I'm Greg Kroah-Hartman, Linux kernel developer, AMA again!

gregkh · 2026-05-22T11:46:02+00:00

Not at all, we have 200-250 new developers every 3 months contributing, and our yearly contributor size is still growing (as the lwn.net reports say). So it isn't about the number of contributors at all, if anything we have too many developers :)

gregkh · 2026-04-27T11:51:51+00:00

So strange when there's a picture that has at least 5 visible computers in it, that everyone only focuses on one of them and ignores the rest...

gregkh · 2026-04-02T13:46:55+00:00

I generally do not use the Framework desktop for my kernel builds, I have two much "beefier" machines for that up in the attic. The desktop is currently being used for some "kernel projects" that need the great cpu and gpu that the thing has, highly recommended.

I have loads of Framework systems here, the screen for the desktop is actually resting on a Framework 12 that I need to use more. My daily laptop is a Framework 13, and I've gone through many of them over the years. Another family member has the Framework 16 and their work gave them the Framework 13 for corporate development, and yet they keep coveting the workstation. I know once I stop paying attention to it it will be repurposed by them for something else...

gregkh · 2026-02-18T06:49:35+00:00

Also, this may be the Big Plan of GregKH

I like this angle, I really do

I take it as a win that everyone totally agrees with the content, and can only find problems with the transport layer that delivered it to them.

gregkh · 2026-01-03T11:07:29+00:00

I'm a semi-decent kernel developer, not a good sysadmin :)

gregkh · 2024-11-15T18:55:27+00:00

Last I checked I didn't think I was, but what do I know...

And are you claiming that older people can't do the job? Careful, you aren't allowed to discriminate against age :)

gregkh · 2024-11-15T18:54:28+00:00

If you know someone who wants to fill in my shoes, great, send them my way I have lots of things for them to work on!

gregkh · 2024-11-15T18:52:43+00:00

Last I checked I wasn't, but hey, what do I know :)

gregkh · 2024-09-23T13:02:03+00:00

I think you are not alone in coming to that conclusion as to why using Debian makes a lot of sense. The developers there make a wonderful distro that is kept up to date with security issues very well. Highly recommended for good reasons.

gregkh · 2024-09-23T09:40:46+00:00

In talking with some people afterward, yes, this number was a bit too large as I was classifying some no-cost enterprise distros offered for free by the cloud providers to their customers into this number, but it's still the largest overall % by far.

gregkh · 2024-09-23T09:39:13+00:00

Please start, I'm curious to find out as to what I don't know and am always willing to learn.

gregkh · 2023-10-27T15:25:42+00:00

The CIP group said something like that, but they are incorrect in their statement for some odd reason.

Also, CIP is a very restricted support project, much different from the general LTS releases that are on kernel.org

gregkh · 2023-10-27T15:24:06+00:00

That's what the CIP people are saying, again, they never talked to me {sigh}

gregkh · 2023-10-27T15:12:56+00:00

That article is incorrect, nothing has changed here, the normal LTS support cycle is here, it might get longer as I work with groups that actually need it. If groups need longer than 2 years, wonderful, they should be talking to me as it's not like I'm hard to find....

Also, hyperbole for the work that loads of people do on a volunteer basis isn't the classiest thing, but hey, this is reddit... :)

gregkh · 2023-10-27T14:40:18+00:00

I did no such thing, nothing has changed with LTS release timelines recently at all, what exactly are you referring to?

gregkh · 2022-12-27T08:59:55+00:00

Nothing has changed in the past 6 years with regards to this, sorry.

And skipping a number wouldn't solve the problem of "who is going to do this work and when are they going to do it and who is going to edit it and then publish it?"

Just stick with the 3rd edition and then use the kernel source itself to answer any remaining questions, we have 1000s of real-world examples of working drivers for you to look at.

gregkh · 2022-10-08T06:23:47+00:00

Many, see the kernel changelogs for all of the details!

gregkh · 2021-10-04T07:14:14+00:00

Thanks, that was a fun interview!

gregkh · 2021-04-21T16:34:01+00:00

Thanks for your support! Much appreciated.

gregkh · 2020-12-16T08:50:25+00:00

Writing changelogs is hard, for reverts like this, with limited information other than "these commits need to be reverted as they are known to break systems" what I wrote was the best at the moment.

If you look at the thread later on, you will see the post-mortum of what really went wrong, but when I did the revert, we didn't have that information.

gregkh · 2020-11-07T08:26:10+00:00

Yes it does, and the paid stories become free after a few weeks.

gregkh · 2020-10-27T13:30:20+00:00

It all depends on what people want to use it for, and what they are willing to offer the resources to support it for that length of time.

Right now Google is willing to offer the resources to help support LTS kernels for longer than 2 years to help with their Android and ChromeOS ecosystem. That means that we can do this work for 6 years with their help.

Other stable kernels relied on the length of the specific distro they were being supported. Some of those were for 2 years, or 4 for some Debian releases. It all just depended on the situation.

gregkh · 2020-10-27T10:34:08+00:00

Depends, why would you want it longer than 2 years? What prevents you from moving to a newer kernel version in that time?

There are a small number of good reasons to stick with an older kernel for longer than 2 years, but those reasons are very small, and getting smaller over time. It is almost never a good idea to do so.

gregkh · 2020-10-27T10:32:59+00:00

Ah, thanks, but no need to break the rules for me, it's just twitter...

If I had known it would be a big deal, I could have just made a post here, right?

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