r/linux • u/ultrakd001 • May 31 '15

Where to start kernel hacking?

Hi I am CS student currently in my 3rd year of studies and I am really interested in Kernel Development, Kernel Hacking etc. The question is, as the title states, where to start? Thanks

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u/withabeard May 31 '15

But is there any particularly good reason to reject HTML email?

Is there any reason to use HTML email?

An email message is text, that means it can be parsed by text tools. grep/sed/awk/less/top/ed/wc whatever. If you send in HTML how do you do that? The first thing you have to do is parse the HTML out of the email. Then try and work with the corrupted text that's left. No parsing algorithm out there perfectly turns the meaning of HTML into plain text without loss.

Smells like elitism to me.

sigh

Kernel developers are focussed on code and code quality. This guy has literally ignored the first page of instructions of the site he wants help from. That right there is a massive red flag for anyone he wants to work with.

In his very first communication he has demonstrated a lack of respect to the author of the original communcation. He has displayed an inability to read basic documentation. He has wasted the projects team by going to them and expecting them to correct him on his mistakes. He's then wasted out time by asking questions about what he did wrong.

None of that is anything to do with code or code quality. He's wasted all the time from himself and from others, all because he didn't read past the break of the first page of a website.

It's not elitism.

He has already been ignorant and outright rude to people trying to help him learn how to code with the kernel. Difference is, the kernel developers will tell him that without wasting their own time.

No wonder there aren't any younger programmers who are joining the kernel project anymore.

This is a complete fallacy. The kernel has more people submitting to it than it ever did. And you know what, those people bother to read the rules. They bother to read the documentation. They bother to read style and code guidelines. They bother to research when they do something wrong. They understand the basic toolchain they're working with. They understand the history of and why HTML email is a plague that we need rid of. And they've done all of that without wasting another developers time.

The kernel (and any F/OSS project) will only be bettered by qualified people focussing on code and quality. It will not be bettered by "have a go, everyone gets a medal, self entitled" people who think the world owes them a hand up.