You, too, can be a kernel hacker!
General Software Discussion
2008-08-13
2008
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1
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Topic: You, too, can be a kernel hacker! (Read 4,902 times)
« on: August 13, 2008, 02:41 AM »
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2008, 08:52 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."
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2008, 03:19 PM »
I'd probably start by grammar-checking the comments

All children left unattended will be given a mocha and a puppy.