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Having taken a course in Operating Systems I'm interested in expanding my knowledge of the Linux kernel and practice working with a big system. What are some interesting but not overly difficult projects I can try my hand at?

EDIT: a bit of background on what I did do with the kernel.

  • Implemented a new scheduling policy
  • Implemented User Threads and a corresponding mutex library (not really kernel hacking but contained kernel related theory)
EpsilonVector
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3 Answers3

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I've not done much work on kernels before (they scare me), but I've heard that http://kernelnewbies.org/ is a fantastic resource if you want to get involved in kernel work. As already mentioned SourceForge is a great place to look if you want to get involved in an open-source kernel-related project.

Also, a similar question has been asked on Stack Overflow before, so you may want to look here.

What are some interesting, small Linux kernel projects to help learn the source?

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Mike B
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It depends on your existing background. If you are an embedded developer, you can write or improve some device driver. There aren't many other task to do in the kernel, unless you want to write a new process scheduler of course. I would suggest instead to study the existing source, it is a boring task but for a beginner it is almost the only thing to do.

Wizard79
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SourceForge.net for 'kernel drivers' lists 2800+ projects, maybe you can find something interesting there?

SourceForge.net for 'kernel' instead of 'kernel drivers' show 1403+ projects.

Tamara Wijsman
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