5 ms·

I'm just a kernel newbie looking at small issues in my free time, but seeing my name in the shortlog feels very rewarding.

by ihalip 7y ago

cerberusss 7y ago
Well done!
aytac1 7y ago
Congrats!
elliotpage 7y ago
Thank you for your hard work!
zerr 7y ago
> in my free time Thank you! To make it even more rewarding for you :) - I remember there was a report mentioning that most of the work on Linux kernel nowadays is done by salaried employees.
- redis_mlc 7y ago
  > most of the work on Linux kernel nowadays is done by salaried employees. That's been the case for decades, probably since just after Linus released it.
  - Arnt 7y ago
    Why is that probably? What makes it probable?
    - phaemon 7y ago
      Because if you're a competent enough programmer to contribute to the Linux kernel, you're probably competent enough to get a job as a programmer.
      - afiori 7y ago
        I believe that by "salaried employees" it was meant as "people that have linux kernel programming" in the job description.
        phaemon 7y ago
        Yes, I think you're right. In that case, it certainly wasn't the case back when Linux started. Intel and Redhat are the biggest contributors according to the Linux Kernel Development Report from 2017: Intel 10,833 13.1% none 6,819 8.2% Red Hat 5,965 7.2% So, "none", although it's the second biggest category, only accounts for 8.2% of contributions.
        ndesaulniers 7y ago
        A lot of kernel developers hide who pays their bills.
        afiori 7y ago
        Unless they also falsely declare the employers it should not be more than 8.2%
      - Avamander 7y ago
        Didn't he mean people paid primarily to develop for Linux, rather than people just developing also developing for Linux?
      - Arnt 7y ago
        I see, and so you assume that that job would be the contribution. When I contributed to the kernel (in a rather minor way, I hasten to add), I was competent enough to get a job as a programmer but my job had nothing to do with the kernel. As far as I can remember that was typical for the people who contributed during the first five years or so. I didn't pay much attention after that.
    - qplex 7y ago
      I think a straight 'no' suffices. Linux most definetly wasn't a commercial project in the early years.
    - op03 7y ago
      Because every company that has libraries, products, stacks, customers using Linux sooner or later runs into issues in Linux, that they can't wait around for someone else to fix. Big orgs have lots of people just working on Linux full time. They start out fixing one small thing, which then needs to be updated, optimized etc etc and then things snowball.
  - ianbooker 7y ago
    It really depends on how you measure the value of the contributions. Simply looking for lines of code (LOC)? Looking for LOC but without drivers? But even if: is every LOC to be seen as equal contribution?
    - a1369209993 7y ago
      Lines of code are of negative value; adding more actively harms the project, all else being equal. Contributions are in terms of what features were puchased with that harm (and some features are harmful in and of themselves, but Linus is pretty good at rejecting those contributions, if not the not-worth-their-loc ones).
originalvichy 7y ago
Keep up the important work.
throwaway_pdp09 7y ago
"For Every Bloke Who Makes His Mark, There's Half A Dozen Waiting To Rub It Out" -- Andy Capp Congrats on being in the former group. When (not if) apes from the latter come to mess you around, tell them to get stuffed. (edit: typo)
Insanity 7y ago
Kudos, that's really cool! ;-)
MrQuincle 7y ago
Nice, what did you do and how much time did it take? I've been hesitating to contribute but it would be great to read a blog post of someone just starting to contribute to see what it takes! It might be enough to get over the fear.
- ihalip 7y ago
  I only did some small fixes for building the kernel with the clang compiler. Probably the most confusing thing when getting started is finding something to work on. There's no real centralized issue tracker/TODO list/ideas list - discussion happens mostly in mailing lists [0][1] for specific topics. If you follow the discussion on YOUR_FAVORITE_TOPIC long enough you should be able to find easy work items, people able to help further, reviewers for your changes etc. In my case specifically, I found the great people at https://clangbuiltlinux.github.io https://clangbuiltlinux.github.io, which is how I got started. [0] http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html [1] https://lore.kernel.org/lists.html https://lore.kernel.org/lists.html
  - ndesaulniers 7y ago
    Finding where to start was the precise issue I looked to solve by setting up that issue tracker. And by being patient, leaving low hanging fruit, taking the time to file issues (explain, demonstrate, guide, enable), we've been able to help many people including yourself make their first contributions to Linux and LLVM. I'm proud of you, Ilie!
    - cogman10 7y ago
      Honestly, probably the hardest part of Open source ATM. Contributing to a project is, frankly, super intimidating. Doubly so when it is something as important as the Kernel.
      - ndesaulniers 7y ago
        I agree. Finding where to start/how to help, and fear of jumping in/criticism are biggest barriers to open source contribution. Also, time/family constraints and lack of mentors. Sink or swim!
Taek 7y ago
As an open source maintainer, I can tell you that we appreciate the small fixes and updates that come from people just getting their feet wet. Even little things like spelling mistakes, or fixing a bug in an infrequently used command line option go a long way towards a better overall product.
- wiz21c 7y ago
  As an open source user and (in the past, contributor), I wholeheartedly agree with that. The fact that a software has no bugs is what makes it a product I can rely on. For example, I'm a KDE user since 20 years. And although it has come a long way, there's always this little bug here or there. Because of that , I can't recommend it to some non IT user who's going to use it alone, I can't 100% trust it. So OP is right : fixing little bugs makes a incredible difference. (as far as KDE is concerned, kudo's to Nate Graham who's been looking at small issues for some times now and that really makes a difference)
  - majewsky 7y ago
    If you cannot recommend KDE because "there's always this little bug here or there", you cannot recommend anything. When people prefer Windows over Linux, or macOS over Windows, or Linux over macOS, it's often because they don't want to exchange their well-known set of bugs for an exciting and unknown new set of bugs.
    - wiz21c 7y ago
      not as simple as that. For example, on debian buster, the Discover search bar doesn't work if used several times; the favorites in the start menu sometimes reappear after being deleted; when I quit kmail by using the windows close button, Kmail complains it exited in an unexpected way, etc. These are not little quirks, these are apparent in a normal daily usage. I use Windows at work and it's past those issues. But yet, I still prefer KDE because I prefer the whole myth of its creation (I say it's a myth because 1/ there's not much of a story 2/ even if it existed I'm 100% sure I didn't read it). I also prefer it over Windows and OSX 'cos it has things which are better : start menu is very clean, konsole works great, okular is super good, K3B just works,... So I'm not criticizing the work done by KDE, it's just the end result that is 98% good (which for me, as an experimented dev/user means 101%), not 99.9%. And while I'm at it, installing the next stable debian is always such an amazement to me. Things improve so much in stability and in those little bugs here and there. Having been a GPL/linux/... follower since almost 30 years, I can measure that. And it's soooooo great now... Can't believe that I've been able to see the whole thing happening. And now the pinephone thing is coming along... (that was the emotional minute, thx for your attention :-) )
jjice 7y ago
It should feel rewarding. You've contributed to and improved one of the most important pieces of software in the world!
fermienrico 7y ago
This made me smile for some reason, congrats and thanks!
Veoich_py 7y ago
I'm happy for you, keep doing what you love in your free time!
m-p-3 7y ago
Small issues are nonetheless important to many users all over the world, thank you for taking the time and using your knowledge.

