Steve French, longtime SMB maintainer in the Linux kernel, has died

Citing Jeremy Allison, the publication LWN.net has reported the death of Steve French — the developer who for many years was responsible for the SMB filesystem code in the Linux kernel. He had stepped down from his maintainer duties only a week earlier, the reason being health problems.

For many years French looked after the part of the kernel that handles the SMB network protocol — the very code that lets Linux systems work with Windows file shares and other SMB servers. Work like this rarely makes the headlines, but without it everyday interoperability of systems on mixed networks would be far more painful.

Jeremy Allison, who had known French for more than twenty years, wrote a warm farewell: “I knew Steve for over twenty years. He was a legend in the community and a genuinely good friend. We will miss him greatly. Goodbye, Steve.” The LWN editorial team joins in these words.

The report offers few details, and there is little to add to them beyond acknowledging the contribution that lives on in the kernel codebase and in the memory of those who worked alongside him.

Source: LWN.net