1HOWTO do Linux kernel development 2--------------------------------- 3 4This is the be-all, end-all document on this topic. It contains 5instructions on how to become a Linux kernel developer and how to learn 6to work with the Linux kernel development community. It tries to not 7contain anything related to the technical aspects of kernel programming, 8but will help point you in the right direction for that. 9 10If anything in this document becomes out of date, please send in patches 11to the maintainer of this file, who is listed at the bottom of the 12document. 13 14 15Introduction 16------------ 17 18So, you want to learn how to become a Linux kernel developer? Or you 19have been told by your manager, "Go write a Linux driver for this 20device." This document's goal is to teach you everything you need to 21know to achieve this by describing the process you need to go through, 22and hints on how to work with the community. It will also try to 23explain some of the reasons why the community works like it does. 24 25The kernel is written mostly in C, with some architecture-dependent 26parts written in assembly. A good understanding of C is required for 27kernel development. Assembly (any architecture) is not required unless 28you plan to do low-level development for that architecture. Though they 29are not a good substitute for a solid C education and/or years of 30experience, the following books are good for, if anything, reference: 31 - "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie [Prentice Hall] 32 - "Practical C Programming" by Steve Oualline [O'Reilly] 33 - "C: A Reference Manual" by Harbison and Steele [Prentice Hall] 34 35The kernel is written using GNU C and the GNU toolchain. While it 36adheres to the ISO C89 standard, it uses a number of extensions that are 37not featured in the standard. The kernel is a freestanding C 38environment, with no reliance on the standard C library, so some 39portions of the C standard are not supported. Arbitrary long long 40divisions and floating point are not allowed. It can sometimes be 41difficult to understand the assumptions the kernel has on the toolchain 42and the extensions that it uses, and unfortunately there is no 43definitive reference for them. Please check the gcc info pages (`info 44gcc`) for some information on them. 45 46Please remember that you are trying to learn how to work with the 47existing development community. It is a diverse group of people, with 48high standards for coding, style and procedure. These standards have 49been created over time based on what they have found to work best for 50such a large and geographically dispersed team. Try to learn as much as 51possible about these standards ahead of time, as they are well 52documented; do not expect people to adapt to you or your company's way 53of doing things. 54 55 56Legal Issues 57------------ 58 59The Linux kernel source code is released under the GPL. Please see the 60file, COPYING, in the main directory of the source tree, for details on 61the license. If you have further questions about the license, please 62contact a lawyer, and do not ask on the Linux kernel mailing list. The 63people on the mailing lists are not lawyers, and you should not rely on 64their statements on legal matters. 65 66For common questions and answers about the GPL, please see: 67 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html 68 69 70Documentation 71------------- 72 73The Linux kernel source tree has a large range of documents that are 74invaluable for learning how to interact with the kernel community. When 75new features are added to the kernel, it is recommended that new 76documentation files are also added which explain how to use the feature. 77When a kernel change causes the interface that the kernel exposes to 78userspace to change, it is recommended that you send the information or 79a patch to the manual pages explaining the change to the manual pages 80maintainer at mtk.manpages@gmail.com, and CC the list 81linux-api@vger.kernel.org. 82 83Here is a list of files that are in the kernel source tree that are 84required reading: 85 README 86 This file gives a short background on the Linux kernel and describes 87 what is necessary to do to configure and build the kernel. People 88 who are new to the kernel should start here. 89 90 Documentation/Changes 91 This file gives a list of the minimum levels of various software 92 packages that are necessary to build and run the kernel 93 successfully. 94 95 Documentation/CodingStyle 96 This describes the Linux kernel coding style, and some of the 97 rationale behind it. All new code is expected to follow the 98 guidelines in this document. Most maintainers will only accept 99 patches if these rules are followed, and many people will only 100 review code if it is in the proper style. 