From the ‘What Does Linus Know?’ files:
At the LinuxCon USA event, Linus Torvalds told the audience that there are enough Linux kernel developers out there already.
As it turns out, that might not necessarily be the case.
With the rapid rate of innovation in Linux, there likely still is a need in many companies for more Linux kernel engineering experience and more Linux kernel developers too. It’s a view that Wim Coekaerts, Sr. VP of Linux and Virtualization at Oracle also shares.
I sat down with Coekaerts towards the end of LinuxCon and one of the things he told me is that we need to get more people – not less – involved in Linux kernel work.
Going a step further he also things that the Linux community needs to do a better job of integrating new people. Currently if you submit a patch that isn’t quite right, the response isn’t as polite as it should be.
So what should be done?
Coekaerts suggest that perhaps the Linux Foundation could lead an effort to get people involved and more importantly to educate them in how to actually contribute properly.
From an Oracle perspective, Coekearts’ team is already pulling in people that were not previously Linux people and teaching them the right way to contribute. So yes, Oracle in a very real sense is expanding the base of Linux developers too.
I captured the conversation on video too and you can see it here:
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.
