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Who wrote 2.6.20?

lwn.net — This is a great analysis of where the code for the Linux kernel comes from. The analysis includes who contributed work, and it shows what kind of corporate funding Linux really gets from companies like IBM to Google to Nokia.

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  • schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -24/+10In another recent survey, Sun was shown to have contributed the most Open Source software.
    • adfsj, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Your right, sun does do a lot of opensource stuff, but that does not mean they contributed to the linux kernel (solaris is based on bsd).

      Also you have to remember that most of this code is released under the CDDL, which is totally incompatible with the GPL
    • schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6True, but you are being a tad pedantic. Sun is currently moving _a lot_ of CDDL'd code to the GPL realms -- maybe even version 3 of it -- putting it a step ahead of the Linux kernel in a sense. Despite their very recent joining with the FSF, Sun is still reluctant to embrace GPLv3 (see Simon Phipps writings). They realise it would not /necessarily/ win over devs.
    • Philluminati, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4
      I really really want to become a Kernel Hacker when I grow up. (I'm 23 now). I got some books both on Theory of OS, Understanding the Linux Kernel and other stuff but I still find it extremely complex to hack. I only make tiny tiny changes because I can't actually see any bugs in the code that need fixing. (I'm not saying there are none, merely I can't see them). All the extras and modules I write have no purpose and it feels like a pointless exercise.
    • GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6RMS himself came out and admitted Sun were the biggest contributor in terms of code when they opened (currently most of, if not all) Java. Just that and OOo are two huge chunks of code (in most distros OOo accounts for more than 10% of the default codebase). That's without going into Solaris and Netbeans (which is quite good these days though lacks the Eclipse community and plugin base).
    • daxsymbiont, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1'who is a hobbyist' is quite hard to answer since one may work for a company, bringing linux to it for the very reason of being a linux hobbyist in advance.

      i know i'd bring linux to a company if i was asked to choose a system in random.
  • zlintux, on 10/12/2007, -17/+10Microsoft of course -- Ballmer said so.
  • bovester, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12I think the point here is... no one did a lot
    • VaporBro, on 10/26/2007, -11/+6Glass half empty > Glass half full
    • MicroBerto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"The top 20 contributors, all together, generated 28% of the total changesets in 2.6.20."

      This highly violates the Pareto Principle ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle ), and can be considered a very awesome thing for Linux.

      I'm very happy that I saw this.
  • Frankie4Fingers, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15@bovester

    I think that means that everyone did a little :)
    • VaporBro, on 10/26/2007, -7/+12Glass half empty < Glass half full
    • terebentina, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Who cares if it's half full or half empty?
      I still have to wash the damn glass :)
    • coolbru, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Glass too big.
    • bullox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Glass needs to be topped off.
    • msgyrd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6The glass completely full. Half with your liquid of choice, half with air.
    • subliminalurge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Half Empty? Half Full?

      You're all missing the point. What I want to know is who's the ***** that drank half my beer?
  • retrac1324, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Title makes no sense, but nonetheless a great analysis
  • ki85squared, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2Is it odd that Linus Torvalds isn't on that list of top contributors?
    From the article: "Linus Torvalds is directly responsible for a very small portion of the code which makes it into the kernel."

    hmm...
    • dystopianray, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Although writing relatively little code himself, it is Linus who decides what new code is incorporated into the kernel.
    • fireball74, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9He may not be at the top of the list, but he still does his part in maintaining order amongst the chaos. He also has a lot of say in what does and does not go into each release of the kernel. Either job I wouldn't personally want.

      To also note, he does "sign-off" on quite a few pieces of code. I'm not sure what goes into that exactly, but I imagine there's lots of testing code has to go through to get signed off.
    • adfsj, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0@dystopianray

      Thats the way BSD development works, there are code reviewers that put the final work into the kernel. Linux is a more open than that.
    • GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Trust me Linus has the more important job in being dictator for life. When you have so many people with different ideologies contributing it can become difficult to maintain order but Linus has kept it going forward.
    • LogicallyGenius, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1That Linus has sold himself to KDE and many such companies.
  • Techreads, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3"Mr. Bunk is, in fact, the bane of old code; over the last year (since 2.6.16) he has removed a full 127,000 lines from the kernel source tree."

    Wow that's really impressive how much time they're willing to spend on an OS project.
    • GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Nah you just have to hit d127000d. Not hard ;) .
  • pyrotix, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11This article is almost as fun as grepping "*****"
  • badbox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1It's for year zero.
  • TubzyX, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0wrong article woops
  • SniggityBiggity, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0who really cares
  • Ademan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Anyone else notice broadcom in the list? Aren't their wireless cards notoriously huge pains in the ass under linux? Does that mean that's changing? or does that just mean that they're contributing for their own reasons? (or is it a different broadcom alltogether?)

    cheers
    -Dan
    • GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Broadcom make more than just unsupported wireless cards. They make proper Ethernet adapters as well and the kernel has support for them.
    • subgeniusd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you have the time to browse the article comment thread Broadcom's contribution is discussed a bit. Yes for their own reasons. Plus large uncoordinated operation with differing policies among isolated departments.
    • biggbrother, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I expect that when Broadcom management finds out about this, they'll be fired.
  • karudzo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Sorry- buried the wrong story (so much for tabs being a plus)!
  • diggsIt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Thanks, to those who code Linux.
  • Sneakernets, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Who wrote 2.6.20?

    SCO, of course!
  • Ratteler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The point is, you can find who contributed to Linux, and exactly what they were trying to do, by reading the SOURCE CODE!

    You can see the RIAA/MPAA/Homeland security/ god knows who, influences in any version of Windows.
  • skjalff, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1...and why does anyone care?
    • cesclaveria, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2because we use it, because we work it.

      And to know to who say 'Thank you'
  • binaryspiral, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Companies listed like RedHad and IBM have a vested interest in maintaining and improving the sourcecode that they support and sell. I think it's a great business model that allows an average joe and a corporation to have input on the core kernal in an operating system... Microsoft could learn a bit from this.
  • LakeshoreBaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is scary. IBM and Google control Linux? Frick. Man, are we not watched in any way whatsoever? : (
    • davidron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think that this list includes people that work for Google and IBM and add to the kernel but aren't actually doing it as part of their work. For instance, these companies might hire Kernel developers because they understand the Kernel, not because the company has an agenda or even cares what the kernel developer is doing in his free time.
  • raseel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Seriousy, there are waaay to many unsung heroes developing the Linux code.
    Even though this post had statistical data, kudos to the author and hats off to all the developers who have gone unnoticed.
  •  

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