Linux kernel mailing list

Last updated

Linux kernel mailing list
Type of site
Information exchange for Linux kernel development
URL subspace.kernel.org/vger.kernel.org.html
Current statusOnline

The Linux kernel mailing list (LKML) is the main electronic mailing list for Linux kernel development, [1] [2] where the majority of the announcements, discussions, debates, and flame wars over the kernel take place. [3] Many other mailing lists exist to discuss the different subsystems and ports of the Linux kernel, but LKML is the principal communication channel among Linux kernel developers. [4] It is a very high-volume list, usually receiving about 1,000 messages each day, most of which are kernel code patches.

Contents

Linux utilizes a workflow governed by LKML, [5] which is the "bazaar" where kernel development takes place. In his book Linux Kernel Development, Robert Love notes: [3]

If the Linux kernel community had to exist somewhere physically, it would call the Linux Kernel Mailing List home.

The LKML functions as the central place where Linux developers around the world share patches, argue about implementation details, and discuss other issues. [1] The official releases of the Linux kernel are indicated by an email to LKML. [6] [7] [8] New features are discussed and most code is posted to the list before any action is taken. [3] It is also the official place for reporting bugs in the Linux kernel, in case one cannot find the maintainer to whom the bug should be reported. [9] Author Michelle Delio suggests that it was on LKML that Tux, the official Linux mascot, was suggested and refined, [10] although the accuracy of her reporting in other stories has been disputed. [11] Many companies associated with Linux kernel make announcements and proposals on LKML; for example, Novell, [12] Intel, [13] [14] VMware, [15] [16] and IBM. [17]

The list subscribers include all the Linux kernel maintainers as well as other known figures in Linux circles, such as Jeff V. Merkey [18] and Eric S. Raymond. [19] A 2000 study found that 14,535 people, from at least 30 countries, sent at least one email to LKML between 1995 and 2000 to participate in the discussion of Linux development. [20]

Authors of books such as The Linux Kernel Development As A Model of Open Source Knowledge Creation [20] and Motivation of Software Developers in Open Source Projects, [21] and Recovering Device Drivers [22] have made use of LKML for their research studies and surveys.

Media coverage

The LWN.net website frequently covers discussion on the LKML, and the newsletter Kernel Traffic covered the activities of the LKML until November 2005. [1] [23] Many internet websites include archives of the mailing list, such as lore.kernel.org/lkml, [24] lkml.org, [25] mail-archive.com [26] and marc.info.[ dead link ] [27]

Linus Torvalds on LKML

Linus Torvalds is known for angrily disagreeing with other developers on the LKML. [28] Calling himself a "really unpleasant person", he later explained "I'd like to be a nice person and curse less and encourage people to grow rather than telling them they are idiots. I'm sorry I tried, it's just not in me." [29] [30]

His attitude, which Torvalds considers necessary for making his point clear, has drawn opposition from Intel programmer Sage Sharp and systemd developer Lennart Poettering, among others. [31] [32] In 2018 Torvalds took a break from kernel development to work on improving his behavior and instituted a code of conduct. [33] [34]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric S. Raymond</span> American computer programmer, author, and advocate for the open source movement

Eric Steven Raymond, often referred to as ESR, is an American software developer, open-source software advocate, and author of the 1997 essay and 1999 book The Cathedral and the Bazaar. He wrote a guidebook for the Roguelike game NetHack. In the 1990s, he edited and updated the Jargon File, published as The New Hacker's Dictionary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linus Torvalds</span> Creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel (born 1969(nice))

Linus Benedict Torvalds is a Finnish-American software engineer who is the creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel, used by Linux distributions like Debian, Arch and Android. He also created the distributed version control system Git.

ReiserFS is a general-purpose, journaling file system initially designed and implemented by a team at Namesys led by Hans Reiser and licensed under GPLv2. Introduced in version 2.4.1 of the Linux kernel, it was the first journaling file system to be included in the standard kernel. ReiserFS was the default file system in Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise until Novell decided to move to ext3 for future releases on October 12, 2006.