I'm just a kernel newbie looking at small issues in my free time, but seeing my name in the shortlog feels very rewarding.

by ihalip 7y ago

I'm just a kernel newbie looking at small issues in my free time, but seeing my name in the shortlog feels very rewarding.

cerberusss 7y ago

Well done!

aytac1 7y ago

Congrats!

elliotpage 7y ago

Thank you for your hard work!

zerr 7y ago

> in my free time Thank you! To make it even more rewarding for you :) - I remember there was a report mentioning that most of the work on Linux kernel nowadays is done by salaried employees.

redis_mlc 7y ago
> most of the work on Linux kernel nowadays is done by salaried employees. That's been the case for decades, probably since just after Linus released it.
- Arnt 7y ago
  Why is that probably? What makes it probable?
  - phaemon 7y ago
    Because if you're a competent enough programmer to contribute to the Linux kernel, you're probably competent enough to get a job as a programmer.
    - afiori 7y ago
      I believe that by "salaried employees" it was meant as "people that have linux kernel programming" in the job description.
      - phaemon 7y ago
        Yes, I think you're right. In that case, it certainly wasn't the case back when Linux started. Intel and Redhat are the biggest contributors according to the Linux Kernel Development Report from 2017: Intel 10,833 13.1% none 6,819 8.2% Red Hat 5,965 7.2% So, "none", although it's the second biggest category, only accounts for 8.2% of contributions.
        ndesaulniers 7y ago
        A lot of kernel developers hide who pays their bills.
        afiori 7y ago
        Unless they also falsely declare the employers it should not be more than 8.2%
    - Avamander 7y ago
      Didn't he mean people paid primarily to develop for Linux, rather than people just developing also developing for Linux?
    - Arnt 7y ago
      I see, and so you assume that that job would be the contribution. When I contributed to the kernel (in a rather minor way, I hasten to add), I was competent enough to get a job as a programmer but my job had nothing to do with the kernel. As far as I can remember that was typical for the people who contributed during the first five years or so. I didn't pay much attention after that.
  - qplex 7y ago
    I think a straight 'no' suffices. Linux most definetly wasn't a commercial project in the early years.
  - op03 7y ago
    Because every company that has libraries, products, stacks, customers using Linux sooner or later runs into issues in Linux, that they can't wait around for someone else to fix. Big orgs have lots of people just working on Linux full time. They start out fixing one small thing, which then needs to be updated, optimized etc etc and then things snowball.
- ianbooker 7y ago
  It really depends on how you measure the value of the contributions. Simply looking for lines of code (LOC)? Looking for LOC but without drivers? But even if: is every LOC to be seen as equal contribution?
  - a1369209993 7y ago
    Lines of code are of negative value; adding more actively harms the project, all else being equal. Contributions are in terms of what features were puchased with that harm (and some features are harmful in and of themselves, but Linus is pretty good at rejecting those contributions, if not the not-worth-their-loc ones).