101 102 Documentation/SubmittingPatches 103 Documentation/SubmittingDrivers 104 These files describe in explicit detail how to successfully create 105 and send a patch, including (but not limited to): 106 - Email contents 107 - Email format 108 - Who to send it to 109 Following these rules will not guarantee success (as all patches are 110 subject to scrutiny for content and style), but not following them 111 will almost always prevent it. 112 113 Other excellent descriptions of how to create patches properly are: 114 "The Perfect Patch" 115 http://www.ozlabs.org/~akpm/stuff/tpp.txt 116 "Linux kernel patch submission format" 117 http://linux.yyz.us/patch-format.html 118 119 Documentation/stable_api_nonsense.txt 120 This file describes the rationale behind the conscious decision to 121 not have a stable API within the kernel, including things like: 122 - Subsystem shim-layers (for compatibility?) 123 - Driver portability between Operating Systems. 124 - Mitigating rapid change within the kernel source tree (or 125 preventing rapid change) 126 This document is crucial for understanding the Linux development 127 philosophy and is very important for people moving to Linux from 128 development on other Operating Systems. 129 130 Documentation/SecurityBugs 131 If you feel you have found a security problem in the Linux kernel, 132 please follow the steps in this document to help notify the kernel 133 developers, and help solve the issue. 134 135 Documentation/ManagementStyle 136 This document describes how Linux kernel maintainers operate and the 137 shared ethos behind their methodologies. This is important reading 138 for anyone new to kernel development (or anyone simply curious about 139 it), as it resolves a lot of common misconceptions and confusion 140 about the unique behavior of kernel maintainers. 141 142 Documentation/stable_kernel_rules.txt 143 This file describes the rules on how the stable kernel releases 144 happen, and what to do if you want to get a change into one of these 145 releases. 146 147 Documentation/kernel-docs.txt 148 A list of external documentation that pertains to kernel 149 development. Please consult this list if you do not find what you 150 are looking for within the in-kernel documentation. 151 152 Documentation/applying-patches.txt 153 A good introduction describing exactly what a patch is and how to 154 apply it to the different development branches of the kernel. 155 156The kernel also has a large number of documents that can be 157automatically generated from the source code itself. This includes a 158full description of the in-kernel API, and rules on how to handle 159locking properly. The documents will be created in the 160Documentation/DocBook/ directory and can be generated as PDF, 161Postscript, HTML, and man pages by running: 162 make pdfdocs 163 make psdocs 164 make htmldocs 165 make mandocs 166respectively from the main kernel source directory. 167 168 169Becoming A Kernel Developer 170--------------------------- 171 172If you do not know anything about Linux kernel development, you should 173look at the Linux KernelNewbies project: 174 http://kernelnewbies.org 175It consists of a helpful mailing list where you can ask almost any type 176of basic kernel development question (make sure to search the archives 177first, before asking something that has already been answered in the 178past.) It also has an IRC channel that you can use to ask questions in 179real-time, and a lot of helpful documentation that is useful for 180learning about Linux kernel development. 181 182The website has basic information about code organization, subsystems, 183and current projects (both in-tree and out-of-tree). It also describes 184some basic logistical information, like how to compile a kernel and 185apply a patch. 186 187If you do not know where you want to start, but you want to look for 188some task to start doing to join into the kernel development community, 189go to the Linux Kernel Janitor's project: 190 http://kernelnewbies.org/KernelJanitors 191It is a great place to start. It describes a list of relatively simple 192problems that need to be cleaned up and fixed within the Linux kernel 193source tree. Working with the developers in charge of this project, you 194will learn the basics of getting your patch into the Linux kernel tree, 195and possibly be pointed in the direction of what to go work on next, if 196you do not already have an idea. 197 198If you already have a chunk of code that you want to put into the kernel 199tree, but need some help getting it in the proper form, the 200kernel-mentors project was created to help you out with this. It is a 201mailing list, and can be found at: 202 http://selenic.com/mailman/listinfo/kernel-mentors 203 204Before making any actual modifications