r/linux • u/MMORPGDev • 19h ago

Development Linux Kernel Developers Plan To Remove "Assisted-By" Tag Requirement For AI/LLM Usage

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Dropping-Assisted-By-Req
512 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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430

u/UnrealHallucinator 19h ago

Its probably so developers are forced to take more ownership of their patches and not offer excuses

56

u/zabby39103 17h ago

Reducing information reduces your ability to assess a situation. This is the equivalent of turning logging off.

28

u/cornmonger_ 16h ago

a maintainer doesn't care about the "situation"

commits either meet acceptance criteria or they do not

7

u/mort96 12h ago

And an important criteria is, "how well does the contributor understand the code they're contributing?"

7

u/Secret_Conclusion_93 12h ago

Nope, the criteria is the code themself, and following proper procedure.

-3

u/mort96 12h ago

Is that really for you to decide?

5

u/Leliana403 12h ago

And an important criteria is, "how well does the contributor understand the code they're contributing?" 

Is that really for you to decide?

1

u/mort96 12h ago

Well I happen to think it's an important criteria. But no, it's not for me to decide, it's for the maintainer of any given subsystem to decide.

0

u/Leliana403 12h ago

Well maybe the other person happens to think 

the criteria is the code themself, and following proper procedure. 

Why is your opinion any more valid than theirs?

3

u/0riginal-Syn 12h ago

It is more about the code being submitted and how well the maintainer can understand it. In the end the code has to work and be maintainable. If there are questions, then we ask the contributor to explain. This is regardless if the submission was "AI submitted". I have seen some down right terrible code submissions by developers not using LLM. I am not saying I am for LLM at all. I am for good maintainable code.

1

u/Tomi97_origin 5h ago

Nope. The contributer may never contribute again. They aren't signing up to maintain this code in the future, so their understanding doesn't really matter all that much.

What matters is if the code works and how well the maintainer can understand the code.

-1

u/cornmonger_ 12h ago

nope. that's not acceptance criteria

17

u/UnrealHallucinator 15h ago

Hardly. A lot of senior linux developers don't even put in the name anymore it's literally just "assisted by: llm". There's no real information. Removing the tag makes it so that now people are wholly and solely responsible, there's no off loading responsibility saying "claude misled me" or whatever. It's also just bloat.

1

u/Most_Strike_93 10h ago

I see, reasonable. I also hate when the commit messages has the bot emails. Maybe it is not a bad thing

1

u/UnrealHallucinator 9h ago

Do you mean sashiko?

1

u/Most_Strike_93 9h ago

Sorry, what sashiko is? If you mean the sign co-authored by , yes. I also do not like it if the contributors contribute the pr with me with the emails of robots, I just think they do not understand this context and won't take responsibility for it. So I think your explanation is reasonable for me. I also have thought about that. But I also view this kind of thing as the sign LLM party has gone further. I do not know if I like this change or not

•

u/UnrealHallucinator 20m ago

Nah I misunderstood what you meant. Sashiko is the ai that reviews each patch submitted and pre informs you about potential problems.

•

u/UnrealHallucinator 13m ago

About llms: yeah it's gone quite far but the party isn't ending.

18

u/redcorerobot 16h ago

Its not relevant information and its not enforcable. If the code submitted is bad the person submitting it did a bad job. The tools they used to do a bad job dont really make a difference in that calculation

10

u/gurgelblaster 16h ago

It is absolutely relevant information, not least for long-term evaluations of future use.

4

u/Hithaeglir 14h ago

How? The only question is the copyright since nobody knows that. If the code sucks, the developer is responsible and on repeated slop, maybe prevent contributions for a while. Slop should hit the developer's reputation.

1

u/gurgelblaster 13h ago

It will, yes, but should also hit the tool, for damaging good developers.

1

u/Hithaeglir 13h ago

I think developers have some responsibility for how they use the tools or have some self control.

0

u/gurgelblaster 5h ago

They do, and some tools are impossible to use safely and well.

-1

u/0riginal-Syn 12h ago

If you cannot assess the "situation" whether it is tagged with "assisted by LLM" or not, you should not be a maintainer reviewing submissions.