What Is Linux: An Overview of the Linux Operating System - Licensing, Community, and Development

Code is contributed to the Linux kernel under a number of licenses, but all code must be compatible with version 2 of the GNU General Public License (GPLv2), which is the license covering the kernel distribution as a whole. In practice, that means that all code contributions are covered either by GPLv2 (with, optionally, language allowing distribution under later versions of the GPL) or the three-clause BSD license. Any contributions which are not covered by a compatible license will not be accepted into the kernel.

Copyright assignments are not required (or requested) for code contributed to the kernel. All code merged into the mainline kernel retains its original ownership; as a result, the kernel now has thousands of owners.

One implication of this ownership structure is that any attempt to change the licensing of the kernel is doomed to almost certain failure. There are few practical scenarios where the agreement of all copyright holders could be obtained (or their code removed from the kernel). So, in particular, there is no prospect of a migration to version 3 of the GPL in the foreseeable future.

It is imperative that all code contributed to the kernel be legitimately free software. For that reason, code from anonymous (or pseudonymous) contributors will not be accepted. All contributors are required to "sign off" on their code, stating that the code can be distributed with the kernel under the GPL. Code which has not been licensed as free software by its owner, or which risks creating copyright-related problems for the kernel (such as code which derives from reverse-engineering efforts lacking proper safeguards) cannot be contributed.

Questions about copyright-related issues are common on Linux development mailing lists. Such questions will normally receive no shortage of answers, but one should bear in mind that the people answering those questions are not lawyers and cannot provide legal advice. If you have legal questions relating to Linux source code, there is no substitute for talking with a lawyer who understands this field. Relying on answers obtained on technical mailing lists is a risky affair.

Community

Linux communities come in two basic forms: developer and user communities.

One of the most compelling features of Linux is that it is accessible to developers; anybody with the requisite skills can improve Linux and influence the direction of its development. Proprietary products cannot offer this kind of openness, which is a characteristic of the free software process.

Developer communities can volunteer to maintain and support whole distributions, such as the Debian or Gentoo Projects. Novell and Red hat also support community-driven versions of their products, openSUSE and Fedora, respectively. The improvements to these community distros are then incorporated into the commercial server and desktop products from these companies.

The Linux kernel itself is primarily supported by its developer community as well and is one of the largest and most active free software projects in existence. A typical three-month kernel development cycle can involve over 1000 developers working for more than 100 different companies (or for no company at all).

With the growth of Linux has come an increase in the number of developers (and companies) wishing to participate in its development. Hardware vendors want to ensure that Linux supports their products well, making those products attractive to Linux users. Embedded systems vendors, who use Linux as a component in an integrated product, want Linux to be as capable and well-suited to the task at hand as possible. Distributors and other software vendors who base their products on Linux have a clear interest in the capabilities, performance, and reliability of the Linux kernel.

Other developer communities focus on different applications and environments that run on Linux, such as Firefox, OpenOffice.org, GNOME, and KDE.

End users, too, can make valuable contributions to the development of Linux. With online communities such as Linux.com, LinuxQuestions, and the many and varied communities hosted by distributions and applications, the Linux user base is an often vocal, usually positive advocate and guide for the Linux operating system.

The Linux community is not just a presence online. Local groups known as Linux Users Groups (LUGs) often meet to discuss issues regarding the Linux operating system, and provide other local users with free demonstrations, training, technical support, and installfests.

Development

Linux is an operating system that is comprised of many different development languages. A very large percentage of the distributions' code is written in either the C (52.86%) or C++ (25.56%) languages. All of the rest of the code falls into single-digit percentages, with Java, Perl, and Lisp rounding out the rest of the top 5 languages.

The Linux kernel itself has an even more dominant C presence, with over 95 percent of the kernel's code written in that language. But other languages make up the kernel as well, making it more heterogenous than other operating systems.

The kernel community has evolved its own distinct ways of operating which allow it to function smoothly (and produce a high-quality product) in an environment where thousands of lines of code are being changed every day. This means the Linux kernel development process differs greatly from proprietary development methods.

The kernel's development process may come across as strange and intimidating to new developers, but there are good reasons and solid experience behind it. A developer who does not understand the kernel community's ways (or, worse, who tries to flout or circumvent them) will have a frustrating experience in store. The development community, while being helpful to those who are trying to learn, has little time for those who will not listen or who do not care about the development process.

While many Linux developers still use text-based tools such as Emacs or Vim to develop their code, Eclipse, Anjuta, and Netbeans all provide more robust integrated development environments for Linux.