Linus is right to take this position. The kernel’s role should be to provide correctness and robust primitives, not to impose policy. Policy belongs in userland. Plan 9 demonstrated this separation clearly more than 30 years ago, and most Unix systems still have not fully internalized that lesson. At this point, Linus has likely grown weary of revisiting the same architectural debate repeatedly, though only he could say for certain.
Moreover, a kernel that focuses on correctness, safety, and minimal mechanisms tends to be more stable, more portable, and easier to reason about over time. When policy is embedded in the kernel, it becomes harder to evolve, harder to test, and more politically contentious within a large project like Linux.
Whether right or wrong, it does provide an interesting lesson in community-driven development. Have guidelines to preserve order and ensure the guidelines are readily known to the community.
