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1.. _development_conclusion:2 3For more information4====================5 6There are numerous sources of information on Linux kernel development and7related topics. First among those will always be the Documentation8directory found in the kernel source distribution. Start with the9top-level :ref:`process/howto.rst <process_howto>`; also read10:ref:`process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>`. Many internal11kernel APIs are documented using the kerneldoc mechanism; "make htmldocs"12or "make pdfdocs" can be used to generate those documents in HTML or PDF13format (though the version of TeX shipped by some distributions runs into14internal limits and fails to process the documents properly).15 16Various web sites discuss kernel development at all levels of detail. Your17author would like to humbly suggest https://lwn.net/ as a source;18information on many specific kernel topics can be found via the LWN kernel19index at:20 21 https://lwn.net/Kernel/Index/22 23Beyond that, a valuable resource for kernel developers is:24 25 https://kernelnewbies.org/26 27And, of course, one should not forget https://kernel.org/, the definitive28location for kernel release information.29 30There are a number of books on kernel development:31 32 Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition (Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro33 Rubini, and Greg Kroah-Hartman). Online at34 https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/.35 36 Linux Kernel Development (Robert Love).37 38 Understanding the Linux Kernel (Daniel Bovet and Marco Cesati).39 40All of these books suffer from a common fault, though: they tend to be41somewhat obsolete by the time they hit the shelves, and they have been on42the shelves for a while now. Still, there is quite a bit of good43information to be found there.44 45Documentation for git can be found at:46 47 https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/48 49 https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/user-manual.html50 51 52Conclusion53==========54 55Congratulations to anybody who has made it through this long-winded56document. Hopefully it has provided a helpful understanding of how the57Linux kernel is developed and how you can participate in that process.58 59In the end, it's the participation that matters. Any open source software60project is no more than the sum of what its contributors put into it. The61Linux kernel has progressed as quickly and as well as it has because it has62been helped by an impressively large group of developers, all of whom are63working to make it better. The kernel is a premier example of what can be64done when thousands of people work together toward a common goal.65 66The kernel can always benefit from a larger developer base, though. There67is always more work to do. But, just as importantly, most other68participants in the Linux ecosystem can benefit through contributing to the69kernel. Getting code into the mainline is the key to higher code quality,70lower maintenance and distribution costs, a higher level of influence over71the direction of kernel development, and more. It is a situation where72everybody involved wins. Fire up your editor and come join us; you will be73more than welcome.74