although it’s quite true that Linux is effectively a cult of personality, in practice Linus is usually right to criticize; in this particular case his criticism is apt. Anyone who dares to work in Linux kernel development knows the score - Linus holds all the cards and he calls the crap out whenever he sees it because everyone trusts him to set the standard. Piss him off at your own risk, hey life’s too short for us to cater to snowflake mega corporations who plop CYA at the top of the todo list.
So far Linux has been the most successful ongoing project in the history of software. And Linus has always had the last word. So if he calls some kernel patch crap I’m certainly going to examine it carefully before I pick it up and try to defend it.
They’re fig leafing a hardware security bug in software. Obfuscation maneuvers drive down the risk of known ways to run exploits and that’s about it.
Looking at Apple’s description of it, I wonder what sent the world’s computer scientists to sleep with Rip Van Winkle.