There are a large number of people who do kernel-level integration work-- configuring things, downloading drivers, setting things up, and otherwise dealing with

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.