The kernel is the brain at the center of your Linux system. This month we examine some techniques for managing and customizing the Linux kernel. We start with an in-depth article by Knoppix creator (and Linux Magazine columnist) Klaus Knopper on building, upgrading, and customizing the kernel. Linux sound expert Dave Phillips weighs in with a look at how to tune the kernel for multimedia apps, and the final article in the set examines some popular Linux optimization tools. If you are ready to step up your kernel configuration game, read on for some practical Linux kernel hacks. But first, we asked Kernel News author Zack Brown to provide a little background on how that code in the kernel got to your hard drive.

Development Process

The Linux kernel development process is a fascinating system that is itself undergoing constant revision. Before Linux, although free software licenses existed, the projects that used them maintained a very strict ivory-tower approach to development, ignoring the contributions of others on the grounds that only experts in the field could understand the coding problems well enough to produce a good result. Linus Torvalds' approach stood this idea on its head by making the outlandish assumption that meaningful contributions could come from anyone, almost regardless of skill level. Because of this approach, the old free software projects like libc had to adapt or risk being forked into competing projects that would do much better with an increased developer base.

Ultimately, as the project leader, Linus has the final word on kernel contributions and the development process itself. But like all open source projects, he is subject to the willingness of the other developers to go along with his decisions. Kernel development, like all free software projects, can be contentious, and large schisms can erupt between developers with different ideas about how to do things. Some open source projects can get so divisive that one developer forks the entire code base and continues development with whichever other contributors care to follow.

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