to the Linux kernel code, it is 205imperative to understand how the code in question works. For this 206purpose, nothing is better than reading through it directly (most tricky 207bits are commented well), perhaps even with the help of specialized 208tools. One such tool that is particularly recommended is the Linux 209Cross-Reference project, which is able to present source code in a 210self-referential, indexed webpage format. An excellent up-to-date 211repository of the kernel code may be found at: 212 http://lxr.free-electrons.com/ 213 214 215The development process 216----------------------- 217 218Linux kernel development process currently consists of a few different 219main kernel "branches" and lots of different subsystem-specific kernel 220branches. These different branches are: 221 - main 4.x kernel tree 222 - 4.x.y -stable kernel tree 223 - 4.x -git kernel patches 224 - subsystem specific kernel trees and patches 225 - the 4.x -next kernel tree for integration tests 226 2274.x kernel tree 228----------------- 2294.x kernels are maintained by Linus Torvalds, and can be found on 230kernel.org in the pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ directory. Its development 231process is as follows: 232 - As soon as a new kernel is released a two weeks window is open, 233 during this period of time maintainers can submit big diffs to 234 Linus, usually the patches that have already been included in the 235 -next kernel for a few weeks. The preferred way to submit big changes 236 is using git (the kernel's source management tool, more information 237 can be found at http://git-scm.com/) but plain patches are also just 238 fine. 239 - After two weeks a -rc1 kernel is released it is now possible to push 240 only patches that do not include new features that could affect the 241 stability of the whole kernel. Please note that a whole new driver 242 (or filesystem) might be accepted after -rc1 because there is no 243 risk of causing regressions with such a change as long as the change 244 is self-contained and does not affect areas outside of the code that 245 is being added. git can be used to send patches to Linus after -rc1 246 is released, but the patches need to also be sent to a public 247 mailing list for review. 248 - A new -rc is released whenever Linus deems the current git tree to 249 be in a reasonably sane state adequate for testing. The goal is to 250 release a new -rc kernel every week. 251 - Process continues until the kernel is considered "ready", the 252 process should last around 6 weeks. 253 254It is worth mentioning what Andrew Morton wrote on the linux-kernel 255mailing list about kernel releases: 256 "Nobody knows when a kernel will be released, because it's 257 released according to perceived bug status, not according to a 258 preconceived timeline." 259 2604.x.y -stable kernel tree 261------------------------- 262Kernels with 3-part versions are -stable kernels. They contain 263relatively small and critical fixes for security problems or significant 264regressions discovered in a given 4.x kernel. 265 266This is the recommended branch for users who want the most recent stable 267kernel and are not interested in helping test development/experimental 268versions. 269 270If no 4.x.y kernel is available, then the highest numbered 4.x 271kernel is the current stable kernel. 272 2734.x.y are maintained by the "stable" team <stable@vger.kernel.org>, and 274are released as needs dictate. The normal release period is approximately 275two weeks, but it can be longer if there are no pressing problems. A 276security-related problem, instead, can cause a release to happen almost 277instantly. 278 279The file Documentation/stable_kernel_rules.txt in the kernel tree 280documents what kinds of changes are acceptable for the -stable tree, and 281how the release process works. 282 2834.x -git patches 284---------------- 285These are daily snapshots of Linus' kernel tree which are managed in a 286git repository (hence the name.) These patches are usually released 287daily and represent the current state of Linus' tree. They are more 288experimental than -rc kernels since they are generated automatically 289without even a cursory glance to see if they are sane. 290 291Subsystem Specific kernel trees and patches 292------------------------------------------- 293The maintainers of the various kernel subsystems --- and also many 294kernel subsystem developers --- expose their current state of 295development in source repositories. That way, others can see what is 296happening in the different areas of the kernel. In areas where 297development is rapid, a developer may be asked to base his submissions 298onto such a subsystem kernel tree so that conflicts between the 299submission and other already ongoing work are avoided. 