ing] … abused, threatened, or otherwise uncomfortable
.
Or maybe the wording is fine. Hard to tell, really.