No, Linus Doesn't Code on GitHub — Those Green Squares Are Merge Commits From kernel.org
_jaydeepkarale · x · 2026-09-11
Responding to jokes that Linus Torvalds still commits code like an intern, the author explains how torvalds/linux on GitHub actually works:
- The repo is a mirror of the official tree on kernel.org; Linus never commits through his GitHub account
- The green squares are merge commits he makes via the real kernel workflow (mailing lists + git pulls), copied to GitHub and attributed to his profile because the email matches
- His GitHub account isn't doing the work — it's just displaying activity that happened elsewhere
In short: the contribution graph is a side effect of how GitHub counts things, not evidence of daily commits on GitHub.
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