Torvalds then added a postscript in which he revealed that he often uses the holiday season to build LEGO, which he frequently receives for Christmas and his late December birthday.

He kept up that tradition last year, but “also ended up doing a number of guitar pedal kit builds” which he described as “LEGO for grown-ups with a soldering iron". For the uninitiated, guitar pedals change the sound of an electric guitar in various ways. They’re usually a small metal box that includes a basic circuit board and a few dials to alter sound and are activated by a built-in footswitch. They’re ubiquitous, cheap, and fun. Many prominent guitarists rely on a collection of them to create their signature sounds.

Torvalds doesn’t play guitar, but did the builds “because I enjoy the tinkering, and the guitar pedals actually do something and are the right kind of ‘not very complex, but not some 5-minute 555 LED blinking thing’.”

He enjoyed the experience and wants to build more pedals, so has decided to give one away to a random kernel developer – both as an act of generosity and to “check to see if anybody actually ever reads these weekly rc announcements of mine”.