BitKeeper is a discontinued software tool for distributed revision control of computer source code. Originally developed as proprietary software by BitMover Inc., a privately held company based in Los Gatos, California, it was released as open-source software under the Apache-2.0 license on 9 May 2016. BitKeeper is no longer being developed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GNU/Linux naming controversy</span> Issues of what to call a system with the GNU toolchain and the Linux kernel

Within the free software and the open-source software communities there is controversy over whether to refer to computer operating systems that use a combination of GNU software and the Linux kernel as "GNU/Linux" or "Linux" systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LWN.net</span> Computing webzine with an emphasis on Unix-like operating systems

LWN.net is a computing webzine with an emphasis on free software and software for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. It consists of a weekly issue, separate stories which are published most days, and threaded discussion attached to every story. Most news published daily are short summaries of articles published elsewhere, and are free to all viewers. Original articles are usually published weekly on Thursdays and are available only to subscribers for two weeks, after which they become free as well. LWN.net is part of Eklektix, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monotone (software)</span> Revision control software

Monotone is an open source software tool for distributed revision control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linux kernel interfaces</span> An overview and comparison of the Linux kernal APIs and ABIs.

The Linux kernel provides multiple interfaces to user-space and kernel-mode code that are used for varying purposes and that have varying properties by design. There are two types of application programming interface (API) in the Linux kernel:

  1. the "kernel–user space" API; and
  2. the "kernel internal" API.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linux</span> Family of Unix-like operating systems

Linux is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution (distro), which includes the kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses and recommends the name "GNU/Linux" to emphasize the use and importance of GNU software in many distributions, causing some controversy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criticism of Linux</span> Issues concerning use of operating systems which use the Linux kernel

The criticism of Linux focuses on issues concerning use of operating systems which use the Linux kernel.

Linux began in 1991 as a personal project by Finnish student Linus Torvalds to create a new free operating system kernel. The resulting Linux kernel has been marked by constant growth throughout its history. Since the initial release of its source code in 1991, it has grown from a small number of C files under a license prohibiting commercial distribution to the 4.15 version in 2018 with more than 23.3 million lines of source code, not counting comments, under the GNU General Public License v2 with a syscall exception meaning anything that uses the kernel via system calls are not subject to the GNU GPL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tux (mascot)</span> Mascot of Linux

Tux is a penguin character and the official brand character of the Linux kernel. Originally created as an entry to a Linux logo competition, Tux is the most commonly used icon for Linux, although different Linux distributions depict Tux in various styles. The character is used in many other Linux programs and as a general symbol of Linux.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linux kernel</span> Operating system kernel

The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU operating system, which was written to be a free (libre) replacement for Unix.

systemd Suite of system components for Linux

systemd is a software suite that provides an array of system components for Linux operating systems. The main aim is to unify service configuration and behavior across Linux distributions. Its primary component is a "system and service manager" – an init system used to bootstrap user space and manage user processes. It also provides replacements for various daemons and utilities, including device management, login management, network connection management, and event logging. The name systemd adheres to the Unix convention of naming daemons by appending the letter d. It also plays on the term "System D", which refers to a person's ability to adapt quickly and improvise to solve problems.

cgroups is a Linux kernel feature that limits, accounts for, and isolates the resource usage of a collection of processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lennart Poettering</span> German software engineer

Lennart Poettering is a German software engineer working for Microsoft and the original author of PulseAudio, Avahi and systemd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kay Sievers</span>

Kay Sievers is a German computer programmer, best known for developing the udev device manager of Linux, systemd and the Gummiboot EFI bootloader. Kay Sievers made major contributions to Linux's hardware hotplug and device management subsystems. In 2012, together with Harald Hoyer, Sievers was the main driving force behind Fedora's merging of the /lib, /bin and /sbin file-system trees into /usr, a simplification which other distributions such as Arch Linux have since adopted.

Sage Sharp is a software engineer who has worked on the Linux kernel, including serving on the Linux Foundation's Technical Advisory Board for two years.

Bcachefs is a copy-on-write (COW) file system for Linux-based operating systems. Its primary developer, Kent Overstreet, first announced it in 2015, and it will be added to the Linux kernel beginning with 6.7. It is intended to compete with the modern features of ZFS or Btrfs, and the speed and performance of ext4 or XFS. It self-describes as "stable", as of December 2022.