originalvichy 7y ago

Keep up the important work.

throwaway_pdp09 7y ago

"For Every Bloke Who Makes His Mark, There's Half A Dozen Waiting To Rub It Out" -- Andy Capp Congrats on being in the former group. When (not if) apes from the latter come to mess you around, tell them to get stuffed. (edit: typo)

Insanity 7y ago

Kudos, that's really cool! ;-)

MrQuincle 7y ago

Nice, what did you do and how much time did it take? I've been hesitating to contribute but it would be great to read a blog post of someone just starting to contribute to see what it takes! It might be enough to get over the fear.

ihalip 7y ago
I only did some small fixes for building the kernel with the clang compiler. Probably the most confusing thing when getting started is finding something to work on. There's no real centralized issue tracker/TODO list/ideas list - discussion happens mostly in mailing lists [0][1] for specific topics. If you follow the discussion on YOUR_FAVORITE_TOPIC long enough you should be able to find easy work items, people able to help further, reviewers for your changes etc. In my case specifically, I found the great people at https://clangbuiltlinux.github.io https://clangbuiltlinux.github.io, which is how I got started. [0] http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html [1] https://lore.kernel.org/lists.html https://lore.kernel.org/lists.html
- ndesaulniers 7y ago
  Finding where to start was the precise issue I looked to solve by setting up that issue tracker. And by being patient, leaving low hanging fruit, taking the time to file issues (explain, demonstrate, guide, enable), we've been able to help many people including yourself make their first contributions to Linux and LLVM. I'm proud of you, Ilie!
  - cogman10 7y ago
    Honestly, probably the hardest part of Open source ATM. Contributing to a project is, frankly, super intimidating. Doubly so when it is something as important as the Kernel.
    - ndesaulniers 7y ago
      I agree. Finding where to start/how to help, and fear of jumping in/criticism are biggest barriers to open source contribution. Also, time/family constraints and lack of mentors. Sink or swim!

Taek 7y ago

As an open source maintainer, I can tell you that we appreciate the small fixes and updates that come from people just getting their feet wet. Even little things like spelling mistakes, or fixing a bug in an infrequently used command line option go a long way towards a better overall product.

wiz21c 7y ago
As an open source user and (in the past, contributor), I wholeheartedly agree with that. The fact that a software has no bugs is what makes it a product I can rely on. For example, I'm a KDE user since 20 years. And although it has come a long way, there's always this little bug here or there. Because of that , I can't recommend it to some non IT user who's going to use it alone, I can't 100% trust it. So OP is right : fixing little bugs makes a incredible difference. (as far as KDE is concerned, kudo's to Nate Graham who's been looking at small issues for some times now and that really makes a difference)
- majewsky 7y ago
  If you cannot recommend KDE because "there's always this little bug here or there", you cannot recommend anything. When people prefer Windows over Linux, or macOS over Windows, or Linux over macOS, it's often because they don't want to exchange their well-known set of bugs for an exciting and unknown new set of bugs.
  - wiz21c 7y ago
    not as simple as that. For example, on debian buster, the Discover search bar doesn't work if used several times; the favorites in the start menu sometimes reappear after being deleted; when I quit kmail by using the windows close button, Kmail complains it exited in an unexpected way, etc. These are not little quirks, these are apparent in a normal daily usage. I use Windows at work and it's past those issues. But yet, I still prefer KDE because I prefer the whole myth of its creation (I say it's a myth because 1/ there's not much of a story 2/ even if it existed I'm 100% sure I didn't read it). I also prefer it over Windows and OSX 'cos it has things which are better : start menu is very clean, konsole works great, okular is super good, K3B just works,... So I'm not criticizing the work done by KDE, it's just the end result that is 98% good (which for me, as an experimented dev/user means 101%), not 99.9%. And while I'm at it, installing the next stable debian is always such an amazement to me. Things improve so much in stability and in those little bugs here and there. Having been a GPL/linux/... follower since almost 30 years, I can measure that. And it's soooooo great now... Can't believe that I've been able to see the whole thing happening. And now the pinephone thing is coming along... (that was the emotional minute, thx for your attention :-) )

jjice 7y ago

It should feel rewarding. You've contributed to and improved one of the most important pieces of software in the world!

fermienrico 7y ago

This made me smile for some reason, congrats and thanks!

Veoich_py 7y ago

I'm happy for you, keep doing what you love in your free time!

m-p-3 7y ago

Small issues are nonetheless important to many users all over the world, thank you for taking the time and using your knowledge.