Is Linus Torvalds Vibe Coding?
The creator of Linux has added AI into his process for Linux kernel development, and it's more than just for debugging.
It's fairly well known that Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, has made public his stance on using AI to help in the debugging of the Linux kernel…he's all for it. But until now, the use of AI was limited to that task.
Now, it seems, Torvalds has decided to use AI in the development of new kernel features. His tool of choice: Claude Code.
"The code, the test programs, the review behind the list above and the first draft of this text were done with an LLM coding assistant (Claude Code) under my direction." Said Torvalds, in this recent patch message. He adds, "The measurements were run on my machine."
The code to which Torvalds was referring was for noref-filemap-read-with-llm, which is an idea he had that "A folio removed from the page cache goes back to the page allocator only after an RCU grace period."
Michael Larabel, from Phoronix, saw a new kernel branch appear, to which he said, "I was surprised to find a new kernel branch appear. Typically Torvalds isn't doing much work on branches in his main repository and typically just hosting the master branch."
What Torvalds discovered, with the help of Claude Code, was that instead of tracking every reader with a reference count, better performance can be had by using Linux's Read-Copy-Update (RCU) synchronization mechanism. The previous approach suffered under heavy CPU locking, whereas the new model uses lockless RCU Read by way of deferred memory freeing and reference-free copy.
The patches can be viewed here, but there's no definitive declaration if they will be merged into the upcoming 7.4 kernel.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux 7.4 is "Much Healthier" Thanks to AI
At nearly 42 million lines, Linux 7.4 is the largest merge in the kernel’s history.
-
Working Exploit for a Linux Kernel Flaw Made Public
Even before a bug received its CVE identifier or an upstream fix, the local privilege escalation vulnerability exploit found its way into the wild.
-
r/opensource Bans AI-Assisted and AI-Related Projects
The de facto subreddit for all things open source has not only banned AI-related projects but also users who "don't speak English."
-
Bottlenecks Discovered by Meta Engineers Lead to Scalability Improvements
Thanks to a small group of engineers at Meta, the Linux kernel module kernfs has been improved, which has led to some serious gains.
-
PwnEscape Poses VM Vulnerability
A guest-to-host escape flaw in Linux KVM, named PwnEscape, might be yet another means of attacking Linux.
-
Linux Mint 27 Set for a Christmas Release
The developers behind Linux Mint have announced a Christmas release, and it looks like Santa's sack will be brimming with features.
-
Is Linus Torvalds Vibe Coding?
The creator of Linux has added AI into his process for Linux kernel development, and it's more than just for debugging.
-
openKylin 3.0 Released with Expanded AI Integration
The latest release features a pre-installed AI agent to help perform tasks.
-
DigitalOcean Ends Open Source Credits Program
In a change that has surprised many open source developers, DigitalOcean has decided to sunset its Open Source Credits Program.
-
Office 365 Available for Testing on Linux via Bottles
Linux users can now test the official Office 365, thanks to Mirko Brombin's work on Bottles.