[biorach]

> The issue with Kernel development is that it's a dying profession. Nobody is interested in it.

That's a pretty wild assertion and files in the face of the highly active kernel development process.

e.g. > Linus has released 5.18-rc1 and closed the merge window for the 5.18 release... 13,207 non-merge changesets were merged during this merge window.

https://lwn.net/Articles/890119/

> I think we should just throw away the kernel entirely

That's the dumbest thing I've see on HN in some months. The kernel is deployed in hundreds of millions of devices worldwide and continues to be the dominant OS in many many sectors.

[oxff]

The issue is about the # of new developers joining the development if you look at the Linux kernel development as an organization, not about # of non-merge changesets merged.

[phendrenad2]

> That's a pretty wild assertion and files in the face of the highly active kernel development process

No, OP is right. 99.9% of things added to the kernel in any given release are drivers (mostly for obscure server hardware that the average LKML lurker would never have access to). So while there's certainly active development, it's all centered around drivers, and the "kernel" part of the kernel are mostly stable (modulo the occasional greenfield project like eBPF). (Note that I said 99.9% of things added, I'm sure security patches make up a lot more than 0.01% of kernel patches).

[staunch]

> The kernel is deployed in hundreds of millions of devices...

There are billions of Android phones alone. Not to mention the huge numbers of servers, IoT devices, embedded computers, and all the SBCs in my closet.

[samhw]

To be charitable, they may have meant something more like 'personal devices which people use directly'. (Though maybe not - it would be odd to exclude servers, which are one of Linux's biggest 'clients'. Perhaps they meant to exclude the more mundane types: routers, lightbulbs, etc.)

[pjmlp]

That Linux kernel is full of Google specifics, uses a microkernel like architecture since Project Treble, can be compiled since years with clang, now uses Rust for Bluetooth drivers,...

[staunch]

https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/09/24/google-plans-to-bri...

[pjmlp]

Marketing,

"The timeline for shifting to an "upstream first" cycle for new features starts in 2023, with 2020-2022 dedicated to making it work for pre-existing functionality. The Pixel 6 is expected to be the first Android device to ship with the GKI and Linux kernel 5.10, marking a major step in this process."

Means this is still one year away, if it actually happens, and then only Pixel devices will support it anyway, as so far most OEMs couldn't care less.

Not to mention that upstream will never accept all the things that make Android Linux not really Linux.

[staunch]

Most embedded/embedded-like devices running Linux are running a modified version of the kernel with a heavily customized userspace. These are still Linux by any reasonable definition. I'll leave it at this.