[1] https://github.com/torvalds/subsurface/commit/6eefcf40e68c2a...
Linus writes his code, fixes the bugs that are found. The end result will most likely be a solid and fast piece of software with a minimum of dependencies and bloat.
If that is not your cup of tea then do a better job but don't bitch about the way he chooses to do it.
What do you expect? For a guy like Linus to write a utility in a language that he feels is not optimal for himself and/or the problem at hand? To pick installing a 100M runtime to run a 50K binary?
Linus is a systems programmer, not someone that would go for an overkill solution in some high level stack, launched on Monday, forgotten by Friday. Code like this has staying power and has a chance of surviving its creator. Script stuff is typically throwaway.
> To pick installing a 100M runtime to run a 50K binary?
Well, first that's a false dichotomy: there are higher level languages that are still compiled and don't require a runtime. And 100M? Really? Lua uses 150K. The libraries he's using are probably way bigger than that.
> Code like this has staying power and has a chance of surviving its creator. Script stuff is typically throwaway.
Script is more throwaway because if the developer had to write it in C, it probably wouldn't be worth the effort. Why exactly would the same program written in a higher level language have less chances of surviving its creator?