A report published today by the Linux Foundation provides insight into the state of the Linux kernel development community and includes statistics that reveal which companies are the most prolific contributors. The study indicates that the project is attracting new programmers and has strong backing from a highly diverse assortment of hardware and software companies that actively participate in the development process.

The Linux kernel, with over 11.5 million lines of code, is arguably one of the largest and most significant open source software projects. The health of the kernel development ecosystem is important to the growing number of Linux vendors and adopters. The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit organization that coordinates kernel development, studies the matter closely. In April 2008, the organization released its first report with kernel contributor statistics. The new report provides updated information and a view into the current state of the kernel.

According to the report, the number of kernel developers who contribute to each release has increased by approximately 10 percent since the 2008 study, with almost 1,000 developers participating in each released version of the kernel. The entire code base has grown by over 2.7 million lines while the number of lines of code that are contributed ever day has nearly tripled. An average of 5.45 patches are accepted every hour.

Part of the increase in total code base size is attributable to the inclusion of the -staging tree, which allows incomplete or unstable ("crap") drivers to be merged into the mainline kernel. It was introduced in version 2.6.28 which was released in December. The contents of the staging tree have received a significant number of improvements this year.

One of the most significant aspects of the report is its analysis of corporate involvement in kernel development. The report reveals that an average of 200 companies are involved in development for any given version of the kernel and that they are responsible for developing roughly 70 percent of the code. The leading code contributor is Red Hat, whose involvement accounts for roughly 12 percent of code contributions. Other leading corporate contributors are IBM and Novel, which each contribute 7.6 percent and Intel, which contributes 5.3 percent.

Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin commented on the implications of the report in a statement. He believes that the current trend of rapid growth will continue.

"This paper shows that the pace of Linux development continues to grow, with more individuals and more companies supporting Linux kernel development with every release cycle," Zemlin said. "With the increasing use of Linux in new markets and the dedication of the development community and corporate sponsors, the number of contributors will continue to grow, ensuring a vibrant ecosystem to support the platform."

At the Linux Collaboration Summit earlier this year, Zemlin characterized Linux as the "fastest growing platform" during his keynote presentation. His lofty expectations for Linux growth were supported by an IDC study that was unveiled during the conference which predicts that Linux will withstand the current economic recession better than its proprietary competitors and will emerge in a stronger position.

Linux is also getting a boost from the mobile market where it is attracting a lot of major hardware and software vendors. It's got a foothold in the netbook space and could see broader adoption as new ARM-based netbooks begin to emerge.

The Linux kernel ecosystem is clearly stronger than ever and benefits from the enthusiastic support of a multitude of major technology companies. The new kernel status report shows who the major players are and casts a light on the kernel's rapid rate of growth. For more details, you can download the report from the Linux Foundation website.

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