Linux kernel key lead Greg Kroah-Hartman notes in a message to the Linux kernel mailing list: “Remove some entries due to various conformance requirements. They may return in the future if sufficient documentation is provided.” This documentation is to demonstrate that they do not work for entities that have been sanctioned by various countries such as the US, Taiwan, Norway and New Zealand. At least one administrator will be reinstated soon.
Although it is chaotic and probably disturbing for the sufferers, it is actually a good confusion. After all, it’s a sign that open source in general and Linux in particular matters. Go back even 10 years and the world has only just begun to come to terms with the importance of open source thanks to security vulnerabilities like Heartbleed. In a micro sense this is a problem, but in a macro sense it indicates positive trends.
Never meet your heroes
On the not so positive side of the open source book is the whole WordPress controversy. I guess I’m following people of a certain persuasion on X, because according to their comment, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg turned evil incarnate overnight and started an unprovoked legal campaign against WP Engine. Delve a little more into the details, as Ivan Mehta did, and it’s clear there’s a lot to complain about.