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Linux Seeks Help From More (And More Diverse) Coders
Sarah Sharp and Linus Torvalds (second from right) at LinuxCon. Photo: Linux Foundation
Linus Torvalds and Intel developer Sarah Sharp met face-to-face on Wednesday, their first public encounter since their mailing list contretemps over the blunt way Torvalds treats the software coders who work on Linux, the massively popular open source operating system he created and still oversees.
But there weren’t any fireworks. They didn’t even address the issues Sharp raised this summer.
Speaking at a Linux user conference, held in New Orleans and streamed over the web, Sharp sidestepped any controversy, but she did tell her audience that the Linux project needed to find new ways of hanging on to people who contribute to “the kernel,” the software at the heart of the operating system.
“We bring a lot of new people into the kernel and people do one-off patches,” she said, referring to small software contributions. “But there really needs to be a way for people to get a larger, beefier project within the kernel and to get some one-on-one mentorship.”
‘There really needs to be a way for people to get a larger, beefier project within the kernel and to get some one-on-one mentorship’
— Sarah Sharp
Torvalds conceded that although the kernel process may seem difficult in some respects, it’s still pretty easy to write some code and have it accepted. “People talk about how hard the kernel is, but at the same time, just look at the numbers. It can’t be that hard to get involved.”
The Linux Foundation says that more than 10,000 developers have contributed to the Linux kernel since 2005. That’s a massive number, but there’s always a need for new blood, and the community is far from diverse. Sharp is one of the few women who work on the project — she estimates that only 1 to 2 percent of kernel developers are women — and it’s unclear how many ethnic minorities are represented.
As Sharp indicated back in July, some people may be turned off by the blunt way coders are often treated on the project. And this kind of treatment can be particularly discouraging if you’re someone who doesn’t fit into the white-male culture that has traditionally dominated software development.
This summer, Sharp took Torvalds to task for his habit of flaming people on the kernel mailing list. “Linus, you’re one of the worst offenders when it comes to verbally abusing people and publicly tearing their emotions apart,” she wrote in a mailing list post.
But Torvalds says that “professionalism” is the last thing he wants, and that non-corporate nature of Linux helps set it apart. He manages the core component of the most important operating system on the planet from the home-office above his garage, sometimes in his bathrobe.
He and Sharp will eventually discuss their differences. It’s just that we may not get the chance to hear them. They’re set to discuss things at the closed-door Linux Kernel Summit in Edinburgh next month.
And though Linux is mostly written by white men, the community is taking some baby steps toward changing that. Sharp herself coordinates an internship program to mentor women in participating in open-source projects. (She said that two of her fledgling female hackers were presenting at the conference — and looking for jobs). And for the first time ever, there was a Women in Open Source lunch at LinuxCon.
About 60 women showed up for that, said Jennifer Cloer a Linux Foundation spokeswoman. “I didn’t expect that many,” she says.
Oh, and there’s one more thing. Now you can get LinuxCon T-shirts in women’s sizes. They started doing that last year. 1
1Correction 17:55 EST 09/19/13: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that this was the first year LinuxCon shirts were available in women’s sizes. They were introduced in 2012.