300 301Most of these repositories are git trees, but there are also other SCMs 302in use, or patch queues being published as quilt series. Addresses of 303these subsystem repositories are listed in the MAINTAINERS file. Many 304of them can be browsed at http://git.kernel.org/. 305 306Before a proposed patch is committed to such a subsystem tree, it is 307subject to review which primarily happens on mailing lists (see the 308respective section below). For several kernel subsystems, this review 309process is tracked with the tool patchwork. Patchwork offers a web 310interface which shows patch postings, any comments on a patch or 311revisions to it, and maintainers can mark patches as under review, 312accepted, or rejected. Most of these patchwork sites are listed at 313http://patchwork.kernel.org/. 314 3154.x -next kernel tree for integration tests 316------------------------------------------- 317Before updates from subsystem trees are merged into the mainline 4.x 318tree, they need to be integration-tested. For this purpose, a special 319testing repository exists into which virtually all subsystem trees are 320pulled on an almost daily basis: 321 http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/next/linux-next.git 322 323This way, the -next kernel gives a summary outlook onto what will be 324expected to go into the mainline kernel at the next merge period. 325Adventurous testers are very welcome to runtime-test the -next kernel. 326 327 328Bug Reporting 329------------- 330 331bugzilla.kernel.org is where the Linux kernel developers track kernel 332bugs. Users are encouraged to report all bugs that they find in this 333tool. For details on how to use the kernel bugzilla, please see: 334 http://bugzilla.kernel.org/page.cgi?id=faq.html 335 336The file REPORTING-BUGS in the main kernel source directory has a good 337template for how to report a possible kernel bug, and details what kind 338of information is needed by the kernel developers to help track down the 339problem. 340 341 342Managing bug reports 343-------------------- 344 345One of the best ways to put into practice your hacking skills is by fixing 346bugs reported by other people. Not only you will help to make the kernel 347more stable, you'll learn to fix real world problems and you will improve 348your skills, and other developers will be aware of your presence. Fixing 349bugs is one of the best ways to get merits among other developers, because 350not many people like wasting time fixing other people's bugs. 351 352To work in the already reported bug reports, go to http://bugzilla.kernel.org. 353If you want to be advised of the future bug reports, you can subscribe to the 354bugme-new mailing list (only new bug reports are mailed here) or to the 355bugme-janitor mailing list (every change in the bugzilla is mailed here) 356 357 http://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bugme-new 358 http://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bugme-janitors 359 360 361 362Mailing lists 363------------- 364 365As some of the above documents describe, the majority of the core kernel 366developers participate on the Linux Kernel Mailing list. Details on how 367to subscribe and unsubscribe from the list can be found at: 368 http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html#linux-kernel 369There are archives of the mailing list on the web in many different 370places. Use a search engine to find these archives. For example: 371 http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel 372It is highly recommended that you search the archives about the topic 373you want to bring up, before you post it to the list. A lot of things 374already discussed in detail are only recorded at the mailing list 375archives. 376 377Most of the individual kernel subsystems also have their own separate 378mailing list where they do their development efforts. See the 379MAINTAINERS file for a list of what these lists are for the different 380groups. 381 382Many of the lists are hosted on kernel.org. Information on them can be 383found at: 384 http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html 385 386Please remember to follow good behavioral habits when using the lists. 