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Author Topic: You, too, can be a kernel hacker!  (Read 3619 times)

zridling

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You, too, can be a kernel hacker!
« on: August 12, 2008, 09:41 PM »
Glyn Moody points to a Linux Foundation/Linux Developer Network guide. "If you've ever wondered how the kernel development process works – and how you might join in – wonder no more, with this new guide to the kernel development process from the Linux Foundation."

monolithic_kernel.jpg

The purpose of this document is to help developers (and their managers) work with the development community with a minimum of frustration. It is an attempt to document how this community works in a way which is accessible to those who are not intimately familiar with Linux kernel development (or, indeed, free software development in general). While there is some technical material here, this is very much a process-oriented discussion which does not require a deep knowledge of kernel programming to understand.
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Lots of fundamental coding advice throughout, no matter the platform.

zridling

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Re: You, too, can be a kernel hacker!
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2008, 03:52 PM »
Tom Espiner had a nice follow-up interview on this idea. Start small and work your way up.

Torvalds wrote that nobody should expect to start sending "big and complex" patches early, as it takes time for new contributors and established coders to learn how to interact effectively.

"The worst thing anybody can do is to study the kernel alone and try to learn things in private, and then, however many months later, present all the established kernel developers with a big patch that just comes out of the blue," wrote Torvalds. "That's just going to be frustrating for everybody."

Torvalds advised new contributors to "start small" by sending "trivial patches."

"It may not sound exciting but, quite frankly, I don't think anybody who starts out believing that they want to rewrite some big piece of the kernel should even bother. Reality isn't that simple."

Edvard

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Re: You, too, can be a kernel hacker!
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2008, 10:19 AM »
I'd probably start by grammar-checking the comments  :Thmbsup: