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5 instructions on how to become a Linux kernel developer and how to learn
6 to work with the Linux kernel development community. It tries to not
7 contain anything related to the technical aspects of kernel programming,
11 to the maintainer of this file, who is listed at the bottom of the
18 So, you want to learn how to become a Linux kernel developer? Or you
20 device." This document's goal is to teach you everything you need to
21 know to achieve this by describing the process you need to go through,
22 and hints on how to work with the community. It will also try to
28 you plan to do low-level development for that architecture. Though they
36 adheres to the ISO C89 standard, it uses a number of extensions that are
41 difficult to understand the assumptions the kernel has on the toolchain
46 Please remember that you are trying to learn how to work with the
49 been created over time based on what they have found to work best for
50 such a large and geographically dispersed team. Try to learn as much as
52 documented; do not expect people to adapt to you or your company's way
74 invaluable for learning how to interact with the kernel community. When
75 new features are added to the kernel, it is recommended that new
76 documentation files are also added which explain how to use the feature.
77 When a kernel change causes the interface that the kernel exposes to
78 userspace to change, it is recommended that you send the information or
79 a patch to the manual pages explaining the change to the manual pages
87 what is necessary to do to configure and build the kernel. People
88 who are new to the kernel should start here.
92 packages that are necessary to build and run the kernel
97 rationale behind it. All new code is expected to follow the
104 These files describe in explicit detail how to successfully create
105 and send a patch, including (but not limited to):
108 - Who to send it to
110 subject to scrutiny for content and style), but not following them
113 Other excellent descriptions of how to create patches properly are:
120 This file describes the rationale behind the conscious decision to
127 philosophy and is very important for people moving to Linux from
132 please follow the steps in this document to help notify the kernel
138 for anyone new to kernel development (or anyone simply curious about
144 happen, and what to do if you want to get a change into one of these
148 A list of external documentation that pertains to kernel
153 A good introduction describing exactly what a patch is and how to
154 apply it to the different development branches of the kernel.
158 full description of the in-kernel API, and rules on how to handle
176 of basic kernel development question (make sure to search the archives
178 past.) It also has an IRC channel that you can use to ask questions in
184 some basic logistical information, like how to compile a kernel and
187 If you do not know where you want to start, but you want to look for
188 some task to start doing to join into the kernel development community,
189 go to the Linux Kernel Janitor's project:
191 It is a great place to start. It describes a list of relatively simple
192 problems that need to be cleaned up and fixed within the Linux kernel
195 and possibly be pointed in the direction of what to go work on next, if
198 If you already have a chunk of code that you want to put into the kernel
200 kernel-mentors project was created to help you out with this. It is a
204 Before making any actual modifications to the Linux kernel code, it is
205 imperative to understand how the code in question works. For this
209 Cross-Reference project, which is able to present source code in a
210 self-referential, indexed webpage format. An excellent up-to-date
233 during this period of time maintainers can submit big diffs to
235 -next kernel for a few weeks. The preferred way to submit big changes
239 - After two weeks a -rc1 kernel is released it is now possible to push
245 is being added. git can be used to send patches to Linus after -rc1
246 is released, but the patches need to also be sent to a public
248 - A new -rc is released whenever Linus deems the current git tree to
249 be in a reasonably sane state adequate for testing. The goal is to
253 - Known regressions in each release are periodically posted to the
254 linux-kernel mailing list. The goal is to reduce the length of
255 that list to zero before declaring the kernel to be "ready," but, in
262 released according to perceived bug status, not according to a
281 security-related problem, instead, can cause a release to happen almost
294 without even a cursory glance to see if they are sane.
302 development is rapid, a developer may be asked to base his submissions
311 Before a proposed patch is committed to such a subsystem tree, it is
312 subject to review which primarily happens on mailing lists (see the
316 revisions to it, and maintainers can mark patches as under review,
323 tree, they need to be integration-tested. For this purpose, a special
329 expected to go into the mainline kernel at the next merge period.