387Though a bit cheesy, the following URL has some simple guidelines for 388interacting with the list (or any list): 389 http://www.albion.com/netiquette/ 390 391If multiple people respond to your mail, the CC: list of recipients may 392get pretty large. Don't remove anybody from the CC: list without a good 393reason, or don't reply only to the list address. Get used to receiving the 394mail twice, one from the sender and the one from the list, and don't try 395to tune that by adding fancy mail-headers, people will not like it. 396 397Remember to keep the context and the attribution of your replies intact, 398keep the "John Kernelhacker wrote ...:" lines at the top of your reply, and 399add your statements between the individual quoted sections instead of 400writing at the top of the mail. 401 402If you add patches to your mail, make sure they are plain readable text 403as stated in Documentation/SubmittingPatches. Kernel developers don't 404want to deal with attachments or compressed patches; they may want 405to comment on individual lines of your patch, which works only that way. 406Make sure you use a mail program that does not mangle spaces and tab 407characters. A good first test is to send the mail to yourself and try 408to apply your own patch by yourself. If that doesn't work, get your 409mail program fixed or change it until it works. 410 411Above all, please remember to show respect to other subscribers. 412 413 414Working with the community 415-------------------------- 416 417The goal of the kernel community is to provide the best possible kernel 418there is. When you submit a patch for acceptance, it will be reviewed 419on its technical merits and those alone. So, what should you be 420expecting? 421 - criticism 422 - comments 423 - requests for change 424 - requests for justification 425 - silence 426 427Remember, this is part of getting your patch into the kernel. You have 428to be able to take criticism and comments about your patches, evaluate 429them at a technical level and either rework your patches or provide 430clear and concise reasoning as to why those changes should not be made. 431If there are no responses to your posting, wait a few days and try 432again, sometimes things get lost in the huge volume. 433 434What should you not do? 435 - expect your patch to be accepted without question 436 - become defensive 437 - ignore comments 438 - resubmit the patch without making any of the requested changes 439 440In a community that is looking for the best technical solution possible, 441there will always be differing opinions on how beneficial a patch is. 442You have to be cooperative, and willing to adapt your idea to fit within 443the kernel. Or at least be willing to prove your idea is worth it. 444Remember, being wrong is acceptable as long as you are willing to work 445toward a solution that is right. 446 447It is normal that the answers to your first patch might simply be a list 448of a dozen things you should correct. This does _not_ imply that your 449patch will not be accepted, and it is _not_ meant against you 450personally. Simply correct all issues raised against your patch and 451resend it. 452 453 454Differences between the kernel community and corporate structures 455----------------------------------------------------------------- 456 457The kernel community works differently than most traditional corporate 458development environments. Here are a list of things that you can try to 459do to avoid problems: 460 Good things to say regarding your proposed changes: 461 - "This solves multiple problems." 462 - "This deletes 2000 lines of code." 463 - "Here is a patch that explains what I am trying to describe." 464 - "I tested it on 5 different architectures..." 465 - "Here is a series of small patches that..." 466 - "This increases performance on typical machines..." 467 468 Bad things you should avoid saying: 469 - "We did it this way in AIX/ptx/Solaris, so therefore it must be 470 good..." 471 - "I've being doing this for 20 years, so..." 472 - "This is required for my company to make money" 473 - "This is for our Enterprise product line." 474 - "Here is my 1000 page design document that describes my idea" 475 - "I've been working on this for 6 months..." 476 - "Here's a 5000 line patch that..." 477 - "I rewrote all of the current mess, and here it is..." 478 - "I have a deadline, and this patch needs to be applied now." 479 480Another way the kernel community is different than most traditional 481software engineering work environments is the faceless nature of 482interaction. One benefit of using email and irc as the primary forms of 483communication is the lack of discrimination based on gender or race. 484The Linux kernel work environment is accepting of women and minorities 485because all you are is an email address. The international aspect also 486helps to level the playing field because you can't guess gender based on 487a person's name. A man may be named Andrea and a woman may be named Pat. 488Most women who have worked in the Linux kernel and have expressed an 489opinion have had positive experiences. 