Linux Foundation—Linux kernel removed 11 Russian maintainers citing sanctions compliance with disputed legal basis
In October 2024, Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman removed 11 Russian nationals from the MAINTAINERS file, citing vague 'compliance requirements.' The Software Freedom Conservancy later argued that the relevant US Executive Order 14071 did not legally require this removal. Critics noted the lack of transparency, the failure to credit removed developers, and the precedent of geopolitics influencing open source contributor access. Linus Torvalds defended the decision.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Governance | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Open Source | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.664 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Greg Kroah-Hartman removed 11 Russian kernel maintainers from MAINTAINERS file
Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman committed a patch removing 11 Russian nationals from the Linux kernel MAINTAINERS file, citing 'various compliance requirements.' The Software Freedom Conservancy later published analysis arguing the relevant US Executive Order 14071 did not legally require this action. Linus Torvalds defended the decision referencing his Finnish nationality and opposition to Russian aggression.