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The desktop computer market is a pretty small part of the overall kernel developer market. Embedded systems is by far the biggest employer. There are just man

The desktop computer market is a pretty small part of the overall kernel developer market. Embedded systems is by far the biggest employer. There are just many more phones and other devices out there than PCs-- a trend that seems set to continue. Linux dominates embedded systems and the server market, so I would expect it to dominate the overall mindshare numbers as well. I would expect OS X to have the least number of kernel developers because there just aren't that many hardware configurations for iDevices, and everyone who is bringing up an OS X board works in Cupertino (which has good and bad aspects, of course).

sangnoir 11y ago
I wasn't sure OS X would be ahead of Linux, that's why I hedged my statement. Also, while the embedded Linux ecosystem is rather large, what fraction is kernel code that gets upstreamed/mainlined? As an outsider, my guess that it's a minority (some work with is on non-kernel code, and not all through embedded kernel code changes are/will be in the mainline kernel, so I would not count those as actual contributions). I say this as a Linux desktop user/layman.
- colin_mccabe 11y ago
  There are a large number of people who do kernel-level integration work-- configuring things, downloading drivers, setting things up, and otherwise dealing with the hardware. This kind of work isn't the most glamorous, but it definitely counts as "actual contribution" to the community. Integrators find bugs, make suggestions on mailing lists, and help develop products that make investing in Linux worthwhile for everyone involved. Most integrators that I've known like to submit patches every now and then, just for fun. I would guess that there are more people whose primary job is integration than people whose primary job is kernel development. I don't really have any concrete numbers, though. On the driver development side, companies are starting to get smarter about getting their code upstream first-- look at NVidia and Intel's recent efforts in that area, for example.

sangnoir 11y ago

I wasn't sure OS X would be ahead of Linux, that's why I hedged my statement. Also, while the embedded Linux ecosystem is rather large, what fraction is kernel code that gets upstreamed/mainlined? As an outsider, my guess that it's a minority (some work with is on non-kernel code, and not all through embedded kernel code changes are/will be in the mainline kernel, so I would not count those as actual contributions). I say this as a Linux desktop user/layman.

colin_mccabe 11y ago
There are a large number of people who do kernel-level integration work-- configuring things, downloading drivers, setting things up, and otherwise dealing with the hardware. This kind of work isn't the most glamorous, but it definitely counts as "actual contribution" to the community. Integrators find bugs, make suggestions on mailing lists, and help develop products that make investing in Linux worthwhile for everyone involved. Most integrators that I've known like to submit patches every now and then, just for fun. I would guess that there are more people whose primary job is integration than people whose primary job is kernel development. I don't really have any concrete numbers, though. On the driver development side, companies are starting to get smarter about getting their code upstream first-- look at NVidia and Intel's recent efforts in that area, for example.