Hans Reiser Arrested On Suspicion of Murder

Many readers wrote about the arrest today of Hans Reiser, author of ReiserFS, by Oakland, CA police on suspicion of murdering his estranged wife. From the San Francisco Chronicle: "Hans Reiser, 42, was taken into custody at 11 a.m., hours after Oakland police and FBI technicians searched his home in the Oakland hills. His estranged wife, Nina Reiser, 31, has been missing since Sept. 3, when she dropped off the couple's son and daughter at his home on the 6900 block of Exeter Drive... Police made the arrest based on circumstantial evidence and have not found Nina Reiser's body, [Hans Reiser's attorney] Du Bois said. 'I have no idea what the circumstantial evidence is,' he said. 'When I hear what the evidence is against him, I'll make a decision as to whether he'll talk to them.'" kimvette writes, "While the disappearance (and possible murder) of his wife is tragic, Linux users will wonder where this will leave Reiser 4. If Reiser is found guilty, will Novell or IBM pick up the pieces and finish up Reiser 4 for inclusion in the kernel or is this the end of the Reiser filesystem project? Will there be any future for the Reiser filesystem, and if Hans is found guilty and the project is continued, will the project be renamed to avoid notoriety?"

That really sucks

[by Anonymous Coward]

I hope they let him code in prison.

I call Bullshit..

[buswolley (591500)]

So long as he has community support, he won't commit a murder.. I call Bullshit. It is equally simplistic to think that all cases can be rehabilitated as it is to think that there are no cases that can be rehabilitated.

People are complex. There brains are complex. Sometimes there is no amount of love and support that can turn a guy around.

Secondly..Prison is the worst rehabilitation... Constant contact with other violent people usually is a negative influence.

Lastly, your logic is horrible. I'll use your line of argument in another situation:

I know a smoker who is 95 years old, therefore smoking is safe.

??? Well--Are you ready to say, "point conceded?"

Re:That really sucks

[Oliver Defacszio (550941)]

Most people who murder someone will probably spend the rest of their life fucked up in the head. They have created their own punishment, living every day with the guilt.

Jesus H. Christ, can we PUH-LEASE leave this damned stupid argument behind once and for freaking all. SOME murderers, I am sure, feel guilty, but to state that MOST killers are wracked by guilt goes way, way, way beyond what evidence has repeatedly shown. Prisons are full of unrepentent murderers, as are the streets.

In other words, a healthy percentage of killers don't care for one second what they've done. There are various reasons for this, but look around before assuming that "most" murderers are just good people who have done something bad. The world is full of assholes who are assholes just for the sake of being assholes, and there are countless examples of this extending into the realm of murder.

Re:That really sucks

[liliafan (454080)]

Actually people with 'normal moral values' do also object to the death penalty. Can you always be 100% certain the person being executed is guilty? Moratoria [wikipedia.org]

Re:That really sucks

[st1d (218383)]

>>> like heaven...hardy a fit punishment for any crime.

Ah, we can fix that. Hans' computer will be running XP, and the development environment...MS VS Pro. He'll beg for the chair!

Just joking, I wouldn't even do that to MS execs. :)

Unbelievable

[nubnub (795694)]

He's arrested for killing his wife and this post asks what's the deal with Reiser 4? Classy kdawson, very classy.

Re:Unbelievable

[Wonko the Sane (25252)]

That wasn't in the original post. He added it later.

But honestly, how many people would think that even if it wasn't posted on the front page?

Re:Unbelievable

[Random Destruction (866027)]

But honestly, how many people would think that even if it wasn't posted on the front page?

Probably a lot of people. But, what's wrong with that? It's natural for people to think of how an event will affect them.

Re:Unbelievable

[Wonko the Sane (25252)]

I think the original poster had a case of "everyone thinks it, but we shouldn't say it out loud".

Re:Unbelievable

[msuzio (3104)]

I agree. Natural enough for people (as people) to ponder that, but a woman is (presumed) dead. Asking how this will affect anything so ephemeral as a piece of software is absurd. That should never have been written.

I mean, besides being crass, it's also obvious -- so why point it out? Sure, we all naturally wonder what might happen to the software, but is it worth actually discussing?

