- Linus Torvalds now sees himself as a development lead rather than a programmer, focusing on understanding the bigger picture through pull requests and handling merge conflicts.
- He uses only two main tools: Git for version control and email for communication, relying on maintainers and avoiding last-minute fixes to maintain a steady release schedule.
- Torvalds emphasizes incremental improvements over splashy releases, though AI-generated bug reports and patches have added stress, often producing junk or superficial fixes.
- He supports removing obsolete hardware and software, like discontinuing support for 486 SX CPUs and old networking standards, to reduce maintenance burdens.
- While acknowledging Rust's value, he believes C remains simpler and more powerful, noting that Rust doesn't prevent logic errors and its guarantees break in mixed C/Rust codebases.
- AI and LLMs are used cautiously; they can prototype ideas but often generate invalid bug reports or band-aid patches, requiring human verification and suggested fixes.
- Torvalds values finding bugs, even embarrassing ones, over ignoring them, and uses AI for personal projects like adding Godzilla to family photos from his travels.