Someone pointed me towards this email, in which Linus apologizes for some of his more unhealthy behaviour.

The above is basically a long-winded way to get to the somewhat painful personal admission that hey, I need to change some of my behavior, and I want to apologize to the people that my personal behavior hurt and possibly drove away from kernel development entirely.

To me, this came somewhat as a surprise. I'm not really involved in Linux kernel development, and so the history of what led up to this email mostly passed unnoticed, at least for me; but that doesn't mean I cannot recognize how difficult this must have been to write for him.

As I know from experience, admitting that you have made a mistake is hard. Admitting that you have been making the same mistake over and over again is even harder. Doing so publically? Even more so, since you're placing yourself in a vulnerable position, one that the less honorably inclined will take advantage of if you're not careful.

There isn't much I can contribute to the whole process, but there is this: Thanks, Linus, for being willing to work on those things, which can only make the community healthier as a result. It takes courage to admit things like that, and that is only to be admired. Hopefully this will have the result we're hoping for, too; but that, only time can tell.