This article documents the version history of the Linux kernel. The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was conceived and created in 1991 by Linus Torvalds.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Introduction". Kernel Traffic.
  2. Gallivan, Michael J. (29 December 2001). "Striking a balance between trust and control in a virtual organization: a content analysis of open source software case studies". Information Systems Journal. 11 (4): 277–304. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2575.2001.00108.x. S2CID   11868077.
  3. 1 2 3 Love, Robert (12 January 2005). "Patches, Hacking, and the Community". Linux Kernel Development (2nd ed.). Novell Press. ISBN   978-0-672-32720-9.
  4. Llamosi, Albert (27 July 2004). Reliable Software Technologies - Ada-Europe 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 3063. Springer. ISBN   978-3-540-22011-4.
  5. Defillippi, Robert (1 September 2006). Knowledge at Work: Creative Collaboration in the Global Economy (1st ed.). Blackwell Publishing Limited. p. 168. ISBN   978-1-4051-0756-3.
  6. Erenkrantz, Justin R. "Release Management Within Open Source Projects" (PDF). Institute for Software Research, University of California. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2007.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. Galli, Peter (13 December 2000). "Linux kernel to be suitable for enterprise". ZDNet Australia. Archived from the original on 9 June 2009.
  8. Shankland, Stephen (2 January 2002). "Test version of new Linux kernel available". CNet.
  9. Gooch, Richard. "Reporting bugs for the Linux kernel". Linux Kernel Archives.
  10. "Re: Linux logo". Linux-Kernel Archive. May 1996.
  11. "Wired News Releases Source Review". WIRED. 9 May 2005. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  12. Shankland, Stephen (1 July 2005). "Novell introduces Linux kernel debugger". CNet.
  13. Shankland, Stephen (17 February 2003). "Intel, Red Hat cure open-source hiccup". CNet.
  14. Grover, Andrew (6 December 2002). "Proposed ACPI Licensing change". Linux-Kernel Archive.
  15. Vance, Ashlee (20 April 2006). "Linux team tells VMware and Xen to get their acts together". The Register.
  16. Amsden, Zachary (13 March 2006). "VMI i386 Linux virtualization interface proposal". LWN.net .
  17. Adam, Buchbinder; Zack, Brown (9 July 2001). "IBM announces Journaled File System v 1.0.0". Kernel Traffic. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
  18. "Linus tells Merkey, "Cry me a river"". Linux Today. 2 January 2006. Archived from the original on 4 January 2006.
  19. Barr, Joe (11 February 2002). "Linus tries to make himself scale". Linux.sys-con.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
  20. 1 2 Lee, Gwendolyn K.; Cole, Robert E. (December 2000). "The Linux Kernel Development As A Model of Open Source Knowledge Creation" (PDF). Haas School of Business, University of California. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2007.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  21. Hertel, Guido; Niedner, Sven & Herrmann, Stefanie. "Motivation of Software Developers in Open Source Projects" (PDF). University of Kiel, Institut fuer Psychologie. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2006. Retrieved 13 March 2007.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  22. Swift, Michael M.; Annamalai, Muthukaruppan; Bershad, Brian N. & Levy, Henry M. "Recovering Device Drivers". Proceedings of the 6th Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation. University of Washington . Retrieved 13 March 2007.
  23. "Archives". Kernel Traffic.
  24. "LKML Archive". lore.kernel.org.
  25. "Latest messages". lkml.org.
  26. "Messages by Thread". Linux Kernel.
  27. "Majordomo Lists". vger.kernel.org.
  28. Vance, Ashlee (16 June 2015). "The Creator of Linux on the Future Without Him". Bloomberg.
  29. Sharwood, Simon (19 January 2015). "Buggy? Angry? LET IT ALL OUT says Linus Torvalds". The Register. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  30. Clarke, Gavin (7 November 2012). "Torvalds: I want to be nice, and curse less, but it's just not in me". The Register. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  31. "Lennart Poettering: Open Source Community "Quite A Sick Place To Be In"". Slashdot. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  32. Gold, Jon (5 October 2015). "Linux kernel dev Sarah Sharp quits, citing 'brutal' communications style". Network World. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  33. Prakash, Abhishek (17 September 2018). "Torvalds Apologizes for His 'Bad Behavior', Takes a Break from Linux". It's FOSS.
  34. Priyadarshini, Manisha (17 September 2018). "Linus Torvalds Is Taking A Break From Linux, Here's Why?". Fossbytes.