Looking for advice on getting started with kernel development professionally
Hi all, I hope it's okay to ask this here. I understand this list is mostly for learning and discussion. I've been working on kernel-related projects in my spare time, including an experimental filesystem, a block level incremental backup utility, btrfs-progs and currently I`m working on a multithreaded disk usage analyzer like "du" but written from scratch. I'm really interested in contributing to the Linux kernel professionally and while I have over 15 years of programming experience in different areas - was wondering if anyone had advice or knew of any opportunities - internships, contract work, or mentoring programs. Totally understand if this isn't the right place to ask, but I'd be grateful for any tips or redirections. Thank you, Zoltan Racz.
On Thu, Apr 24, 2025 at 4:47 PM Racz Zoli <racz.zoli@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all,
I hope it's okay to ask this here. I understand this list is mostly for learning and discussion. I've been working on kernel-related projects in my spare time, including an experimental filesystem, a block level incremental backup utility, btrfs-progs and currently I`m working on a multithreaded disk usage analyzer like "du" but written from scratch.
I'm really interested in contributing to the Linux kernel professionally and while I have over 15 years of programming experience in different areas - was wondering if anyone had advice or knew of any opportunities - internships, contract work, or mentoring programs.
Identify something in the kernel that can be improved, fixed, or documented. Submit some patches and demonstrate to your future employer that you have experience working with upstream projects and the community. Read: https://kernelnewbies.org/Outreachyfirstpatch And when someone asks for your upstream experience, you can send this grep on the kernel commits: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/next/linux-next.git/log/?qt=grep&q="YOUR NAME OR EMAIL" Like mine: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/next/linux-next.git/log/?qt=... This is just the first step. Best of Luck Lucas Tanure
Totally understand if this isn't the right place to ask, but I'd be grateful for any tips or redirections.
Thank you, Zoltan Racz.
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On Thu, Apr 24, 2025 at 10:44:14PM +0300, Racz Zoli wrote:
Hi all,
I hope it's okay to ask this here. I understand this list is mostly for learning and discussion. I've been working on kernel-related projects in my spare time, including an experimental filesystem, a block level incremental backup utility, btrfs-progs and currently I`m working on a multithreaded disk usage analyzer like "du" but written from scratch.
I'm really interested in contributing to the Linux kernel professionally and while I have over 15 years of programming experience in different areas - was wondering if anyone had advice or knew of any opportunities - internships, contract work, or mentoring programs.
Totally understand if this isn't the right place to ask, but I'd be grateful for any tips or redirections.
Hi Zoltan, If you haven't already, engage with the communities you are interested in thought their mailing list - ie https://lore.kernel.org/linux-btrfs/ By engage, I mean follow their list, ask questions, review patches. Even if you are a newbie, there are clarifying questions that you can pose that others will appreciate. The point is, that before you start asking for your contibutions to be reviewed and merged, become a known quantity on the list. Support others. Another responder mentioned the query that finds your tags - note we have tags for Tested-by, and Reviewed-by, in addition to Signed-off-by: and all are valued. I think this program is an option for and will get you a very structured start to kernel submission - https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/lkmp Good luck! Alison
Thank you, Zoltan Racz.
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participants (3)
-
Alison Schofield -
Lucas Tanure -
Racz Zoli