The ‘Who Writes Linux?’ Report

With its open framework, the Linux Kernel gets contributions from myriad sources. Sean Michael Kerner reports.

Linux developers continue to push out new kernels at rapid pace,
though over the course of the last year the pace of new code commits
has slowed, according to a new report from the Linux Foundation.

The report also notes that the top contributors to Linux kernel
development have shifted over the last year to include more
contributions from mobile vendors. The new report from the Linux
Foundation is the third annual ‘Who Writes Linux’ report,
summarizing kernel contributions and activities over the past year.

According to the 2010, ‘Who Writes Linux’ report, the number of code
commits to the recent
2.6.35 kernel was 18 percent lower than the 2.6.30 kernel which was released in 2009.
There are a number of reasons why kernel code commits have slowed over
the past year, including new processes for staging code.

“I think the staging tree additions have something to do with it
since it rather inflated the previous version,” Amanda McPherson,
co-author of the report and vice-president of marketing and developer
programs at The Linux Foundation told InternetNews.com.

The report explains that a code staging tree was started with the 2.6.28 kernel. That initial stating tree
effort started a process that merged lots of out-of-tree code into the
main Linux kernel.

Read the rest at Linux Planet.