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So, modern Linux is 4500x the lines of code of Linux v0.01. Does 36M lines of code in modern Linux mean that the complexity demon is winning? Or do we really, a

by acyou 3y ago

So, modern Linux is 4500x the lines of code of Linux v0.01. Does 36M lines of code in modern Linux mean that the complexity demon is winning? Or do we really, actually need that many? I would love to see a graphical breakdown of how many lines of code, how many functions, etc are used for each major software module. Are there existing tools that do this?

malux85 3y ago
Modern linux has 4500x the features as v0.01 - multi CPU architecutre support, better scheduling, better memory allocators, different filesystems, permissions and isolation, more advanced networking, drivers, security. While there is bloat in all software systems, comparing them difficult because one is a MVP and the other is the starship enterprise.
- mypalmike 3y ago
  "More advanced networking" is an understatement given the lack of networking in v0.01.
- zer8k 3y ago
  > better scheduling Some people might debate this :)
sthuck 3y ago
You can use plain old 'wc' to count lines. Most of the Linux kernel codebase is drivers. 2nd most is architecture specific code. I don't know what's the actual count of lines of code that I actually have on the kernel compiled on my specific x64 machine, but I think considering how many significant changes were made to the Linux kernel over the years, I don't think it's a victim of unnecessary bloat. The various virtualization features alone were industry changing features.