Reprinted from the public account CSDN (ID: CSDNnews)
Compiled by | Zheng Liyuan
In the open-source community, the maintenance of the Linux kernel has always been the result of the collective efforts of many developers. Among them, the wireless/WiFi drivers, as an important component of the Linux kernel, have long relied on the diligent contributions of a few core maintainers.
However, a recent announcement has attracted widespread attention: Kalle Valo, the sole primary maintainer of the Linux wireless/WiFi drivers, has announced his impending resignation.
Kalle Valo’s Contributions
The first commit submitted by Kalle Valo in Linux dates back to the 2008 Linux 2.6 kernel version, when he submitted a patch named “spi: omap2_mcspi PIO RX fix”—and since then, Kalle Valo has been contributing to the Linux kernel for over a decade.
In his daily work, he serves as an engineer at Qualcomm Atheros, participating in the development of several Qualcomm Atheros WiFi drivers: ATH12K, Atheros ATH10K, Atheros ATH11K, and Atheros ATH generic tools; and he has been the core maintainer of Linux wireless network drivers. Over the years, he has been dedicated to improving and maintaining Linux wireless drivers, providing a reliable network experience for millions of users worldwide.
However, last week Kalle Valo announced on the Linux wireless mailing list that he would resign from all project maintainer roles. Although he did not specify the exact reasons for his departure, this decision undoubtedly brings uncertainty to the future development of Linux wireless drivers.
In Kalle’s resignation announcement, he mentioned that Jeff Johnson would continue to be responsible for the maintenance of the ATH10K, ATH11K, and ATH12K drivers, which means these specific drivers will not be immediately affected. However, there is currently no clear successor for the overall maintenance of the wireless drivers (drivers/net/wireless/).
To this end, Kalle Valo mentioned that if any developers are interested in this role, they can contact him or Johannes Berg directly—Johannes Berg is a senior developer in the Linux wireless subsystem and has been involved in related work for many years. However, as of now, no one has publicly expressed a willingness to take on this role.
How Should Future Maintenance of Linux Wireless Drivers Be Conducted?
Undoubtedly, Kalle Valo’s resignation has sparked widespread attention and discussion in the open-source community.
Many developers and users have expressed gratitude for his contributions, but at the same time, they are concerned about the future maintenance of Linux wireless drivers. It is well known that the development of the Linux kernel relies on the collaboration of numerous developers, and the departure of key maintainers may lead to gaps in the maintenance of related modules.
As a result, many developers have begun discussions on this issue and are thinking about how to improve the weaknesses in the open-source development model:
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“First of all, I have great respect for all developers involved in Linux kernel development. However… hearing about so many maintainers stepping down without anyone prepared to take over makes me uneasy. Can’t these developers announce in advance their intention to step down?”
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“I believe that in any well-functioning organization, all important projects should have a second-in-command. Linux should be like this, ensuring that all major maintenance projects have a formal second-in-command to avoid such events from happening.”
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“What we are seeing now with these high-profile retirements of maintainers is one of the main weaknesses of the open-source development model. The Linux organization needs to grow up and become like a company, ensuring deep inheritance and continuity in all foundational aspects of kernel and driver development. WiFi is a very important foundational part, and having only one maintainer for WiFi drivers without a successor is absolutely a scandal, even a disgrace to the notion of open-source as the primary means of developing, releasing, and maintaining global software.”
For ordinary users, Kalle Valo’s resignation may not bring immediate noticeable effects. The Linux wireless drivers are already relatively mature, and the existing driver versions can meet the needs of most users. However, in the long term, new maintainers need to be in place as soon as possible to ensure that wireless drivers can continue to adapt to new hardware and software environments.
No matter what the future holds, Kalle Valo’s contributions will be remembered, and his maintenance work has laid a solid foundation for the Linux community. At the same time, we look forward to the continued progress of Linux wireless drivers under new maintainers.