Hes a happy penguin, designed to look like hes “just polished off a pitcher of beer and had the best sex of his life.” But what in the world does that have to do with open source software code?
Not much, really. He just seemed like the appropriate mascot at the time, according to the soon-to-be-published Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary, by David Diamond and Linus Torvalds.
According to the book, Linux advocates wanted a mascot, and various parties, including Linus wife, Tove, suggested a penguin because Linus has liked them since being bitten by one at a zoo in Australia.
Torvalds commissioned an artist to generate the friendly, sated-looking penguin with orange feet, “as if Daffy Duck got a little kwazy on a cruise to Antarctica and had a wild one-night stand with some native fowl,” the book recounts.