Datasheet

Mailing lists

Most of the Linux developers around the world today communicate new ideas, exchange software

patches, and participate in general discussion via electronic mailing lists. There are so many different

mailing lists on so many different topics that it would be impossible to cover them all in this book.

Everything from the smallest subsystem of the Linux kernel to entire Linux distributions and even the

most remote regions of the planet will have a mailing list of some kind. You are encouraged to join the

mailing list from your local Linux user group and user lists provided by your distribution vendor as a

starting point.

Throughout this book, you will find references to mailing lists and other similar resources that might

help you to get more involved or better understand a particular topic.

IRC

Developers frequently wish to participate in more interactive discussion than a mailing list is designed

to allow. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) facilitates the process of joining various channels on IRC networks

around the world, and many groups that have a mailing list will also have an IRC channel of some kind

to complement mailing list discussion. You can discover a wealth of online resources within IRC net-

works such as Freenode, OFTC, and others. Each of these is preconfigured into graphical IRC clients

such as the xchat client that comes with most modern Linux distributions.

Private Communities

The Linux developer community isn’t always quite as open as you may think it is. A number of closed

groups do exist around the world in the name of facilitating discussion between bona fide core develop-

ers of a particular technology. These groups occasionally hold special events, but more often than not

will simply communicate using nonpublic mailing lists and IRC networks. It’s important to realize that

Linux does have an open development process, despite the occasional private club.

An example of a private group is the many security groups around the world that look to quickly fix

problems that are discovered in Linux software. They necessarily do not publish the precise details of

what they’re working on until they have found the security bug and made a coordinated release with

any vendors and other third parties involved. This helps to reduce the number of security incidents. If

you ever discover a security bug in Linux software, always use the appropriate channels to report it.

There is no Linux Cabal.

Key Differences

Linux isn’t like other operating systems you may have encountered in the past. Most operating systems

have been designed over a period of many years by a small team of highly skilled people. Those designers

then handed over a specification document to software engineers for them to implement the design. Linux

isn’t about closed teams of any kind. Sure, there are many vendors working on Linux technology behind

semi-closed doors, but the core of the development process happens out in the open for all to see —warts

and all.

Chapter 1: Working with Linux

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