Re:Unbelievable

[SoulDrift (638565)]

On the contrary, far from being crass, the fate of ReiserFS is the only part of this sorry subject that merits discussion on Slashot. Anything else, discussed in a forum of people who don't personally know those involved, is nothing more than lurid gossip

Re:Unbelievable

[BrokenHalo (565198)]

Exactly. Reiser hasn't yet faced trial, let alone been found guilty.

Re:Unbelievable

[Lemmy Caution (8378)]

It depends whose life, and to whom, and what their criteria for determining importance are. Importance isn't a property of the world; it is a relationship between a mind and a thing. A child of mine would be more important than the entire US fleet - to me. Outside of peoples' minds, there is no such thing as "importance."

especially since that's the only reason it's here

[Trepidity (597)]

If Hans Reiser wasn't the author of a somewhat well known filesystem, but instead some other random guy who was uninvolved in free software, his being arrested wouldn't be on Slashdot in the first place.

Re:especially since that's the only reason it's he

[BrokenHalo (565198)]

The name is not tainted. Whatever one's opinion of Hans Reiser (I personally have none), ReiserFS is pretty much universally accepted as a very fine filesystem, and there's no reason why that should change.

However, having said that, it might in fact be a plus to describe it as a killer filesystem... ;-)

*ducks*

it's like ... the opposite of trust

[BorgCopyeditor (590345)]

I know, Microsoft have paid the police to do this, to discredit a Linux FS?

Totally, dude. Like, this one time, Micro$uxx paid this chick to be this like hardcore open-source dude's girlfriend, and like, she made him chili with peanuts in it, which he like would like totally have died if he ate it? Way of the world, man *massssssivvvee toooooke* way of the fuckin' world.

Re:it's like ... the opposite of trust

[niskel (805204)]

Dude, sesame seeds.

Re:Unbelievable

[Eccles (932)]

Laci Peterson's body was found in San Francisco Bay, with DNA confirmation that it was her. A witness saw Peterson removing a large, heavy bundle from his house and placing it in his truck, which he then drove to a marina. The remainder of the evidence was indeed circumstantial.

You ain't seen tacky yet...

[by Anonymous Coward]

All Reiser has to do is roll back the journal on his wife's deletion. Problem solved by superior software!

There. How's that for tasteless?

Re:You ain't seen tacky yet...

[msuzio (3104)]

Actually, I appreciate the completely tasteless humor much more than the completely stupid serious comments on this. The humor recognizes and appreciates the absurb quality of all of this, and doesn't even try to propose a serious take on the matter.

Is it really funny? No. But horrible situations are sometimes relieved by nervous titters of black humor.

Re:You ain't seen tacky yet...

[by Anonymous Coward]

Is it really funny? No. But horrible situations are sometimes relieved by nervous titters of black humor.

Now that's just racist.

Re:You ain't seen tacky yet...

[Jah-Wren Ryel (80510)]

You know, its comments like this (even in the semi-anonymous and lame-black-humor-filled world of Slashdot) that keeps our image down. No wonder most people don't care about our opinions and treat us with lack of respect.

What a load of sanctimonius bullshit.

Tell that to Leno next time he cracks a 9/11 joke.
Or Letterman next time he cracks an Iraqi occupation joke.
Or the SNL writers next time they do an Abu Graib skit.

People here are on slashdot are no different from people everywhere else.

This brings up an interesting line of questioning

[Thnikkaman (818752)]

This brings up an interesting line of questioning. Are OSS projects that rely so heavily on a single person able to be trusted for widespread use? OSS and Linux zealots scream the advantages of using that kind of software, but is it a smart business decision to deploy something that could potentially lose all support if its project manager is in a fatal car accident? I'm the first to admit my own ignorance on a lot of the heirarchy of OSS projects. Are concerns like this valid or is the community able to pick up where someone left off with minimal interruption to clients?

Re:This brings up an interesting line of questioni

[jonabbey (2498)]

In the case of ReiserFS, the code doesn't get into the mainline kernel without it being reviewed by enough people that there is some hope of maintainability in the absence of one key person.

