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1 | .. _development_conclusion: |
2 | ||
3 | For more information | |
4 | ==================== | |
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5 | |
6 | There are numerous sources of information on Linux kernel development and | |
7 | related topics. First among those will always be the Documentation | |
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8 | directory found in the kernel source distribution. The top-level :ref:`process/howto.rst <process_howto>` |
9 | file is an important starting point; :ref:`process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>` | |
10 | and :ref:`process/submitting-drivers.rst <submittingdrivers>` | |
11 | are also something which all kernel developers should | |
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12 | read. Many internal kernel APIs are documented using the kerneldoc |
13 | mechanism; "make htmldocs" or "make pdfdocs" can be used to generate those | |
14 | documents in HTML or PDF format (though the version of TeX shipped by some | |
15 | distributions runs into internal limits and fails to process the documents | |
16 | properly). | |
17 | ||
18 | Various web sites discuss kernel development at all levels of detail. Your | |
93431e06 | 19 | author would like to humbly suggest https://lwn.net/ as a source; |
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20 | information on many specific kernel topics can be found via the LWN kernel |
21 | index at: | |
22 | ||
93431e06 | 23 | https://lwn.net/Kernel/Index/ |
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24 | |
25 | Beyond that, a valuable resource for kernel developers is: | |
26 | ||
93431e06 | 27 | https://kernelnewbies.org/ |
75b02146 | 28 | |
93431e06 | 29 | And, of course, one should not forget https://kernel.org/, the definitive |
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30 | location for kernel release information. |
31 | ||
32 | There are a number of books on kernel development: | |
33 | ||
34 | Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition (Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro | |
35 | Rubini, and Greg Kroah-Hartman). Online at | |
93431e06 | 36 | https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/. |
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37 | |
38 | Linux Kernel Development (Robert Love). | |
39 | ||
40 | Understanding the Linux Kernel (Daniel Bovet and Marco Cesati). | |
41 | ||
42 | All of these books suffer from a common fault, though: they tend to be | |
43 | somewhat obsolete by the time they hit the shelves, and they have been on | |
44 | the shelves for a while now. Still, there is quite a bit of good | |
45 | information to be found there. | |
46 | ||
47 | Documentation for git can be found at: | |
48 | ||
93431e06 | 49 | https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/ |
75b02146 | 50 | |
93431e06 | 51 | https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/user-manual.html |
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52 | |
53 | ||
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54 | Conclusion |
55 | ========== | |
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56 | |
57 | Congratulations to anybody who has made it through this long-winded | |
58 | document. Hopefully it has provided a helpful understanding of how the | |
59 | Linux kernel is developed and how you can participate in that process. | |
60 | ||
61 | In the end, it's the participation that matters. Any open source software | |
62 | project is no more than the sum of what its contributors put into it. The | |
63 | Linux kernel has progressed as quickly and as well as it has because it has | |
64 | been helped by an impressively large group of developers, all of whom are | |
65 | working to make it better. The kernel is a premier example of what can be | |
66 | done when thousands of people work together toward a common goal. | |
67 | ||
68 | The kernel can always benefit from a larger developer base, though. There | |
69 | is always more work to do. But, just as importantly, most other | |
70 | participants in the Linux ecosystem can benefit through contributing to the | |
71 | kernel. Getting code into the mainline is the key to higher code quality, | |
72 | lower maintenance and distribution costs, a higher level of influence over | |
73 | the direction of kernel development, and more. It is a situation where | |
74 | everybody involved wins. Fire up your editor and come join us; you will be | |
75 | more than welcome. |