When this comes up in conversation it is worthwhile remembering that Linux was built on the team of volunteers centered around Torvalds who was famous for not acting like a jerk. Really. The perception of him among hackers of being a good guy, you could work with, who acknowledged when linux had bugs, accepted patches and was pretty self-effacing is probably the thing that most made that project at that time take off to the stratosphere. Linus was a massive contrast to traditional bearded unix-assholery.

The nature of the work changes. The pressures change. The requirements change. We age. Also the times change too.

But yeah, it is possible to act like a jerk sometime without actually being a jerk in all things. It is also possible to be a lovely person who makes the odd mistake. Assholes can have good points. Life is nuanced.

Of the bajillion emails linus has sent to lkml how many of them can you find that you believe show evidence of being a jerk.

Compare to Theo de Raadt at OpenBSD who have also built a pretty useful thing with their community. Compare also to Larry Wall and Guido van Rossum.

None of us is above reasoned, productive criticism. Linus has done ok.