330 Adventurous testers are very welcome to runtime-test the -next kernel.
337 bugs. Users are encouraged to report all bugs that they find in this
338 tool. For details on how to use the kernel bugzilla, please see:
342 template for how to report a possible kernel bug, and details what kind
343 of information is needed by the kernel developers to help track down the
350 One of the best ways to put into practice your hacking skills is by fixing
351 bugs reported by other people. Not only you will help to make the kernel
352 more stable, you'll learn to fix real world problems and you will improve
354 bugs is one of the best ways to get merits among other developers, because
357 To work in the already reported bug reports, go to http://bugzilla.kernel.org.
358 If you want to be advised of the future bug reports, you can subscribe to the
359 bugme-new mailing list (only new bug reports are mailed here) or to the
372 to subscribe and unsubscribe from the list can be found at:
375 places. Use a search engine to find these archives. For example:
378 you want to bring up, before you post it to the list. A lot of things
391 Please remember to follow good behavioral habits when using the lists.
396 If multiple people respond to your mail, the CC: list of recipients may
398 reason, or don't reply only to the list address. Get used to receiving the
400 to tune that by adding fancy mail-headers, people will not like it.
402 Remember to keep the context and the attribution of your replies intact,
407 If you add patches to your mail, make sure they are plain readable text
409 want to deal with attachments or compressed patches; they may want
410 to comment on individual lines of your patch, which works only that way.
412 characters. A good first test is to send the mail to yourself and try
413 to apply your own patch by yourself. If that doesn't work, get your
416 Above all, please remember to show respect to other subscribers.
422 The goal of the kernel community is to provide the best possible kernel
433 to be able to take criticism and comments about your patches, evaluate
435 clear and concise reasoning as to why those changes should not be made.
436 If there are no responses to your posting, wait a few days and try
440 - expect your patch to be accepted without question
447 You have to be cooperative, and willing to adapt your idea to fit within
448 the kernel. Or at least be willing to prove your idea is worth it.
449 Remember, being wrong is acceptable as long as you are willing to work
452 It is normal that the answers to your first patch might simply be a list
463 development environments. Here are a list of things that you can try to
464 do to avoid problems:
465 Good things to say regarding your proposed changes:
468 - "Here is a patch that explains what I am trying to describe."
477 - "This is required for my company to make money"
483 - "I have a deadline, and this patch needs to be applied now."
491 helps to level the playing field because you can't guess gender based on
498 order to get ideas across properly on mailing lists, so it is
499 recommended that you check your emails to make sure they make sense in
507 dropped on it all at once. The changes need to be properly introduced,
509 the exact opposite of what companies are used to doing. Your proposal
514 one time to a mailing list, your patch series should be smaller than
520 applied, since they don't take much time or effort to verify for
522 barely a second glance. However, a 500 line patch may take hours to
524 proportional to the size of the patch, or something).
526 Small patches also make it very easy to debug when something goes
527 wrong. It's much easier to back out patches one by one than it is
528 to dissect a very large patch after it's been applied (and broken
531 2) It's important not only to send small patches, but also to rewrite
536 teacher does not want to see the student's trials and errors
537 before they came up with the solution. They want to see the
543 reviewers do not want to see the thought process behind the
544 solution to the problem one is solving. They want to see a
547 It may be challenging to keep the balance between presenting an elegant
549 unfinished work. Therefore it is good to get early in the process to
550 get feedback to improve your work, but also keep your changes in small
554 Also realize that it is not acceptable to send patches for inclusion
561 Along with breaking up your patches, it is very important for you to let
569 When sending in your patches, pay special attention to what you say in
571 information for the patch, and will be preserved for everyone to see for
586 All of these things are sometimes very hard to do. It can take years to
589 don't give up, it's possible. Many have done it before, and each had to
596 Thanks to Paolo Ciarrocchi who allowed the "Development Process"
598 to be based on text he had written, and to Randy Dunlap and Gerrit
600 Also thanks to Pat Mochel, Hanna Linder, Randy Dunlap, Kay Sievers,