August 30, 2000
Torvalds: Talk is cheap
Linus Torvalds dismisses architecture debates on the Linux kernelThe core of an operating system that manages hardware, memory, and processes — everything else depends on it. mailing list — ship patches, not opinions.
Quote
“Talk is cheap. Show me the code.”
What it was for
The line became open-source culture in eight words. It appears on stickers, README files, and every thread where design docs pile up without a pull request.
People
- Linus Torvalds — maintainer
Why it's here
The motto of meritocratic open-source contribution.
Why it mattered
It reinforced Linux's patch-driven governance over specification committees.
What it solved
Mailing-list theory needed a norm that rewarded working implementations.
Media
ImageLinus TorvaldsKrd (photo)Von Sprat (crop/extraction), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Related
- Linus Torvalds announces LinuxAugust 25, 1991
- Git createdApril 7, 2005