Tux Machines

Oregon winter storm delays Linux 6.8 merge window

Posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jan 16, 2024,

updated Jan 17, 2024

Linus Torvalds has indefinitely postponed the merge window for version 6.8 of the Linux kernel after a winter storm knocked out power and [Internet] near his work-from-home location in Oregon.

On Saturday Torvalds shared news that temperatures in his area near Portland fell to 14°F (-10°C) and that the power outage was widespread.

Read on

Update

Original and LWN:

Heads up - effectively offline for now

Just a note to say that the merge window is paused as far as I'm

concerned, because we've lost power and internet thanks to a winter

storm. Of course, this is Oregon, so "storm" here is what some people

would probably consider "somewhat windy", and "winter" here means that

the temperature is approaching -10°C.

There's apparently about 100k people without power, and I doubt our

neighborhood is the priority, so I expect to be without power for some

time still. I hope I'm wrong, but a few years ago it took more than a

week to restore power due to all the downed trees. It's hopefully

nowhere near that, but..

And before anybody says "just go to a Starbucks and work from there",

the scariest thing out there - apart from possibly downed trees and

power lines - is other drivers. I'll stay put.

Linus

A glitch in the merge window

On January 13, Linus Torvalds let it be known that he had lost power due to the bad weather in the US Pacific Northwest. As of this writing, he has not yet resurfaced, so the 6.8 merge window has ground to a halt.