The problem comes in when no one else wants to maintain a piece of code, but then that's why people pay Red Hat or SuSE cash for their otherwise freely distributable distributions.

Re:This brings up an interesting line of questioni

[Aim Here (765712)]

The answer is no. When an OSS maintainer gives up, you can still maintain the software precisely because you have the source so that there are ways of maintaining the software. There is no danger that reiserfs will break in Linux in the forseeable future, because the kernel maintainers will keep looking after it. If Hans Reiser and Namesys had kept the source code to themselves, then his users should be worried.

Re:This brings up an interesting line of questioni

[Saxerman (253676)]

Even if I had the skills, I don't have the time. And I can't afford to pay someone who can. So no - I can NOT maintain the code if it is intimately tied to a single developer.

I don't think there is any need to be pedantic here. Can you afford to run closed source applications knowing that the vendor could drop support? From a risk assessment standpoint, is it better to have access to the source code even if you could not personally do anything with it? At the very least, if the program is worth something to you, you have the option to drop some spare change into a bounty [opensourcexperts.com] to have your problem fixed. And if the program is worth nothing to you, what difference does it make if it doesn't work for you?

Re:This brings up an interesting line of questioni

[oohshiny (998054)]

Are OSS projects that rely so heavily on a single person able to be trusted for widespread use?

Compared to a closed source project that relies so heavily on a single person, the open source project is a much safer bet.

Are concerns like this valid or is the community able to pick up where someone left off with minimal interruption to clients?

You should very much take those considerations into account. With open source, you have two advantages compared to the same project when it's closed: (1) you know who the project relies on, and (2) it is clear under what conditions the project can be continued.

Re:This brings up an interesting line of questioni

[garethw (584688)]

A very important question.

A coworker of mine uses an indicator he calls the "bus factor" to determine the likelihood of discontinued support for a particular tool or library.

The "bus factor" is simply defined as "the number of people who have to be hit by a bus before the fundamental understanding of the underlying codebase is lost."

Jason Haas and linux powerpc-slashdot temperment

[acomj (20611)]

When Jason Haas was in a car acciedent linux PowerPC suffered. But eventually others pick up and run with it. He was alright

http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/03/24/ 089246&mode=thread [slashdot.org]

Interesting to note the different temperment of slashdot articles 6 years ago. No jokes..

Can we get some more speculation?

[aiken_d (127097)]

What if he's found guilty, and the project is continued by other people, and renamed to avoid infamy, and Reiser loses his first appeal because his lawyer fails to subpoena critical records from the medical examiner's office, and Reiser 4 is finally completed and included in Linux 5.0, but develops stability issues, and around that time Hans is acquitted in a later appeal based on new evidence, and he rejoins the project? Will they change the name back?

-b

i hope she is alright

[by Anonymous Coward]

People need to remember that there are human lives involved here. There are also children in the mix. This is NOT a tragedy for the Reiser filesystem.

Re:i hope she is alright

[by Anonymous Coward]

While it is a tragedy, who really cares? I mean, honestly. Who really cares?

I know that sounds cold, but unless you personally know the Reisiers, I don't think anyone really does. There are hundreds of people murdered each day. There are hundreds killed in tragic car accidents each day. Do you feel pity for each and every one of them? No.

The only reason why this is on Slashdot is because of the ReiserFS. And because of that, it would be silly to not speculate on the ReiserFS future. Unless you just want 250 posts of people saying "Oh, that's terrible!"

Posted as anon for obvious reasons..

Re:i hope she is alright

[JanneM (7445)]

People need to remember that there are human lives involved here. There are also children in the mix. This is NOT a tragedy for the Reiser filesystem.

One does not preclude the other.

Reiser4 already renamed

[straponego (521991)]

It will now be known as ojfs.

Okay, so I'm not a good person.

Re:Reiser4 already renamed

[st1d (218383)]

What's the difference between O.J. and Hans Reiser?

Hans kept a journal.

(Sorry everybody...)

Re:Reiser4 already renamed

[by Anonymous Coward]

If the transaction doesn't commit, you must acquit!

Just remember!

[AltGrendel (175092)]

In America, you are presumed innocent until proven guilty!

Really!

Well, that's what they tell us, anyway.

Re:Just remember!

