全部博文(32)
分类: LINUX
2011-06-02 00:13:25
In a linux-kernel thread about fixing the Kernel Janitors project, Peter Zijlstra , with a bit of his perspective on attracting better kernel contributors. As he is a relatively recent addition to the kernel community, his path from Linux user to kernel hacker may serve as a template of sorts for others who are starting out now. We asked Peter to answer a few questions by email to help fill in some more of the details.
LWN: How did you get started with Linux? What attracted you?
A friend of mine introduced me to Unix/Linux at the time, and I started learning all about programming in a real environment. Basically all programming up to that point was in a freestanding environment where you had to poke the hardware to get anything done.
So initially it was the charm of a proper multitasking OS (with memory protection) that got me to use it – not having to reboot your machine every time, and the luxury of being able to run a debugger.
LWN: How quickly did you start poking around in the kernel? What did you first start to look at and why?
In those 10 years I learnt a lot about programming. I learnt about Unix system programming, I learnt about C++, multi-threading, database engines, and a whole range of interesting things.
Somewhere along I got a real internet connection and started lurking on mailing lists, including LKML – I must have been reading that on and off for about 5 years by the time I really sat down and wrote some patches.
During that time I might have sent in some trivial build fixes, and I remember finding a priority leak in one of the realtime patches. But I wasn't actively coding on the kernel – I just liked running real exotic stuff, you know Gentoo and building just about everything from CVS.
So what got me started on the kernel ... I can't quite remember how it happened, but I ran into some of Rik's [van Riel] Advanced Page Replacement stuff. I had worked on that problem space earlier while doing database engines, and had recently run into it again at work. So I started reading those papers and some of the proposed kernel patches, and I started to itch.
I dropped basically everything I was working on in my spare time (hacking WindowMaker, writing a C++ ASN.1-DER serialization class, writing a new LDAP server and I'm sure some other projects that are rotting away on a harddrive somewhere :-) and started hacking.
Why ... I'm not sure – it sure got me back to where I started out – crashing machines (and boot times haven't improved over those past 10 years at all).
I think because of the challenge – I knew I could write whatever it was I was coding and this page replacement stuff was a whole new challenge, and TBH [to be honest] the kernel code didn't look too hard at the time (phew how ignorant I was..)
LWN: How well were your contributions received by kernel hackers? Did you make any missteps along the way?
Mis-steps, feh, still do ;-) Unlike most people seem to think, kernel hackers are human too.
LWN: What suggestions do you have for folks that are looking at getting involved in kernel hacking today?
OK it can get personal, but that is only if you repeatedly fail the above two points.
LWN: There has been a lot of talk about the Kernel Janitors project recently, do you think that is a good way to get started with kernel development? What do you think should be done differently in that (or other) project(s) to attract more and better contributors?
So I guess what I'm saying is that you need to really want to do it. There is no other way to become a kernel hacker than by simply doing it.
LWN: Do you work on Linux for your job, as a hobby, or both?
So I applied for a kernel position at a few of the larger vendors, and Red Hat won the race.
Already having had a year's worth of exposure to kernel code and LKML, certainly helped in getting this amazing opportunity. Have I already mentioned I absolutely love working on the kernel?
So now I get to poke at the kernel all day, every day...
LWN: What are your current kernel projects? What kinds of things do you see yourself doing in the kernel in the future?
The future ... well we'll see what happens, loads of interesting stuff to do.
We would like to thank Peter for taking the time to answer our questions.