Reflections on Kernel Quality, Development Process and Testing

Explore kernel quality, development processes, and testing in this Linux Plumbers Conference talk. Examine areas for improvement in release quality, security, and developer experience. Analyze how existing processes and tools struggle with current scale and change rates. Discover why pervasive changes to processes, tooling, and testing approaches are necessary for significant improvements. Learn about fragmentation issues, consolidated testing, maintainable code, and potential solutions. Gain insights into the Kernel CI project and file system testing. Engage with the speaker's reflections on improving the Linux kernel development ecosystem.

Introduction
kernel quality
box
bugs
stable releases
torque tree
security
bug fixes
patches
problem statement
root cause
fragmentation
tests
fragmentation is why
systems are different
user identity
mail
collective ownership
overloaded maintainer
a better world
even cooler feature
stable patch trash queue
scale change ins
consolidated testing
maintainable code
is it right
common things
anarchy fragmentation
small steps
final destination
action plan
implementation
seekchains
SSBETF
Radical
Summary
QuestionsComments
QuestionComments
Kernel CI project
File system testing