On Tuesday morning, Hector Martin announced his resignation from his role as the project lead of Asahi Linux. This initiative began shortly after Apple transitioned to its Silicon architecture in early 2021. Through significant effort, the team was able to launch an alpha build of Asahi Linux for M1 and M2 Macs in early 2022. The project had been progressing well.
However, citing burnout and challenges within the Linux community—including criticism from Linus Torvalds—Hector Martin made the difficult decision to step down. Ideally, the project will continue its momentum without his direct involvement.
Background
The task of porting Linux to Apple Silicon was fraught with challenges. Nevertheless, with substantial community support, Martin managed to make it a reality. For a substantial period, the project was thriving:
The initial couple of years were fantastic as we developed the platform from scratch into one of the best Linux experiences available on a laptop. While some pieces of hardware support were still missing, the overall experience was comparable to, if not better than, most x86 laptops. We achieved this without any vendor support or documentation. It was a monumental task, one that had never been accomplished before, and we did it.
Unfortunately, the excitement was short-lived. Numerous users within the community expressed entitlement and dissatisfaction, despite the project’s remarkable achievements. Although Asahi Linux was far from perfect, it was undeniably impressive.
In addition to user complaints, the project faced resistance from several influential developers in the Linux community, as noted by Martin:
Simply put, I view Linus’ management of Rust integration into Linux as a significant lapse in leadership. A project of such magnitude requires substantial backing from major stakeholders to endure, yet his approach appears to have been passive. Meanwhile, several subsystem maintainers have actively tried to undermine the project, have resorted to unacceptable verbal abuse, and generally detracted from morale without facing any repercussions.
Despite Linus Torvalds’ initial support for the project—he even wrote the Linux 5.19 release notes on an M2 MacBook Air running Asahi Linux—his lack of direct involvement, particularly against the backdrop of less than supportive Linux maintainers, proved detrimental to the project’s progress.
Regrettably, following these numerous hurdles, Martin opted to step away. I recommend reading his blog for a deeper and more technical analysis.
What’s Next?
According to Hector Martin, the project will continue, with him passing the responsibility to the rest of the Asahi Linux team. By 2025, the goal is to achieve kernel upstreaming, which would integrate all the necessary drivers for M1 and M2 Macs into the Linux kernel.
Currently, Asahi Linux operates as a downstream effort, meaning its patches are separate from general Linux development. Moving upstream is a significant undertaking with far-reaching implications.
Additionally, the team is focused on enhancing their testing processes and developing new features for M1 and M2 devices, such as DisplayPort alt mode, DirectX 12 compatibility, and internal microphone support. The latter is expected to be available in just a few days.
Unfortunately, support for newer hardware will not be prioritized, meaning M3 and M4 Mac users may experience delays. While work is being done in this area, the previously mentioned changes take precedence. The project needs a solid foundation for long-term success.
Though there will always be uncertainties when a project leader departs, it appears that Asahi Linux will hopefully continue to thrive, albeit not on the latest hardware. I wish the Asahi Linux team great success and look forward to reporting on exciting developments in the future.
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