Linus Torvalds


Linus Torvalds

Torvalds in 2002[1]
Born December 28, 1969 (1969-12-28) (age 40)
Helsinki, Finland
Residence Portland, Oregon
Nationality Finnish
Occupation Software engineer
Employer Linux Foundation
Known for Linux kernel, Git
Spouse(s) Tove Torvalds
Parents Nils Torvalds (father)
Anna Torvalds (mother)[2]
Relatives Ole Torvalds (grandfather)
Website
torvalds-family.blogspot.com

Linus Benedict Torvalds (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈliːnɵs ˈtuːrvalds]  ( listen); born December 28, 1969 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish software engineer best known for having initiated the development of the Linux kernel and git revision control system. He later became the chief architect of the Linux kernel, and now acts as the project's coordinator.

Contents

Biography

Early years

Linus Torvalds was born in Helsinki, Finland, the son of journalists Anna and Nils Torvalds,[3] and the grandson of poet Ole Torvalds. Both of his parents were campus radicals at the University of Helsinki in the 1960s. His family belongs to the Swedish-speaking minority (5.5%) of Finland's population. Torvalds was named after Linus Pauling, the American Nobel Prize-winning chemist, although in the book Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution, Torvalds is quoted as saying, "I think I was named equally for Linus the Peanuts cartoon character," noting that this makes him half "Nobel-prize-winning chemist" and half "blanket-carrying cartoon character".[4]

Torvalds attended the University of Helsinki from 1988 to 1996, graduating with a master's degree in computer science from NODES research group[5]. His academic career was interrupted after his first year of study when he joined the Finnish Army, selecting the 11-month officer training program to fulfill the mandatory military service of Finland. In the army he holds the rank of second lieutenant, with the role of a ballistic calculation officer.[6] In 1990, he resumed his university studies, and was exposed to UNIX for the first time, in the form of a DEC MicroVAX running ULTRIX.[7] His M.Sc. thesis was titled Linux: A Portable Operating System.

His interest in computers began with a Commodore VIC-20.[8] After the VIC-20 he purchased a Sinclair QL which he modified extensively, especially its operating system. He programmed an assembly language and a text editor for the QL, as well as a few games.[9] He is known to have written a Pac-Man clone named Cool Man. On January 5, 1991[10] he purchased an Intel 80386-based IBM PC[11] and spent a month playing the game Prince of Persia before receiving his MINIX copy which in turn enabled him to begin his work on Linux.[4]

Later years

After a visit to Transmeta in late 1996,[2] he accepted a position at the company in California, where he would work from February 1997 through June 2003. He then moved to the Open Source Development Labs, which has since merged with the Free Standards Group to become the Linux Foundation, under whose auspices he continues to work. In June 2004, Torvalds and his family moved to Portland, Oregon to be closer to the OSDL's Beaverton, Oregon-based headquarters.

From 1997 to 1999 he was involved in 86open helping to choose the standard binary format for Linux and Unix.

Red Hat and VA Linux, both leading developers of Linux-based software, presented Torvalds with stock options in gratitude for his creation.[12] In 1999, both companies went public and Torvalds' net worth shot up to roughly $20 million.[13][14]

His personal mascot is a penguin nicknamed Tux, which has been widely adopted by the Linux community as the mascot of the Linux kernel.

Although Torvalds believes that "open source is the only right way to do software", he also has said that he uses the "best tool for the job", even if that includes proprietary software.[15] He has been criticized for his use and alleged advocacy of the proprietary BitKeeper software for version control in the Linux kernel. However, Torvalds has since written a free-software replacement for BitKeeper called Git. Torvalds has commented on official GNOME developmental mailing lists that, in terms of desktop environments, he encourages users to switch to KDE.[16][17] However, Torvalds thought KDE 4.0 was a "disaster" because of its lack of maturity, so he temporarily switched to GNOME.[18]

The Linus/Linux connection

Main article: History of Linux

Initially Torvalds wanted to call the kernel he developed Freax (a combination of "free", "freak", and the letter X to indicate that it is a Unix-like system), but his friend Ari Lemmke, who administered the FTP server where the kernel was first hosted for downloading, named Torvalds' directory linux.

