Seven Areas Where Linux Could Get Better
To a business user of Linux, the development of its kernel may appear so Byzantine, with dozens of people maintaining different pieces and hundreds more volunteers submitting code, that it's hard to see where new features are headed.
There is no Linux road map, per se. To give a glimpse of the process, here are seven areas of development worth watching, based on interviews with developers and kernel maintainers, and time on www.kernelnewbies.org. Not all are moving ahead smoothly, illustrating the stop-and-go path improvements must travel to get into the kernel.
1 Virtualization
Recognizing virtualization as a "megatrend" of the decade, Linux kernel maintainers have made it a priority to add virtualization features to the kernel at a rapid pace. The hypervisor KVM, contributed by Avi Kivity of startup Qumranet, was included in the kernel of late 2006 and updated in last month's release. But it's an example of the conflict between rapid kernel releases and the slower-advancing enterprise editions.
Also by the same writer:
The community's pushing a breakneck pace to add new kernel features, while struggling to keep up with bug fixes. Slowing down doesn't look like much of an option.
As the latest release of the Linux kernel emerged this month, it reflected a dizzying number of changes. Kernel 2.6.23, coming just three months after the last update, incorporated business-friendly features, including better virtualization support and an update to the all-important scheduler, as well as the usual new device drivers and bug fixes.
The sheer number of changes coming every two to three months from Linus Torvalds' "code tree" is a sign of accelerating kernel development. The process so far has produced undeniably high-quality, reliable code.
But make no mistake: Torvalds is pushing open source development tactics to new extremes.
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