summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorPaul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>2026-08-14 15:43:51 -0700
committerPaul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>2026-08-14 15:43:51 -0700
commit9cc63f8bcd560c760d0b12e15bba8f81c86237cf (patch)
tree3b5269b1bcf6714171754946367c51e0590f64da /Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst
downloadlinux-stable-9cc63f8bcd560c760d0b12e15bba8f81c86237cf.tar.gz
linux-stable-9cc63f8bcd560c760d0b12e15bba8f81c86237cf.zip
Merge branches 'expcb.2026.07.24a', 'misc.2026.07.30a', 'rcu-tasks.2026.07.30a', 'srcu.2026.08.11a' and 'torture.2026.08.14a' into HEADgrafted
Changes: Make expedited grace periods expedite normal RCU callbacks Miscellaneous fixes: * Improve diagnostic output with character task states. * Mark accesses to inform KCSAN of concurrency design. * Move from kmalloc() to kmalloc_obj(). * Documentation updates. * Improve handling of RCU deferred quiescent states. * Clean up unused function arguments and structure fields. * Reduce show_rcu_gp_kthreads() stack space. Tasks RCU updates: * Clean up after SRCU re-implementation of Tasks Trace RCU. * Mark accesses to inform KCSAN of concurrency design. * Add ->lazy_timer status to diagnostic output. * Remove an unnecessary memory barrier. * Fix a data race, courtesy of KCSAN. * Documentation updates. * Convert cond_resched_tasks_rcu_qs() from macro to static inline function. SRCU updates: * Add Rust helpers for SRCU. * Avoid losing queued work at cleanup_srcu_struct() time. Torture-test updates: * Preparation work for immediate RCU priority deboosting. * Test RCU readers from real interrupt handlers (as opposed to softirq). * Simplify code through use of cpumask_next_wrap(). * Improve diagnostic output with character task states. * Add rcutorture.nwriters parameter to allow lightweight stall testing, and rcutorture.stall_only to make doing so easier. * Test an RCU Tasks Trace grace period implying an RCU grace period. * Make RCU Tasks Trace torturing track reader batches. * Fix a data race, courtesy of KCSAN. * Plug a shuffle_tmp_mask memory leak on kthread spawn failure.
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst73
1 files changed, 73 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst b/Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8c847dffe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+.. _development_conclusion:
+
+For more information
+====================
+
+There are numerous sources of information on Linux kernel development and
+related topics. First among those will always be the Documentation
+directory found in the kernel source distribution. Start with the
+top-level :ref:`process/howto.rst <process_howto>`; also read
+:ref:`process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>`. Many internal
+kernel APIs are documented using the kerneldoc mechanism; "make htmldocs"
+or "make pdfdocs" can be used to generate those documents in HTML or PDF
+format (though the version of TeX shipped by some distributions runs into
+internal limits and fails to process the documents properly).
+
+Various web sites discuss kernel development at all levels of detail. Your
+author would like to humbly suggest https://lwn.net/ as a source;
+information on many specific kernel topics can be found via the LWN kernel
+index at:
+
+ https://lwn.net/Kernel/Index/
+
+Beyond that, a valuable resource for kernel developers is:
+
+ https://kernelnewbies.org/
+
+And, of course, one should not forget https://kernel.org/, the definitive
+location for kernel release information.
+
+There are a number of books on kernel development:
+
+ Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition (Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro
+ Rubini, and Greg Kroah-Hartman). Online at
+ https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/.
+
+ Linux Kernel Development (Robert Love).
+
+ Understanding the Linux Kernel (Daniel Bovet and Marco Cesati).
+
+All of these books suffer from a common fault, though: they tend to be
+somewhat obsolete by the time they hit the shelves, and they have been on
+the shelves for a while now. Still, there is quite a bit of good
+information to be found there.
+
+Documentation for git can be found at:
+
+ https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/
+
+ https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/user-manual.html
+
+
+Conclusion
+==========
+
+Congratulations to anybody who has made it through this long-winded
+document. Hopefully it has provided a helpful understanding of how the
+Linux kernel is developed and how you can participate in that process.
+
+In the end, it's the participation that matters. Any open source software
+project is no more than the sum of what its contributors put into it. The
+Linux kernel has progressed as quickly and as well as it has because it has
+been helped by an impressively large group of developers, all of whom are
+working to make it better. The kernel is a premier example of what can be
+done when thousands of people work together toward a common goal.
+
+The kernel can always benefit from a larger developer base, though. There
+is always more work to do. But, just as importantly, most other
+participants in the Linux ecosystem can benefit through contributing to the
+kernel. Getting code into the mainline is the key to higher code quality,
+lower maintenance and distribution costs, a higher level of influence over
+the direction of kernel development, and more. It is a situation where
+everybody involved wins. Fire up your editor and come join us; you will be
+more than welcome.