Farewell Letter from Linux Kernel Maintainer Serge Semin on the Removal of Russian Maintainers

Linux kernel’s second‑largest maintainer, Greg KH, removed Russian contributors without providing a clear reason, prompting concerns about the impact of sanctions on open‑source projects.

Serge Semin’s farewell letter describes the brief commit message’s vague wording, the absence of explanations from senior maintainers, and his inability to seek legal advice due to the volunteer nature of his work.

He argues that the decision is politically driven, undermines the community’s founding principles, and sends a discouraging signal to volunteers and newcomers.

Despite the situation, Serge expresses gratitude to numerous colleagues—NTB team, Andy, Mark, Damien, and many others—who reviewed and helped with drivers such as DW I2C, GPIO, SPI, TTY, DMA, NET, and hardware monitoring.

He shares his personal statistics: 518 signed patches, 253 reviewed patches, and 80 tested patches over seven years, emphasizing his commitment to the kernel.

Serge offers to provide information about the drivers he maintained and invites others to take over ongoing work, concluding with a hopeful note for future, more pleasant interactions.