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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<TITLE>The Answer Guy 36:
An Anthropologist Asks About the Linux "Process"
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LINK="#3366FF" VLINK="#A000A0">
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<H4>"The Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"</H4>
<P> <hr> <P>
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<center>
<H1><A NAME="answer">
<img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" alt="(?)" border="0" align="middle">
<font color="#B03060">The Answer Guy</font>
<img src="../../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" alt="(!)" border="0" align="middle">
</A></H1>
<BR>
<H4>By James T. Dennis,
<a href="mailto:answerguy@ssc.com">answerguy@ssc.com</a><BR>
Starshine Technical Services,
<A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
</H4>
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<!-- begin 7 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" height="50" width="60"
alt="(?) " border="0">
An Anthropologist Asks About the Linux "Process"
</H3>
<p><strong>From donald.braman on Mon, 23 Nov 1998
</strong></p>
<!-- ::
An Anthropologist Asks About the Linux "Process"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I don't know if you cover non-technical questions, but here goes...
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" alt="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Then you haven't read enough of the back issues.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I babble about all sorts of things and have even been
know to respond to questions that have NOTHING to do
with Linux. (Usually those responses are less than
cordial --- but hey, you can have answers that are
good, courteous, quick, and/or free (pick any three)).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I'm interested in finding a summary of the process by which LINUX
is maintained and updated.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Where is Linus in the LINUX community and loose organizational
structure, and how does he decide what to do with all of the stuff
he get? (I always see "Linus just released kernel 2.xxx"
messages.)
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" alt="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Linus "owns" the kernel. He primarily focuses his
work on the developmental kernels (2.1.x right now ---
will probably be 2.3.x within a month or so). The
stable kernels (2.0 currently) are largely maintained by
Alan Cox, though they are still sent to Linus for final
approval and official release.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
When Linus decides that the work is complete on the
2.1 series he'll declare it to be "2.2" --- then
he'll start a 2.3 series (and there will be a quick
flood of patches posted to that, since we've been in
"feature freeze" for a couple of months and there are
people who have been privately working on some
new features in anticipation of the next development
cycle.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I've heard that Linus plans to turn the maintenance of
2.2 immediately over to Alan and Stephen Tweedie. That
will allow him to focus on the next version exclusively.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Although there has been some effort to minimize the number
of bugs that will be in the 2.2 release --- it is almost
certain that we'll have at least a few 2.2.x releases within
the first few months. Many of these will account for bugs
that only affect a small subset of the available hardware
configurations (one user in 10,000 or less). For the 1.0
series we had about nine releases to the stable kernel set.
For the 1.2 series we had about 13 or so. In 2.0 we have
had 36 (the versioning skipped from 1.3 to 2.x due major
structural changes in the kernel). Don't just graph that
to project an estimate --- unless you also scale the graph
over the time frames involved. Even than you'd find some
anomalies --- the differences between 1.2 and 2.0 are as
great as the versions numbers suggest.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
As for how Linus decides what to incorporate and what to
ignore or kick back ... that's one of the mysteries to
which mere acolytes and initiates such as myself are not
privvy.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Linus is swamped. He gets direct e-mailed patches from
countless programmers and programming students around the
world. (The Savvy ones actually read the FAQ at
<A HREF="http://www.tux.org/lkml">http://www.tux.org/lkml</A>
before trying to contribute to the Linux kernel).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
See below for more on that.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
What if, no offense intended, Linus died tomorrow?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" alt="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
This class of events has been discussed (usually in less
morbid terms --- using the term "retiring" rather than
references to "expiriing").
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
This would be a great loss to the Linux community.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
However, the sources are out there under a license that
ensure that they will remain freely available and "alive"
(able and likely to be upgraded, ported to new platforms,
and generally improved upon).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The great advantage that Linux has had over
<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</A>, (and
it's brethren) has been Linus. He focuses on the kernel,
and on code and quality, and almost completely eschews
politics. He let's others deal with "user space" issues
(libraries, compilers, and all of the suites of utilities
and applications that go into any Linux distribution).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
We've benefitted immensely from our "benign dictactor" model
--- we accepted Linus as "the Linux kernel God" (we hold
none before him and we're monotheistic in this regard).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
When Linus eventually retires, moves on to other conquests,
or whatever (may it happen long after my own demise), then
the hope among the Linux kernel developers is that we'll be
able to adopt, appoint, agree upon a successor --- a new
benign dictator. That might be someone like Alan Cox, or
Stephen Tweedie, or it might be just about anyone who's
name appears regularly enough on the Linux-kernel mailing
list (I don't know enough to say).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Linus as jokingly referred to his daughters and Linus 2.0
and 3.0 (we could make it a heriditary oligarchy, if
they take the interest and aquire the proficiency). Check
back in with us in about 15 years on that.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Further, I'd like to find a place where (tentative) plans for
future releases are discussed, and even a vague timeline is
given. In short, is there a project management site/organization
that contains a summary of (debates about) where LINUX is going
and how it's going to get there?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" alt="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Here's the real fun question. Anyone who's seriously
involved in Linux kernel development is subscribed to the
Linux-kernel mailing list hosted by Rutgers University (Read
the FAQ listed above for exact instructions on how to
subscribe, where to find archives and how to search through
them).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
linux-kernel is a very busy mailing list. I've received
well over nine thousand pieces of e-mail on that list in
just the last few months. It gets close to a hundred items
per day. (The only Internet mailing list that I've been on
that seemed busier was the old cypherpunks list when it was
hosted at Toad Hall --- and maybe the Firewalls list that
was started by Brent Chapman at Great Circle Associates).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
With that volume of traffic, you can be sure that many busy
developers (such as Linus) don't get to read everything.
(Linus has a family life and a full-time job --- mostly in
addition to his kernel work; although Transmeta apparently
does provide him with some work time to devote to Linux ---
as per his contract with them).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course, the best way for you to learn about the
social dynamics of the Linux kernel developers is to
immerse yourself in it for awhile. Start with some
research (read the FAQ, and a month or two's worth of
the archives), then subscribe to the list and lurk
(read and don't post) for a month.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you're doing research on us --- please let us know
where we can read any papers that you put together. We
have one participant (esr, or Eric S. Raymond who has
referred to himself as the Linux community's
"anthropologist" but it might be interested to have an
alternative set of opinions from a more "objective" source).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(Eric has been a hacker since before Linux was developed.
He helped to compile and publish the "New Hacker's
Dictionary" --- which is also a pretty good source of
background if you want to understand the Linux community
as a subculture. Take it with a grain of salt, of course
--- but read it anyway).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Donald Braman
<br>Yale Anthropology
</STRONG></P>
<!-- sig -->
<!-- end 7 -->
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
<P> <hr> <P>
<H5 align="center"><a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/ssc.copying.html"
>Copyright ©</a> 1999, James T. Dennis
<BR>Published in <I>The Linux Gazette</I> Issue 36 January 1999</H5>
<P> <hr> <P>
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