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Awesome! I can't wait to dig through this, I've been wanting to contribute to the linux kernel for over 2 years but no one on the linux mailing lists seemed int

Awesome! I can't wait to dig through this, I've been wanting to contribute to the linux kernel for over 2 years but no one on the linux mailing lists seemed interested in helping a newbie (so much for kernel newbies). Thanks for putting this together.

pengaru 7y ago
If you want to contribute, fix bugs found by syzbot [0], there's an endless backlog there. It's the fastest way to get your hands dirty, familiar with a variety of subsystems, and land meaningful, appreciated patches upstream. [0] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/upstream https://syzkaller.appspot.com/upstream
- organicfigs 7y ago
  Thank you, made my March a little better :)
  - megous 7y ago
    Or pick a random SBC from Aliexpress or something you have catching dust at home, and try to improve the mainline Linux support for it. That will get you opportunities to learn more deeply the various kernel subystems, too. Especially around driver and arch code. That's what I did anyway.
osandov 7y ago
Feel free to email me at $my_username@$my_username.com. I'd be happy to help you get started.
- navidr 7y ago
  Not the op. But can I email you too? I’ve same condition.
  - osandov 7y ago
    Absolutely, same goes for anyone else who comes across this and is interested in kernel development.
    - rtkaratekid 7y ago
      I’ll be reaching out :) Hopefully you’re not overwhelmed with the hordes of people wanting to get into kernel development XD
arkj 7y ago
You can always head to kernel newbies and the linux insides git pages.
snvzz 7y ago
I find other systems (such as netbsd) to have a fairly more readable codebase and friendlier community. It was very easy for me to make some contributions there.
- highspeedmobile 7y ago
  I pretty much agree with this. For example, the BSD Handbook and documentation is the point of call for a newbie entering into the community and the codebase is much more readable than the Linux kernel. Last time I checked, the kernel-newbies site doesn't seem to be beginner friendly and aside from following the IRC channel, the mailing list is still the way to do code reviews there, which is quite frankly pre-historic and very unfriendly for beginners sending patches at best. At least for FreeBSD, they uses Phabricator for code reviews, HaikuOS uses Gerrit and SerenityOS uses GitHub and they seem to be the other OSes that have both good documentation about their kernels and their userland APIs. Perfect places to start learning about operating systems and kernels in general.
  - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
    Prehistoric? It is actually how the Git workflow was designed to work, and it is a standard method that does not require third-party services nor tools. Just your mail agent. Sending patches is as easy as sending one in GitHub or any other web-based system. The problem is that you (and many others) have never done it, and so anything different is harder. You should consider that if learning a handful of CLI commands is such a problem for you, perhaps it is not the system that is being unfriendly to you, but that you are unfriendly to learning anything else that is not your way.
    - highspeedmobile 7y ago
      > Sending patches is as easy as sending one in GitHub or any other web-based system. Its still prehistoric in projects like the Linux Kernel, from a beginners point of view compared to GitHub, Gerrit or GitLab, which most of the active contributors are already working at large companies who's work requires contributing to it, thus already have invested in time and money learning the contribution process. To look at the LKML and do code reviews via back and forth emails looks simple for a veteran Linux developer at a large company but very arcane for a student sending a patch to the kernel. > The problem is that you (and many others) have never done it, and so anything different is harder. Your assumption is quite funny here as I have done both and I can tell you that most of the beginners particularly students are introduced into open-source via GitHub or even GitLab these days and its used as a starting point into contributing to a OS project. IIRC, ReactOS and FreeBSD has retained more student contributors from Google Summer of Code than say GNU/Hurd, by both improving the contribution process for beginners. I still wouldn't recommend beginners to learn about OSes in general by contributing to the Linux kernel due to the above reasons. Project making contributions more accessible for beginners isn't a bad thing, its actually how they attract potential long term contributors to stay on, rather than to make things simple only for veteran developers. > You should consider that if learning a handful of CLI commands is such a problem for you, perhaps it is not the system that is being unfriendly to you, but that you are unfriendly to learning anything else that is not your way. There's my point, it is still beginner unfriendly. Beginners these days would start with Github or Gitlab with a GUI to send PRs to a different OS project and wouldn't bother learning tons of CLI commands to send a patch in a email + code reviews. It is therefore favours veteran developers at large companies who stay on being long term contributors than the old days of random Linux enthusiasts doing this, which I'm very surprised you don't see the contribution process prehistoric from a beginners eyes. Perhaps something needs to change...
mettamage 7y ago
I suppose you did, but if you didn't there are some kernel programming courses out there of various universities.
ndesaulniers 7y ago
https://nickdesaulniers.github.io/blog/2017/05/16/submitting-your-first-patch-to-the-linux-kernel-and-responding-to-feedback/ https://nickdesaulniers.github.io/blog/2017/05/16/submitting... `make W=1` to enable additional warnings, find a warning and send a fix. (`make W=123`)
jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
Which mailing lists? Note that the LKML is not the place to ask!

