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