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I was reading a wiki article about DRM, and I found in the Development paragraph this:

Torvalds, as top maintainer of the whole kernel, holds the last word on 
whether a patch is suitable or not for inclusion in the kernel.

So, how is it possible that one man holds the last word whether a patch goes in? In a project of that size, it is not possible to be an expert in everything. Does it mean that he checks every patch?

Kilian Foth
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BЈовић
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    having last word is not the same as handling all - that last word is necessary only when there is confusion or a disagreement between "lieutenants" – gnat Feb 23 '17 at 11:21

1 Answers1

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Does it mean that he checks every patch?

No, it doesn't mean that.

It means that if it comes to it, he can reject or accept any patch and cannot be overruled.

Which doesn't mean he looks at every single patch - he is most likely to look at controversial patches and at patches in his areas of expertise.

Kernel work tends to be divided to subsystems - each of which will have maintainers. A few of these maintainers are trusted by Linus (they are also known as his lieutenants) - he would usually merge patches they submit without reviewing them (or not reviewing them as closely).

Oded
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