14 DAY TRIAL // On October 5, Sarah Sharp, a prominent Linux kernel developer, announced that she officially stepped down as a contributor to the upstream kernel, blaming the lack of respect among those who run the show from behind the curtains.
Sarah Sharp had been a longtime Linux kernel developer, the maintainer of the USB 3.0 host controller driver. She was the Linux kernel coordinator for the FOSS Outreach Program for Women (OPW), encouraging females from all over the world to get involved in the development of the Linux kernel, the core component of any GNU/Linux operating system out there.
"This came about after a very long period of thought, and a lot of succession planning. I didn’t take the decision to step down lightly. I felt guilty, for a long time, for stepping down. However, I finally realized that I could no longer contribute to a community where I was technically respected, but I could not ask for personal respect," says Sarah Sharp.
It is quite sad to see Linux kernel developers stepping down just because some people are allowed to make subtle sexist or homophobic jokes. Sarah Sharp will continue her work as a developer by focusing on the Intel Mesa driver for Chromebooks. You can follow Sarah's work on her LinkedIn and Twitter pages, as well as on her personal blog.
Closing a door on the Linux kernel community: http://t.co/rck2pzymRm
— Sarah Sharp (@sarahsharp) October 5, 2015