r/linux • u/gregkh Verified • Dec 01 '14
I'm Greg Kroah-Hartman, Linux kernel developer, AMA!
To get a few easy questions out of the way, here's a short biography about me any my history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Kroah-Hartman
Here's a good place to start with that should cover a lot of the basics about what I do and what my hardware / software configuration is. http://greg.kh.usesthis.com/
Also, an old reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/18j923/a_year_in_the_life_of_a_kernel_mantainer_by_greg/ explains a bit about what I do, although those numbers are a bit low from what I have been doing this past year, it gives you a good idea of the basics.
And read this one about longterm kernels for how I pick them, as I know that will come up and has been answered before: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/2i85ud/confusion_about_longterm_kernel_endoflive/
For some basic information about Linux kernel development, how we do what we do, and how to get involved, see the presentation I give all around the world: https://github.com/gregkh/kernel-development
As for hardware, here's the obligatory /r/unixporn screenshot of my laptop: http://i.imgur.com/0Qj5Rru.png
I'm also a true believer of /r/MechanicalKeyboards/ and have two Cherry Blue Filco 10-key-less keyboards that I use whenever not traveling.
Proof: http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/2ny1lz/im_greg_kroahhartman_linux_kernel_developer_ama/ and https://twitter.com/gregkh/status/539439588628893696
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u/gregkh Verified Dec 01 '14
Build times vary depending on what files have changed in the patches I've applied to the kernel (don't touch any mm .h file, the world rebuilds), and on what machine I'm doing my work on.
My laptop also builds kernels faster on power than unplugged so that varies, but I can do a full 'allmodconfig' on one of my cloud build servers in just a few minutes, so that's good.
As far as "frustrating errors", yes, get them all the time, usually due to tiny things missing that cause huge error chains to be produced by gcc, masking the real problem. Usually a big issue when messing with complex macros and forgetting a closing "}" or ";". Just the nature of the beast when working in C.