pengaru 7y ago

If you want to contribute, fix bugs found by syzbot [0], there's an endless backlog there. It's the fastest way to get your hands dirty, familiar with a variety of subsystems, and land meaningful, appreciated patches upstream. [0] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/upstream https://syzkaller.appspot.com/upstream

organicfigs 7y ago
Thank you, made my March a little better :)
- megous 7y ago
  Or pick a random SBC from Aliexpress or something you have catching dust at home, and try to improve the mainline Linux support for it. That will get you opportunities to learn more deeply the various kernel subystems, too. Especially around driver and arch code. That's what I did anyway.

osandov 7y ago

Feel free to email me at $my_username@$my_username.com. I'd be happy to help you get started.

navidr 7y ago
Not the op. But can I email you too? I’ve same condition.
- osandov 7y ago
  Absolutely, same goes for anyone else who comes across this and is interested in kernel development.
  - rtkaratekid 7y ago
    I’ll be reaching out :) Hopefully you’re not overwhelmed with the hordes of people wanting to get into kernel development XD

arkj 7y ago

You can always head to kernel newbies and the linux insides git pages.

snvzz 7y ago

I find other systems (such as netbsd) to have a fairly more readable codebase and friendlier community. It was very easy for me to make some contributions there.

highspeedmobile 7y ago
I pretty much agree with this. For example, the BSD Handbook and documentation is the point of call for a newbie entering into the community and the codebase is much more readable than the Linux kernel. Last time I checked, the kernel-newbies site doesn't seem to be beginner friendly and aside from following the IRC channel, the mailing list is still the way to do code reviews there, which is quite frankly pre-historic and very unfriendly for beginners sending patches at best. At least for FreeBSD, they uses Phabricator for code reviews, HaikuOS uses Gerrit and SerenityOS uses GitHub and they seem to be the other OSes that have both good documentation about their kernels and their userland APIs. Perfect places to start learning about operating systems and kernels in general.
- jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
  Prehistoric? It is actually how the Git workflow was designed to work, and it is a standard method that does not require third-party services nor tools. Just your mail agent. Sending patches is as easy as sending one in GitHub or any other web-based system. The problem is that you (and many others) have never done it, and so anything different is harder. You should consider that if learning a handful of CLI commands is such a problem for you, perhaps it is not the system that is being unfriendly to you, but that you are unfriendly to learning anything else that is not your way.
  - highspeedmobile 7y ago
    > Sending patches is as easy as sending one in GitHub or any other web-based system. Its still prehistoric in projects like the Linux Kernel, from a beginners point of view compared to GitHub, Gerrit or GitLab, which most of the active contributors are already working at large companies who's work requires contributing to it, thus already have invested in time and money learning the contribution process. To look at the LKML and do code reviews via back and forth emails looks simple for a veteran Linux developer at a large company but very arcane for a student sending a patch to the kernel. > The problem is that you (and many others) have never done it, and so anything different is harder. Your assumption is quite funny here as I have done both and I can tell you that most of the beginners particularly students are introduced into open-source via GitHub or even GitLab these days and its used as a starting point into contributing to a OS project. IIRC, ReactOS and FreeBSD has retained more student contributors from Google Summer of Code than say GNU/Hurd, by both improving the contribution process for beginners. I still wouldn't recommend beginners to learn about OSes in general by contributing to the Linux kernel due to the above reasons. Project making contributions more accessible for beginners isn't a bad thing, its actually how they attract potential long term contributors to stay on, rather than to make things simple only for veteran developers. > You should consider that if learning a handful of CLI commands is such a problem for you, perhaps it is not the system that is being unfriendly to you, but that you are unfriendly to learning anything else that is not your way. There's my point, it is still beginner unfriendly. Beginners these days would start with Github or Gitlab with a GUI to send PRs to a different OS project and wouldn't bother learning tons of CLI commands to send a patch in a email + code reviews. It is therefore favours veteran developers at large companies who stay on being long term contributors than the old days of random Linux enthusiasts doing this, which I'm very surprised you don't see the contribution process prehistoric from a beginners eyes. Perhaps something needs to change...

mettamage 7y ago

I suppose you did, but if you didn't there are some kernel programming courses out there of various universities.

ndesaulniers 7y ago

https://nickdesaulniers.github.io/blog/2017/05/16/submitting-your-first-patch-to-the-linux-kernel-and-responding-to-feedback/ https://nickdesaulniers.github.io/blog/2017/05/16/submitting... `make W=1` to enable additional warnings, find a warning and send a fix. (`make W=123`)

jfkebwjsbx 7y ago

Which mailing lists? Note that the LKML is not the place to ask!