490 491The language barrier can cause problems for some people who are not 492comfortable with English. A good grasp of the language can be needed in 493order to get ideas across properly on mailing lists, so it is 494recommended that you check your emails to make sure they make sense in 495English before sending them. 496 497 498Break up your changes 499--------------------- 500 501The Linux kernel community does not gladly accept large chunks of code 502dropped on it all at once. The changes need to be properly introduced, 503discussed, and broken up into tiny, individual portions. This is almost 504the exact opposite of what companies are used to doing. Your proposal 505should also be introduced very early in the development process, so that 506you can receive feedback on what you are doing. It also lets the 507community feel that you are working with them, and not simply using them 508as a dumping ground for your feature. However, don't send 50 emails at 509one time to a mailing list, your patch series should be smaller than 510that almost all of the time. 511 512The reasons for breaking things up are the following: 513 5141) Small patches increase the likelihood that your patches will be 515 applied, since they don't take much time or effort to verify for 516 correctness. A 5 line patch can be applied by a maintainer with 517 barely a second glance. However, a 500 line patch may take hours to 518 review for correctness (the time it takes is exponentially 519 proportional to the size of the patch, or something). 520 521 Small patches also make it very easy to debug when something goes 522 wrong. It's much easier to back out patches one by one than it is 523 to dissect a very large patch after it's been applied (and broken 524 something). 525 5262) It's important not only to send small patches, but also to rewrite 527 and simplify (or simply re-order) patches before submitting them. 528 529Here is an analogy from kernel developer Al Viro: 530 "Think of a teacher grading homework from a math student. The 531 teacher does not want to see the student's trials and errors 532 before they came up with the solution. They want to see the 533 cleanest, most elegant answer. A good student knows this, and 534 would never submit her intermediate work before the final 535 solution." 536 537 The same is true of kernel development. The maintainers and 538 reviewers do not want to see the thought process behind the 539 solution to the problem one is solving. They want to see a 540 simple and elegant solution." 541 542It may be challenging to keep the balance between presenting an elegant 543solution and working together with the community and discussing your 544unfinished work. Therefore it is good to get early in the process to 545get feedback to improve your work, but also keep your changes in small 546chunks that they may get already accepted, even when your whole task is 547not ready for inclusion now. 548 549Also realize that it is not acceptable to send patches for inclusion 550that are unfinished and will be "fixed up later." 551 552 553Justify your change 554------------------- 555 556Along with breaking up your patches, it is very important for you to let 557the Linux community know why they should add this change. New features 558must be justified as being needed and useful. 559 560 561Document your change 562-------------------- 563 564When sending in your patches, pay special attention to what you say in 565the text in your email. This information will become the ChangeLog 566information for the patch, and will be preserved for everyone to see for 567all time. It should describe the patch completely, containing: 568 - why the change is necessary 569 - the overall design approach in the patch 570 - implementation details 571 - testing results 572 573For more details on what this should all look like, please see the 574ChangeLog section of the document: 575 "The Perfect Patch" 576 http://www.ozlabs.org/~akpm/stuff/tpp.txt 577 578 579 580 581All of these things are sometimes very hard to do. It can take years to 582perfect these practices (if at all). It's a continuous process of 583improvement that requires a lot of patience and determination. But 584don't give up, it's possible. Many have done it before, and each had to 585start exactly where you are now. 586 587 588 589 590---------- 591Thanks to Paolo Ciarrocchi who allowed the "Development Process" 592(http://lwn.net/Articles/94386/) section 593to be based on text he had written, and to Randy Dunlap and Gerrit 594Huizenga for some of the list of things you should and should not say. 595Also thanks to Pat Mochel, Hanna Linder, Randy Dunlap, Kay Sievers, 596Vojtech Pavlik, Jan Kara, Josh Boyer, Kees Cook, Andrew Morton, Andi 597Kleen, Vadim Lobanov, Jesper Juhl, Adrian Bunk, Keri Harris, Frans Pop, 598David A. Wheeler, Junio Hamano, Michael Kerrisk, and Alex Shepard for 599their review, comments, and contributions. Without their help, this 600document would not have been possible. 601 602 603 604Maintainer: Greg Kroah-Hartman <greg@kroah.com> 605