Authority on Linux

About 2% of the Linux kernel as of 2006 was written by Torvalds himself.[14] Since Linux has had thousands of contributors, such a percentage represents a significant personal contribution to the overall amount of code. Torvalds remains the ultimate authority on what new code is incorporated into the standard Linux kernel.[19]

Linux trademark

Torvalds owns the "Linux" trademark, and monitors[20] use of it chiefly through the Linux Mark Institute.

Personal life

Linus Torvalds is married to Tove Torvalds (née Monni) — a six-time Finnish national karate champion — whom he first met in the autumn of 1993.[21] Torvalds was running introductory computer laboratory exercises for students and instructed the course attendants to send him an e-mail as a test, to which Tove responded with an e-mail asking for a date.[4] Tove and Linus were later married and have three daughters, Patricia, Daniela, and Celeste.[22]

In an interview Torvalds describes himself as "completely a-religious — atheist", adding that "I find that people seem to think religion brings morals and appreciation of nature. I actually think it detracts from both. It gives people the excuse to say, “Oh, nature was just created”, and so the act of creation is seen to be something miraculous. I appreciate the fact that, “Wow, it's incredible that something like this could have happened in the first place.” He later added that while in Europe religion is mostly a personal issue, in America it has become very politicized.[23]

Recognition

See also

Notes

  1. ^ McMillan, Robert (December 2002). "The Great Dictator · Linus Torvalds: The Benevolent, Brilliant Keeper of the Kernel". FEATURES (Linux Magazine). Archived from the original on 2003-03-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20030304160629/http://www.linux-mag.com/2002-12/linus_01.html. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
  2. ^ a b Linux Online - Linus Torvalds Bio
  3. ^ TORVALDS, 2001
  4. ^ a b c Moody, Glyn (2002). Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution. Perseus Books Group. pp. 336. ISBN 0738206709. http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/perseus/book_detail_redirect.do?imprintCid=BA&isbn=0738206709. 
  5. ^ NODES research group
  6. ^ Torvalds, 2001, page 29
  7. ^ Torvalds, 2001, page 53
  8. ^ TORVALDS, 2001, pages 6-7
  9. ^ TORVALDS, 2001, pages 41-46
  10. ^ L i n u x N e w s
  11. ^ Torvalds, 2001, page 60
  12. ^ Gumbel, Peter (2006). Torvalds "Linus Torvalds: By giving away his software, the Finnish programmer earned a place in history"]. 60 Years of Heros. TIME. http://www.time.com/time/europe/hero2006/torvalds.html Torvalds]. Retrieved 2008-06-14. 
  13. ^ Rivlin, Gary. "Leader of the Free World". Wired. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.11/linus_pr.html. Retrieved 2008-06-14. 
  14. ^ a b Linus Torvalds: A Very Brief and Completely Unauthorized Biography
  15. ^ Linus Torvalds at Google, on Git, 9:50-10:00
  16. ^ Printing dialog and GNOME
  17. ^ Linus versus GNOME
  18. ^ "it was a half-baked release (...) I'll revisit it when I reinstall the next machine"Q&A: Linux founder Linus Torvalds talks about open-source identity
  19. ^ Henrik Ingo. Open Life: The Philosophy of Open Source. Ingram, 2005. 42-45. Online version
  20. ^ Linus Explains Linux Trademark Issues
  21. ^ TORVALDS, 2001, page 123
  22. ^ Torvalds' bio on nndb.com
  23. ^ Richardson, Marjorie (November 1, 1999). "Interview: Linus Torvalds". Linux Journal. http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3655. Retrieved 15 November 2009. 
  24. ^ Torvalds, Stallman, Simons Win 1998 Pioneer Awards
  25. ^ Torvalds, 2001, page 28
  26. ^ Talking to Torvalds, British Computer Society, September 2007.
  27. ^ The Person of the Century Poll Results
  28. ^ Lessig, Lawrence. "Linus Torvalds: The Free-Software Champion". Time. April 26, 2004. retrieved October 3, 2006.
  29. ^ The Best & Worst Managers Of The Year
  30. ^ Linux creator Linus Torvalds honored with Reed College's Vollum Award
  31. ^ 10 people who don't matter
  32. ^ Linus Torvalds
  33. ^ "The Computer History Museum Announces the 2008 Fellow Awards Recipients". 2008-06-18. http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080618/0407491.html. Retrieved 2008-06-20. 
  34. ^ "Fellow Awards: Linus Benedict Torvalds". 2008-10-21. http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/index.php?id=123. Retrieved 2008-10-23. 

References

External links

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