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[firefly-linux-kernel-4.4.55.git] / Documentation / development-process / 8.Conclusion

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+8: 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.  The top-level HOWTO
+file is an important starting point; SubmittingPatches and
+SubmittingDrivers are also something which all kernel developers should
+read.  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 http://lwn.net/ as a source;
+information on many specific kernel topics can be found via the LWN kernel
+index at:
+
+       http://lwn.net/Kernel/Index/
+
+Beyond that, a valuable resource for kernel developers is:
+
+       http://kernelnewbies.org/
+
+Information about the linux-next tree gathers at:
+
+       http://linux.f-seidel.de/linux-next/pmwiki/
+
+And, of course, one should not forget http://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
+       http://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:
+
+       http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/
+
+       http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/user-manual.html
+
+
+9: 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.