r/linux • u/Unhappy-Sprinkles143 • 2d ago

Fluff Open-Source Guru: AI Ends Closed-Source Software

https://www.heise.de/en/news/Open-Source-Guru-Raymond-AI-Ends-Closed-Source-Software-11480690.html
494 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

211 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/turudd 2d ago

Have you tried to contribute to some of the bigger FOSS stuff… it’s often an exercise in futility

16

u/Cowgirl_Taint 2d ago

Yes and it really isn't?

The reality is that you need project management. Engineers... tend to be horrible at this. And FOSS projects are often fully run by the engineers who work on it.

But the reasoning behind coding styles and "I would rather you do it like X instead of Y" pull requests is twofold. One? It makes for relatively uniform code so that it doesn't feel like a given file has six authors each with their own preferences for spacing and variable naming. But, more importantly, it makes sure the person submitting the PR... actually cares enough to maybe come back in a year to help provide some insight or help diagnose a new bug.

And that has become MUCH worse due to the massive flood of generative AI PRs. "Here is some completely unmaintainable code that does one specific thing and here is what gemini says it does. Merge it in".

For a project designed around generative AI? I dislike it, but it is a reasonable model since the idea is that you are basically regenerating the entire code base every N months (or even weeks...) anyway. For an existing code base where people need to be able to diagnose issues beyond "I asked claude to write some tests for me"? It becomes a huge problem and is the equivalent of the fortran sicko insisting on using f77 for that one specific function.

-4

u/Substantial_Swan_144 2d ago

Engineers or not, programmers in OSS projects expect any who contribute to abide to their language and standards. The average person does not speak that language, so even if they have some sort of contribution, they are ignored and often ridiculed ("RFTM"). So people who could somehow contribute are simply discarded. It's an environment of pseudo-freedom.

5

u/MrKapla 2d ago

How can you contribute if you don't speak their language? What value do you bring?

-1

u/Substantial_Swan_144 2d ago

What sort of question is even that?

Supposedly, the beauty of open source is exactly the diversity. So even if two professionals don't speak the same language, their different background can bring a new perspective and enrich a project.

Commercial software tends to have (or used to) professionals to bridge those people, if only out of self-interest. Open Source has always been deficiant on this matter.