Get the latest Linux Kernel news in the simplest way

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Linux Kernel is the heart of the opensource movement, because it allows users to have a complete open source operating system. With every release it brings lots of cool new features to the Linux community.

But why its so important? With a simple kernel update, all your hardware or software issues might be fixed! yes it's that important. I remember when i moved a CentOS server to another computer and i realized that i can no longer connect to the network because the bundled kernel couldn't detect the network card. I upgraded its kernel to the latest version and Voilà! the problem fixed!

Although it's probably more important than any other software in opensource community it's unknown to many users specially the end users. There are two reasons for this :

1. Linux Kernel and all the kernel developers are highly technical, regular people just can't understand what's happening. for example a minor bug fix release note can take hours to read even if you understand it!

2. Kernel developers prefer mailing lists, something that's getting way too old for many developers and users with all the new softwares available now days. So the only way to know what's happening behind the scene is to join LKML (Linux Kernel Mailing List) and receive hundred mostly technical emails per day.

If you need a feature and you want to know how to ask kernel developers directly to implement it or to consider it at least, there is only the LKML (Linux Kernel Mailing List) and almost no where else, don't waste your time by posting in popular Linux forums because kernel developers probably never see your post.

It's sad to see such a important part of GNU/Linux to be this invisible. Hopefully it's changing because more end users and companies are using Linux now but quite slowly.

There are few attempts for addressing this issue by the community :

For everyone :

For requesting feature and reporting bugs, currently the only sane way is to stick to your distribution's bug tracker / forum. core dist developers are usually in contact with few kernel developers and have good understand of Linux architecture.

For the latest releases : The Linux Kernel Archives

Useful benchmarks for various Linux modules : [Phoronix] Phoronix Articles

For release news (Not much active now days) : KernelTrap

Probably one of the best resources available for end users it contains both technical and non technical articles : Kernel coverage at LWN.net [LWN.net]

For Developers/Programmers :

For dev news in both Text and Podcast format : LKML Summary Podcast

For more information about various Kernel modules (Not always uptodate but it contains valuable articles) : Main Page - Demeter of the Kernel.org

 

 

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