[chris_eineke (634570)]

innocent until proven guilty

That line gives me the creeps, because of its connotation: it's only a matter of time until you are proven guilty. Doesn't innocent unless proven guilty sound much more... humane and logical?

Special website

[Kangburra (911213)]

A website aimed at helping to find her, Help Find Nina Reiser [ninareiser.com]

This isn't meant to be funny or insensitive

[Ssbe (614884)]

This isn't meant to be funny or insensitive ... but if he did do it and is found guilty it seems like he'll have a bunch of time on his hand. You know, with the long jail sentence and all. Is their a reason why he can't continue working on this project from jail? Also, working on a OSS with your free time in jail seems like it might get you some good behavior points.

Re:This isn't meant to be funny or insensitive

[victim (30647)]

I trusted Mr. Reiser with my mp3 archive once before. I still haven't found all the original CDs to replace the corrupted files. Never again.

Re:This isn't meant to be funny or insensitive

[by Anonymous Coward]

Well, it's not like the guy killed anyone..

Oh, wait...

Uh, hows that now?

[glwtta (532858)]

From TFA:

Du Bois complained today that police had not allowed him to meet with his client after the arrest. He said investigators were keeping Reiser in isolation.

Did the whole "everybody is an Enemy Combatant if we say so" thing start already and no one told me? What exactly is this "isolation" where you can't contact your laywer?

Godwin's Law

[NoTheory (580275)]

Do doctors who use information gleaned through Nazi human tolerance testing (i.e. most of them) support Nazis?

Re:So if he's guilty

[failure-man (870605)]

I don't know. If you ask me using a filesystem associated with a murder would be WAY METAL . . . . .

Re:So if he's guilty

[SeaFox (739806)]

Would that mean if I used ReiserFS that I support murder?

Better than supporting Microsoft.

[kidding! kidding!]

Re:So if he's guilty

[Nataku564 (668188)]

What if he kicked a puppy?

I'd go out and kick a puppy too.

Re:Sad.

[Fnkmaster (89084)]

Well, generally when somebody gets accused under an unjust law or accused of something many of us don't consider a crime, lots of folks will rally to the cause and suggest donating for their defense.

When somebody gets accused of something we can all agree is unequivocally bad, like murdering the mother of his children, my reaction is "let justice take its course." This seems fair to me, especially when we have no idea what the evidence is against him. Lots of people get accused of lots of crimes all the time and I don't generally donate money to their legal defense unless I think the law under which they are being prosecuted is terribly unjust.

Re:Sad.

[fithmo (854772)]

I don't know if it's all that sad... I'd never really heard anything of the guy before this, other than his name attached to his FS, and the wikipedia article was rather sparse, so I google'd around to get an idea of who he is.

You call for sympathy for the man, but as far as I can tell from this interview [osuosl.org], and a few random forum threads around the internet, he seems like a really smart and clever, well-educated guy, a really good programmer, but kind of an arrogant douche. I mean, he talks about how he hates homework and wishes you could just study and then discuss to prove your knowledge, but then he stresses the importance of code review and benchmarking (which seem, to me, the "homework" of programming tasks) and belittles his own employees for not doing it well enough.

I'm not trying to flame the guy out or anything. Like I said, I knew nothing about him before my last 15 minutes of searching, but from what I saw in that little sliver (and I know that doesn't provice me a fully developed mental image of the man) it seems like he might deserve some of the jokes.

I'd say if you have sympathy or money to donate - give it to the kids.

And watch, I bet I get bad karma for just trying to point out that it seems (to the untrained eye) that he might have bad karma.

Re:C'mon, Slashdot

[iamacat (583406)]

And why is that exactly? People should get credit for their contributions to society, just as they are punished for causing harm to the same. Nobody is suggesting letting convicted murderers go free, but perhaps someone who led an exemplarily life - volunteer work, good parenting, clean record - until the age of 40 shouldn't spend the rest of his/her life in prison for a single murder. Certainly a person who still have a high potential to contribute shouldn't be denied this opportunity even in jail. Think of a PC/broadband setup in a cell, parole to work in a science lab, canvas and paint and so on. Would you deny pen and paper to a jailed poet?