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This article shares with you the content of the sample analysis of the 2017 Linux kernel development report. The editor thinks it is very practical, so share it with you as a reference and follow the editor to have a look.

The status quo of the Linux project

In this report, the statistics are from kernel 4.7 to 4.13. Let's take a look at what new features have been added to Linux:

Transparent Huge pages can now support file-based pages, as well as pages with programmable data, making more efficient use of memory.

The kernel documentation system has switched to a new tool chain, Sphinx: documentation for better organization and enhancement of the kernel.

The core timing mechanism of the kernel has been replaced with a new and more efficient one.

The implementation of the "easy data path" mechanism in the network stack can handle high-speed network packets loaded by users' BPF programs.

BBR congestion control algorithm improves network performance in a variety of settings.

……

And more drivers, more security, more testing.

When your code is running on billions of devices, it feels really different. -- Jens Axboe (Software Engineer, Facebook)

Who made the changes for Linux?

Since the beginning of the Git era (after the release of 2.6.11 in 2005), a total of 15637 developers have contributed to the development of the Linux kernel, including at least 1513 companies.

Although there may seem to be a lot of independent developers, it is actually a small number of people who have done a lot of work, and in almost all development cycles, about 1P3 developers have contributed only one patch each. Since version 2.6.11, the top 10 engineers who have contributed the most have made a total of 45338 changes, accounting for about 7.1% of the total, while the top 30 have contributed 16%. Their names are:

Linux still exists the heroism of this person, and such a huge system must be the product of group wisdom. But elites and heroes deserve to be honored for their wisdom and efforts.

I always like to deal with the underlying software because they are close to the boundaries of the hardware. -Kees Cook (Software Engineer, from Google)

Which companies have sponsored Linux?

Yes, almost all IT companies you can think of are Linux contributors. They hire developers to develop the kernel. There are chip manufacturers such as Intel, AMD, ARM, TI, etc., as well as Internet giants Google and Facebook.

As some critics say, no matter which company, if you say that open source to their development is disproportionate to their contribution, no matter how the feedback is good for them. Commercial companies consider more factors, but can not lose the kernel, no matter what the purpose of kernel development. It's all right. Take Intel, for example. Even though Intel has contributed 13% in the past year, it is negligible compared to its revenue.

Open source is grateful to commercial companies for sponsorship, but in turn, commercial companies should be more grateful that open source gives them the opportunity to sponsor and make a profit.

New developers

Like many communities, or more broadly, many people dabble in it. Judging from the history of kernel, in each version, newcomers submit one or more patch, and then most people leave, and only a few stay. At present, the number of contributors to the community is: 4Jing 319, of which there are 1670 newcomers in the past year. In addition, the patch submitted by the newcomers are all device drivers, ranked by number as follows: network driver, document, graphics card driver, USB driver, and sound subsystem.

In this way, we can have an intuitive inference that what can be started with kernel development is not as difficult as it is legendary, and what is more difficult is to stick to it and do it all the time. Of course, it would be much better to have the support of commercial companies.

Who is working on the Review code?

Haven't you seen Linus Torvalds's name by now?

Linux, as one of the open source projects, is not random and random. Each patch does not directly enter the trunk, but goes through many subsystems. Each subsystem has corresponding maintenance personnel, who review people's submissions. After each patch has been reviewed by these maintainers, "Signed-off-by" is added, which means that the patch can enter the kernel. When analyzing kernel code, pay attention to "Signed-off-by" and you can see who is the guardian of the kernel.

Yes, Linus Torvalds is now one of them, and patches made by his own "Signed-off-by" have numbered 207in the past year, accounting for 0.3% of the total.

What Linux has learned in the past 26 years

Few development projects have such a long history, and most projects have a sense of "steady state" and a feeling of dying after such a long history. But the Linux kernel is not like this, 26 years later, it still maintains vitality and exuberant vitality. Yes, there is a lot of academic research on the success of the Linux community, but before we get to the bottom of it, let's sum up our lessons:

A short development cycle is really important.

The scalability of the process requires a distributed and hierarchical development model

Tools are critical.

A strong consensus-oriented model is very important. As a general rule.

Another relevant factor in the kernel is the "no regression" rule.

The participation of enterprises is very important in the process.

There should be no boundaries within the project.

The above seven points have important reference value for any large open source. For 26 years, the kernel has taught us with practical actions that continuous and cooperative efforts can lead to huge shared resources, which no single company can do.

Thank you for reading! This is the end of the article on "sample Analysis of the 2017 version of Linux Kernel Development report". I hope the above content can be of some help to you, so that you can learn more knowledge. if you think the article is good, you can share it for more people to see!

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