How easy is it to get kernel patches accepted ?

metaschima · 08-21-2014, 01:02 PM

I have never contributed to the Linux kernel, but perhaps would like to. However, I am concerned that the process is complicated, difficult, and (oh my) rather bureaucratic. Anyone here got patches accepted into the kernel ? How hard is it ? Is it a PITA ?

szboardstretcher · 08-21-2014, 01:09 PM

It is all of those things when you are new to it.

Nice starting place:

http://kernelnewbies.org/KernelHacking

metaschima · 08-21-2014, 02:25 PM

I watched GKH's video, and it seems that he is more hard on company employees submitting code rather than on individuals. I can also understand the reluctance to accept bad code.

I will consider submitting some patches. Maybe I'll just do it and see how it goes. I will definitely not be submitting huge changes, just some fixes here and there, things that can be improved. I just don't want it to be an unpleasant experience. I understand that if my code is bad, it will be, but hope that if my code is good it won't be.

szboardstretcher · 08-21-2014, 02:39 PM

You can always fix some of the documentation/comment errors for easy commits to see how the process goes.