Leading Linux developers are losing the desire to code
Key Linux kernel programmers stop writing code. They begin to increasingly test others and manage projects. The development team becomes more numerous and more difficult, so informal managers appear. This is the opinion of Greg Kroah-Hartman, lead developer of USB and PCI support for Linux, as well as the author of the book “Linux Device Drivers”.
In the latest kernel release, 30 leading developers initiated just 30% of the total number of edits, whereas two years ago 20 leading developers made 80% of edits. Over the past two years, 3200 people have contributed to the development of Linux, and every second has done this more than once.
Greg Kroa-Hartman himself now spends more time looking at someone else's code than writing his own. The reason is clear: programming the Linux kernel has become much more difficult. If earlier only one person (Linus Torvalds) did the job, in release 2.6.22 the names of all programmers took 12 meters of narrow text. This sheet-listing was shown at the last Linuxoids conference in Ottawa.
In March, 2005, 475 developers took part in the development of the kernel 2.6.11, and in the nearest release 2.6.22 - already 920. The frequency of making changes to the kernel increased from two to four per hour. The amount of Linux code exceeded 8.2 million lines. More than half of the code (52%) is occupied by device drivers, and less than 5% is, in fact, the “real” kernel (kernel core). However, in this “real” core, changes occur at the same rate as in the rest of the code.
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Although Red Hat dominates the market for commercial Linux distributions, its contribution to the development is relatively small: only 11.8%. Novell is in second place with 9.7%. Significant support for the project is provided by IBM, Intel and SGI.
via Slashdot
In the latest kernel release, 30 leading developers initiated just 30% of the total number of edits, whereas two years ago 20 leading developers made 80% of edits. Over the past two years, 3200 people have contributed to the development of Linux, and every second has done this more than once.
Greg Kroa-Hartman himself now spends more time looking at someone else's code than writing his own. The reason is clear: programming the Linux kernel has become much more difficult. If earlier only one person (Linus Torvalds) did the job, in release 2.6.22 the names of all programmers took 12 meters of narrow text. This sheet-listing was shown at the last Linuxoids conference in Ottawa.
In March, 2005, 475 developers took part in the development of the kernel 2.6.11, and in the nearest release 2.6.22 - already 920. The frequency of making changes to the kernel increased from two to four per hour. The amount of Linux code exceeded 8.2 million lines. More than half of the code (52%) is occupied by device drivers, and less than 5% is, in fact, the “real” kernel (kernel core). However, in this “real” core, changes occur at the same rate as in the rest of the code.
')
Although Red Hat dominates the market for commercial Linux distributions, its contribution to the development is relatively small: only 11.8%. Novell is in second place with 9.7%. Significant support for the project is provided by IBM, Intel and SGI.
via Slashdot
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/11818/
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