by George Whittaker The open-source community is celebrating a well-deserved recognition. Greg Kroah-Hartman, one of the most influential figures in the Linux ecosystem, has been awarded the European Open Source Award, honoring decades of sustained contributions that have shaped Linux into the stable, trusted platform it is today. For anyone who relies on Linux, whether on servers, desktops, embedded devices, or cloud infrastructure, this award highlights the quiet but essential work that keeps the ecosystem reliable. A Steward of Stability Greg Kroah-Hartman is best known for his role as the maintainer of the Linux kernel’s stable branches. While new kernel features often grab headlines, the stable kernels are where real-world systems live. They receive carefully vetted fixes for security issues, regressions, and bugs, without introducing disruptive changes. That responsibility requires deep technical knowledge, discipline, and trust from the community. Kroah-Hartman has carried it fo